Jealous ex-detective guilty of murdering his estranged wife

Ivan Esack, 38, knifed Natalie Esack, 33, up to 11 times in front of her horrified colleague because he could not cope with her being with someone else.

The 8in (20cm) blade bent and the tip broke off under the ferocity of the attack at Esack Hair and Beauty in High Street, Ashford, Kent, on April 30 last year.

Esack then turned to his estranged wife’s colleague, Chelsea Ford, then 17, and said: “She deserved it, the bitch.”

In the period before the killing, he had told Mrs Esack she was a “dead woman walking” and added: “Tick tock, tick tock.”

At Maidstone Crown Court, the ex-Kent Police detective constable turned aspiring football agent, of Rosewood Drive, Ashford, was found guilty of murder after seven hours of deliberation following a three-week trial. He will be sentenced on Monday.

Esack, who is originally from Middlesbrough, showed no emotion as the jury foreman delivered the verdict.

Friends and relatives of Mrs Esack yelled “yes” while some broke down in tears in the packed public gallery.

Outside the courtroom they hugged each other and patted each other on the back.

Bisexual cocaine user Esack, who declined to give evidence at the trial, had admitted manslaughter, claiming his responsibility was diminished and that he was suffering from a mental condition.

He was said to have had a “narcissistic” personality and falsely boasted that through his footballing contacts he was friends with Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson and Rio Ferdinand.

Stockily built Esack, who claimed to have been rejected as a local Conservative Party candidate, had ideas of becoming prime minister and thought of himself as a James Bond-style figure.

It also emerged during the trial that he had an affair with a man. He once told Mrs Esack she should be tested for sexually transmitted diseases after disclosing the gay love affair to her, jurors heard.

Prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC said Esack was a “violent and controlling” man who, unable to deal with the separation, killed his estranged wife “because he didn’t want her to be with anyone else”.

Esack bought the knife from a Sainsbury’s store in Ashford moments before he stabbed Mrs Esack for starting a relationship with Justin Khadaroo after they split up.