Husband murdered wife after she began new relationship, court told

Peter Nash denies murdering Jillu Nash and their daughter Louise Nash at their home in Suffolk last September.

Louise Nash and her mother Jillu Nash (Suffolk Police/PA) (PA Media)

A “self-pitying” husband murdered his wife and their daughter after his wife began a relationship with a colleague at the Homebase store where she worked, a court heard.

Police found the bodies of Jillu Nash, 43, and 12-year-old Louise at their home in Great Waldingfield, Sudbury, Suffolk, while 47-year-old Peter Nash was found covered in blood and holding a knife.

Nash had stabbed himself in the chest multiple times and tried to gas himself to death, prosecutor David Josse KC said.

He said that the defendant murdered the pair either late on September 7 or early on September 8 last year.

In a video played to jurors at Ipswich Crown Court, a Taser officer yelled at Nash: “There’s a red dot on you, drop the knife.”

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.

Having killed his wife and his daughter, the defendant made a determined attempt to try to cover up not so much the killing, but some of the evidence behind it

David Josse KC

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 prosecutor said that Mr and Mrs Nash married in 2009, and at the time Mrs Nash was an Indian national.

She applied for leave to remain in the UK as the spouse of a British national in 2010 and their daughter Louise was born soon after, later to be diagnosed with non-verbal autism.

The family had lived in Leicester before moving to Suffolk in 2018.

Mr Josse said Mrs Nash’s life “rather flourished” in Suffolk.

He said that Nash was made redundant from Philips Electronics in the summer of 2020.

Mr Josse earlier told jurors that the couple “had a difficult and unhappy marriage”.

The prosecutor said that after the deaths police found a series of videos on Mrs Nash’s phone, of the pair talking, adding: “We would suggest it appears that Jillu was trying to record this covertly.”

In one clip, Mrs Nash tells her husband “you’re a certified c***”, and he replies “you’re a validated cheater”.

In a second, Nash asks his wife: “The one you’re cheating with – is he at Homebase, or Tesco, or is he a friend of the family?”

He attempted to destroy his telephone, his wife’s telephone and made some attempt as well at their home computer

David Josse, KC

In a third, recorded less than a fortnight before the deaths, Nash accuses his wife of being “a schemer, you cause chaos, you try to cause drama to get attention”.

And in a fourth clip, he says: “The past four months you’ve been cheating,” after which she tells him it is actually “eight months”.

Mr Josse said that “having killed his wife and his daughter, the defendant made a determined attempt to try to cover up not so much the killing, but some of the evidence behind it”.

“He attempted to destroy his telephone, his wife’s telephone and made some attempt as well at their home computer,” he said.

The prosecutor said police managed to access Mrs Nash’s phone, where the videos were stored, but have not been able to access Nash’s phone.

Police also examined a computer tower from the family home.

Mr Josse said that three TikTok videos were accessed at 6.25am, which he said showed the “embittered” and self-pitying mindset from which the defendant had become entrenched”.

One of the clips had the text: “A broken man who has rebuilt himself is very dangerous”.

A second said: “Tell me why when anything gets rough in a relationship women are told to leave him and men are told to try and fix things.”

The third, which showed Kermit the Frog by a fire, said: “Do girls actually feel for hurting a guy or do they just say their apologies and never think about how she affected his life again”.

The prosecutor said that Mrs Nash died of compression of the neck and Louise died of a single stab wound to the abdomen.

Nash denies two counts of murder.

The defendant, who has chosen to represent himself, was not in the dock on Thursday and the judge, Mr Justice Edward Murray, addressed jurors about this.

He said: “You will see that the defendant isn’t here today, but you shouldn’t speculate about the reason for his absence.”

The trial continues.