'You've signed your own death warrant': Former policeman's alleged threat to ex-wife hours before she was stabbed to death in salon

Natalie

A ‘violent and controlling’ jilted former policeman stabbed to death his estranged wife at her hair salon because he could not cope with the idea of her being with someone else, a court heard today.

Ivan Esack, 38, knifed Natalie Esack, 33, at Esack Hair and Beauty in Ashford, Kent, in April up to 11 times with such ferocity that the blade bent and the tip broke off, Maidstone Crown Court was told.

He was allegedly threatening towards the 5ft 1in woman who would sometimes sport bruises which she said he had inflicted on her and he could not come to terms with her starting a new relationship.

Ivan

It is also claimed the former Kent Police officer was abusive in phone calls and text messages to her, and during one exchange said she was a ‘walking dead woman’ before adding ‘tick tock, tick tock’.

Esack, who denies murder, bought the knife used in the killing from a Sainsbury's store moments before he stabbed his wife for starting a relationship with Justin Khadaroo, the court heard.

After buying the blade, CCTV footage played in court showed him parking his car at a car park before walking the short distance to the salon which Esack and his wife had set up in January 2008.

Earlier he had made sure she was working that day by telephoning the salon and asking one of her colleagues what time her first appointment was due to take place.

As Esack strolled into the salon armed with the knife, Mrs Esack was on a computer at reception, the court heard. He allegedly ‘mumbled something’ before lashing out with the knife in his hand.

Blood was sent flying up the walls as the blows struck Mrs Esack. He stabbed her between nine and 11 times in the neck but principally in the chest, Philip Bennetts QC, prosecuting, said.

Defence-type injuries suggested she tried to fend off the blows before falling to the floor. Esack was then said to have walked over to her colleague and said something like: ‘She deserved it, the b***h.’

He then strolled back out of the salon, paid for his car park ticket and drove home where he was later arrested on suspicion of murder, the court heard.

‘In interview he said his intention was to kill himself in front of her but when he entered the salon she told him to get out, and he lost control and killed her,’ Mr Bennetts said.

The couple married in 2006 but by October 2011 they split up. Mr Bennetts said Esack threatened to kill her, their dog and himself.

When the threats were reported to police, he was forced to surrender a shotgun he owned.

'Don't worry Natalie, I'm going to finish this. You have signed your own death warrant'

What Ivan Esack allegedly told his wife

An attempt was made to revive their marriage with a holiday to Mexico but during the break he kicked her, causing her bruising to her leg, Mr Bennetts told jurors.

By the end of February this year, their relationship was beyond salvage and Mrs Esack left their home to live with her father.

On February 15, Esack was alleged to have sent more than 40 text messages, saying he was going to kill her.

A month later, a 999 call was said to have been made after Esack was turned away from her father's home after she told him: ‘You're not allowed to come in. You tried to kill me.’

On another occasion, he allegedly pushed Mrs Esack to the floor at the property before fleeing.

And during a counselling session at a recovery clinic attended by both Mr and Mrs Esack on March 21, she recalled his attempt to try to strangle her, to which Esack replied: ‘I'm sorry.’

Mr Bennetts said that the day before the killing there were a series of phone calls between Mrs Esack, her estranged husband and her new partner, and it was disclosed to Esack that she was in a new relationship.

The court heard that he responded by threatening to take Mrs Esack away, as well as issuing threats to kill her and Mr Khadaroo whom she had known since 2007.

'You're going to die babe. You are going to f***ing die. I hope you are happy'

What Ivan Esack allegedly told his wife

In one recorded message, Esack told her: ‘You're going to die babe. You are going to f***ing die. I hope you are happy.’

He added: ‘You are going to f***ing die so f***ing enjoy the f***ing time you have with him.’

Esack said he had ‘nothing to lose’ with no job and no career. In another exchange, he said: ‘I'm going to murder you, seriously. Is this what you want, is this what you f***ing want?’

