A jilted husband accused of murdering his wife and 12-year-old autistic daughter at their Suffolk home confessed to the killings to a psychiatrist, a court has heard.
Former factory worker Peter Nash allegedly said he’d attacked his 43-year-old wife Jillu after confronting her about a picture he’d found in her purse of her with another man.
He said he had strangled her when she kept lying to him and he had then killed their daughter Louise and tried to kill himself by gassing himself and then stabbing himself when that failed.
Nash, who was made redundant from Philips Electronics in 2020, told the psychiatrist he hadn’t been working and had been caring for Louise and had a feeling of “reduced identity”.
Nash had become tearful when he spoke about his daughter, who had autism and was non-verbal, and said he gad felt “deeply disappointed” when he woke up in hospital and realised he was still alive.
Nash, 47, of Heath Estate, Great Waldingfield has denied murdering his wife and daughter between September 7 and 9 last year.
The former factory worker attended the first day of the trial on Tuesday, April 18, but hasn’t been present since.
The trial judge, The Hon. Mr Justice Murray, has told the jury panel it shouldn’t speculate about the reason for his absence.
The court has heard that Mrs Nash had been having an affair for eight months with a man she worked with at Homebase in Sudbury and had been preparing to leave Nash and set up home with her lover.
Mrs Nash had secretly filmed a number of videos of conversations between her and her husband which David Josse KC, prosecuting, said showed the “rancorous and unpleasant” side of their marriage which appeared to have irretrievably broken down.
Police went to the couple’s home on Heath Estate, Great Waldingfield on September 8 after Mrs Nash failed to turn up for work and Louise didn’t go to school.
Police officers forced their way into the family home but were initially deterred by the smell of gas and alerted the fire service.
When the emergency services entered the house they found Mrs Nash’s dead body on the floor in the living room under a quilt and Louise’s body was found under a sheet in a bedroom.
Mrs Nash had been asphyxiated and appeared to have had a T-shirt stuffed in her mouth while Louise died from a single stab wound to her abdomen.
Nash was lying on the bed next to his daughter’s lifeless body holding a kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbing himself. Police disarmed him after tazering him twice and he was taken to hospital with 22 stab wounds.
Mrs Nash’s partner, Homebase colleague Mark Leamey, had become concerned when she did not respond to his messages late on September 7 and on the morning of September 8 last year.
He visited the Tesco store, where Mrs Nash also worked part-time, and then Louise’s school when he could not find her at her workplace, before visiting their home, with police called when there was no response.
The family had lived in Leicester before moving to Suffolk in 2018.
At an earlier hearing Nash dispensed with his legal team and said he wanted to represent himself during the trial.
The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here