A man murdered his wife and their daughter after finding out his wife was having an affair, a court has been told.

Peter Nash, 47, denies murdering 43-year-old Jillu Nash and their autistic daughter Louise, 12, at their home in Great Waldingham, Sudbury, Suffolk, last September.

Prosecutor David Josse KC told Ipswich Crown Court that Mrs Nash had “entered into a relationship” with work colleague Mark Leamey by early 2022.

She had planned on leaving her husband and “setting up home” with Mr Leamey, according to Mr Josse.

“The defendant and Mrs Nash had a difficult and unhappy marriage,” he said.

“They married in 2009 and the stresses and strains of that relationship were undoubtedly compounded by Peter Nash losing his job by redundancy in 2020.”

Nash was “largely responsible for the care of their autistic daughter Louise”, who was “non-verbal, only able to say a few words”, Mr Josse said.

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Mr Josse said Mrs Nash had recorded some conversations she had with her husband – including one last August when he called her “a schemer who caused chaos to gain attention”.

“When he suggested she had been cheating on him for some four months, she corrected him and told him it was eight months,” said Mr Josse.

Mrs Nash and Mr Leamey were seen together on 7 September, the prosecutor said.

It is alleged that Nash murdered his wife and daughter either late that day or early the following day, killing Mrs Nash by compressing her neck, and killing Louise with a single stab to the abdomen.

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A smell of gas

Police went to the home on 8 September after Mrs Nash failed to turn up for work and Louise didn’t arrive at school.

Mr Josse said that police at the house could smell gas and called the fire service.

Mrs Nash was found in the living room while Louise was found on a bed covered with a sheet.

‘Disarmed by police with a Taser’

Nash was next to his daughter with “a number of superficial… cumulatively serious stab wounds” and “still in possession of a knife”, Mr Josse said, adding that the defendant “had to be disarmed by police with a Taser”.

He later told a psychiatric team that he had been “angry with his wife” and had “confronted her with a picture of her with another man”.

The trial, due to last up to six weeks, continues.

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