In one message played in court, Mrs Esack told her estranged husband: ‘We are not a couple any more.’ He replied: ‘That's what you think.’

And in another exchange, Mrs Esack asked him: ‘What are my options?’ Esack told her: ‘Death, death and death.’

Another message played out heard Esack said to her: 'Don't worry Natalie, I'm going to finish this. You have signed your own death warrant.'

The force used to kill Mrs Esack must have been ‘significant’ as the blade bent and tip of the knife broke off under the force of the blows, Mr Bennetts said.

At 10.40am that morning, Esack was arrested at his home on suspicion of murder and asked officers: ‘Is she dead?’

As he was being transported to police custody, he said: ‘She f****d me over. She drove me to it. I'm not a violent person but she drove me to it.’

He also allegedly said: ‘I don't regret a thing.’ He admitted drinking three cans of Special Brew and some whisky and said he had ‘lost the plot’.

In a further interview, he told police: ‘The first words she said to me were 'Get out' and I just snapped.’

Asked what he did, Esack replied: ‘Just lashing out with a knife. I recall just going mad, just absolutely crazy. I can't believe what I have done.’

He denied being violent or issuing threats towards her, saying Mrs Esack had ‘made up’ the claims.

Mr Bennetts said the prosecution's psychiatrist agreed that Esack was suffering from a ‘narcissistic personality disorder’ but disagreed that he had an abnormality of his mental function.

Chelsea Ford, a colleague of Mrs Esack's who was in the salon at the time of the stabbing, broke down in tears as she recalled the moment Esack walked in armed with a knife and stabbed her friend to death.

Shaking uncontrollably in the witness box, Miss Ford said she first spotted Esack at eye-level with his left arm swinging and his right arm by his side as she went to adjust the blinds on the morning of the killing.

She glimpsed ‘something shiny’ after he walked into the salon. Miss Ford sobbed as she was then taken through the events that followed by Mr Bennetts.

He told how Mrs Esack screamed and blood went up the wall as her estranged husband stabbed her. Mrs Esack pushed passed him and ran to the top of the stairs at the back of the shop.

Mr Bennetts said Esack followed her and stabbed her in the middle of the back as she held on to the door frame and ‘kept stabbing her’ until she fell to the floor.

Miss Ford told the jury: ‘He walked back towards me... and he told me “she deserved it, the bitch”.’

Esack then threw the blood-covered knife in the salon and walked out ‘as if he didn't care’, she added.

Miss Ford dialled 999 and ran to the shop next door to summon help. She gave an account of Esack as someone who always controlled his wife and who threatened and abused her regularly.

‘He was just a horrible person,’ she said. ‘Whatever she did was wrong. He had to be right. If she wanted to do something, she had to ask him.’

After they split, Esack sent her texts calling her names, she told the jury. ‘He would send her horrible words. She had no confidence because of him.’

'He walked back towards me... and he told me “she deserved it, the bitch”'

Chelsea Ford, Natalie Esack's colleague

Miss Ford also revealed that during their holiday to Mexico, Esack disclosed that he was in a relationship with a man named Louis.

‘He said he would never love Nat the way he loved Louis,’ she told the court.

On another occasion, Miss Ford told how Esack came to the salon and told his wife that she's a ‘dead woman walking’ and added: ‘Tick tock, tick tock.’

Miss Ford went on: ‘He was always threatening to kill her. She always told me that if you don't laugh you cry, so she laughed about it.’

In March at the salon, Miss Ford said she caught Esack with a hand in a knife drawer as she responded to screams from Mrs Esack.

‘Nat said that he had threatened to kill her, to stab her,’ she said.

Asked why Mrs Esack didn't report the incident to police, Miss Ford said: ‘I think she was scared. She was strong and I don't think she wanted to admit what he was doing mentally and physically to her.’

The trial continues.

Culled from dailymail.co.uk