The jury in the trial of a former trainee jockey accused of murdering his ex girlfriend in Newmarket is expected to continue its deliberations tomorrow (June 9).

Before Ipswich Crown Court is Charles Jessop, 30, of Bakers Row, Newmarket, who has denied murdering 33-year-old Clare Nash at her flat in the town’s Brickfields Avenue on January 16 last year.

He has admitted killing her.

The jury retired to consider its verdict on Thursday and returned to court today (Tuesday) to continue its discussions.

The panel was sent home at lunchtime and will return to court at 1pm tomorrow to continue its deliberations.

Giving evidence during his trial, which started in April, Jessop denied thinking there was something going on between Miss Nash and a mutual friend and that he’d told a friend: “If I can’t have her no-one can.”

Jessop told the court that prior to the killing he’d been snorting the antidepressant drug Citalopram and this had made him angry and aggressive.

He denied a suggestion by prosecution counsel Mark Cotter QC that he’d latched on to the Citalopram to “wriggle out of responsibility” for stabbing and strangling Miss Nash.

During his evidence Jessop described himself as being in a “psychotic rage” after taking Citalopram which had been prescribed by his doctor just over two weeks before the killing.

He said he’d been feeling suicidal and increasingly lonely and depressed in the days leading up to the killing after Miss Nash ended their relationship.

On January 16 he had cycled to her flat after snorting two Citalopram tablets and described feeling as though he was playing a computer game.

When Miss Nash arrived home Jessop had walked in through the unlocked front door and accused her of avoiding him.

He had then taken a knife out of his jacket and held it against the side of her face and put his arm across her chest.

He had then stabbed her about three times before she managed to break free and go into the toilet.

Jessop said he believed there was a gun in the house and thought she had gone into the toilet to look for it so that she could shoot him.

He had continued stabbing her and had strangled her after she told him she was pregnant and that if they went upstairs she would show him the pregnancy test.

The trial continues.