Kent man found guilty of murder of his estranged wife in Ashford

11/01/2013

A man has today (Friday 11 January) been found guilty of the murder of his estranged wife at her hairdressing salon in Ashford.

Ivan Esack was convicted by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court, who had heard that Natalie Esack was stabbed repeatedly in front of a work colleague on the morning of 30 April 2012. Ivan Esack had driven to a local supermarket to purchase a knife just before killing Natalie.

His defence had been that was that he was suffering from diminished responsibility at the time of the killing and had originally intended to harm himself in front of his wife, but the Crown Prosecution Service was able to prove that this had been a planned attack, with a significant history of previous threats, including repeated threats to kill her.

Roger Coe-Salazar, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS South East, said: "There was no dispute in this case that Ivan Esack killed his estranged wife or that he purchased a knife beforehand. The CPS was able to prove that Esack intended to kill Natalie, that he was not suffering from diminished responsibility at the time and was therefore guilty of murder, not manslaughter. The evidence in our case showed that Ivan Esack was a violent and controlling person, who repeatedly assaulted and abused Natalie during the time they were together. It was the prosecution case that he used all his power to try to control Natalie and, unable to deal with the separation from her, he killed her because he did not want her to be with anyone else. I hope today's conviction for murder brings some small comfort to Natalies family and friends."