A former trainee jockey accused of killing his ex-girlfriend started “snorting” prescribed anti-depressant medication in a bid to lift his mood in the days leading up to her death, a court has heard

Giving evidence at Ipswich Crown Court during his third day in the witness box, Charles Jessop said that after being prescribed Citalopram he had initially taken his doctor’s advice and had not drunk alcohol or used illegal drugs.

However, five days before he killed 33-year-old Claire Nash, he had visited a pub.

After drinking four or five pints of Carlsberg, he had bought some cocaine and used it after returning to his flat.

He told the court he then felt disappointed with himself for drinking and taking the cocaine and had felt depressed.

“I wanted something to bring my mood up again and crushed a Citalopram tablet into powder form and decided to snort it.

“In my drug-fuelled mind, I thought it would bring me up and that it would have a quicker effect if I snorted it up my nose,” he said.

Jessop told the court that snorting the Citalopram had been “horrible” and had made him angry instead of feeling less depressed.

Jessop has told the court that in the weeks leading up to Miss Nash’s death, he had been feeling anxious, depressed and suicidal after she ended their relationship and had made an emergency doctor’s appointment.

He said although he had felt suicidal, he hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone else, including Miss Nash.

At the appointment on December 31, he was prescribed the anti-depressant drug Citalopram but claimed he wasn’t warned that it could make him aggressive.

He said he had just been advised not to drink any alcohol while taking the medication, as it would make the tablets less effective.

Jessop, 30, of Bakers Row, Newmarket, admits unlawfully killing 33-year-old Miss Nash but denies murdering her by stabbing and strangling her in the toilet of her flat in Brickfields Avenue, Newmarket on January 16 last year.

Prosecuting counsel Mark Cotter QC has told jurors that Jessop would be seeking to raise issues as to the state of his mind during the trial and would claim he was affected by Citalopram.

Jessop is expected to continue giving evidence on Monday.