Man guilty of ex-wife salon murder

A violent and controlling former policeman who stabbed his estranged wife to death at her high street hair salon has been found guilty of murder.

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 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."

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 constabl,, of Rosewood Drive, Ashford, was found guilty of murder after seven hours of deliberation following a three-week trial.

Esack, dressed in a black tie and grey suit, 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.

Judge Charles Byers said sentencing will take place on Monday morning.

He described the case as "difficult" for the jurors to sit through, and told Esack he had been convicted of a "serious" offence.