A man has been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of his estranged wife a week after she ended their relationship.
Russell Marsh stabbed and strangled Jade Marsh, also known as Jade Ward, while their four children slept in Shotton, Flintshire, last August. Her “mutilated” body was found under a pile of clothes in a bedroom.
The court heard how Russell Marsh, 29, had told officers at a police station that he had “done something horrible” just moments before his ex-partner’s body was found.
A pathology report found that Jade, 27, had suffered multiple wounds across her body, including her face and arms, and bruising that was consistent with “making efforts to fight off” her attacker.
Michael Jones QC, prosecuting, told the trial: “The defendant discovered she had started a relationship with another man and seemingly shared a kiss with him at a party.
“Within a week of this she was dead.”
Russell Marsh received a life sentence in prison with a minimum of 25 years. Sentencing Marsh, Judge Rowlands said Jade had “lost her life at your hands in what was a brutal and remarkably cruel attack, borne out of jealousy after she ended a controlling relationship.
“I shudder to think what she went through in the last 15 minutes of her life.”
He said that Marsh was “controlling” and would repeatedly check up on Jade with calls and texts. “This was a savage and merciless attack,” Judge Rowlands said. “It was on any view a remarkably cruel way to end her life”.
Speaking outside court after the sentencing Jade’s mother Karen Robinson said: “On 26 August last year, our world was torn apart.
“There are no words that could ever say how broken we all are.
“Jade was an amazing daughter, sister, granddaughter, sister-in-law, niece, cousin, auntie and a friend to so many.
“Above everything else, she was the most amazing mum to her boys - she loved them with everything she had.”
In an earlier statement read out to court on behalf of Jade’s family, they described her as “kind, beautiful, funny and caring.”
On the night of Jade’s murder, Marsh had left an overnight shift at work early, telling his supervisor his brother had taken an overdose and needed to go to hospital - a claim that the court heard was “completely untrue”.
He then drove to the former family home in Shotton and carried out his attack.
When police discovered Jade’s body they found her in blood-stained pyjamas and covered with a pile of clothing.
Lawyers told the jury that Jade’s cause of death was asphyxiation and said her body had been “mutilated”.
Michael Jones QC said: “In the early hours of 26 August, when his children were in bed he attacked her, stabbing and slicing her with a knife before strangling her.
“Jade Marsh had been repeatedly stabbed and slashed to the face and body before being strangled. Despite her horrific injuries the final cause of death was asphyxiation.
“He left her body on the bed covered with a pile of clothes and a blanket and secure the bedroom door with a dressing gown cord and drove his children to his parents’ house in Saughall in Cheshire.”
Detective Inspector Myfanwy Kirkwood said that Jade’s death was “beyond comprehension”.
He added: “Jade was much loved by her family and friends and I recognise that no words or verdict will ever bring back this young woman, but I hope today’s outcome will bring a small sense of peace to Jade’s family.”
