'Jealous' ex-boyfriend sentenced to life for murder of Suffolk woman

A "jealous" ex-boyfriend who murdered his former partner after their relationship ended and she began seeing another man has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 30 years.

Charles Jessop, 30, took a knife and cycled to 33-year-old Clare Nash's flat in Newmarket, on the evening of January 16 last year, an earlier trial at Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Mark Cotter QC, prosecuting, said Jessop lay in wait until Ms Nash returned home, then launched his stabbing attack, strangling her after the knife broke.

He earlier told the trial: "This was a revenge attack borne of jealousy by a man who wouldn't accept that Clare Nash had rejected him and entered into a new relationship."

He went on: "The knife broke during the attack, which likely explains why he went on to strangle her."

A pathologist could not say whether Ms Nash died by strangulation or from blood loss, Mr Cotter said, with her cause of death recorded as a combination of both.

Jessop, of Bakers Row, Newmarket, denied Ms Nash's murder but was convicted following a two-month-long trial. Suffolk Police said Jessop was sentenced on Friday at Ipswich Crown Court to life in prison and must serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for release.

Senior investigating officer Detective Inspector Matthew Connick said:

Jessop was also sentenced for an assault on a 22-year-old man in November 2019in Newmarket.

He admitted the assault at an earlier hearing and was sentenced to 18 months inprison, to run concurrently with the life sentence.