'Jealous' husband killed lecturer wife at Colchester home - trial

Dr Antonella Castelvedere, an English academic at the University of Suffolk in Ipswich, died after being stabbed

A university lecturer wrote she feared for her life just a day before her husband killed her, a court heard.

Dr Antonella Castelvedere, 52, was found with multiple stab injuries on the kitchen floor of the family home in Colchester, Essex, on 1 June.

Ertan Ersoy, 51, of Wickham Road in the city, denies murder but has admitted manslaughter, the jury at Chelmsford Crown Court was told.

Prosecutors allege her murder was fuelled by the defendant's jealousy.

Chris Paxton KC, outlining the prosecution case, said the University of Suffolk lecturer had 15 stab injuries to her face, neck, upper chest and hands.

He said "this stabbing was sadly a result of the defendant's anger and jealousy towards his wife, his failings and his unhappiness in his life".

Mr Ersoy, also a lecturer and teaching fellow, called emergency services and went out into the street and called for help after stabbing his wife, the court was told.

He told them he thought he had killed his wife and claimed she had also stabbed him.

Dr Antonella Castelvedere was found injured at the couple's house on Wickham Road, Colchester, and died at the scene

The defendant was taken to hospital with two shallow wounds on his stomach, but prosecutors said there was "no independent evidence" that Dr Castelvedere had caused those injuries.

Mr Paxton said the defence team would claim that Mr Ersoy was suffering from an "abnormality of mental functioning that arose from a medical condition - depression" at the time of the stabbing.

One of the wounds on Dr Castelvedere's neck, measured 15cm (6in) in length and was 7cm deep resulting in "severe blood loss, cardiac arrest and her death".

"There was no loss of control by this defendant," he said.

'Dark state of mind'

The couple, who married in 2014, had what appeared to be a "volatile, unstable and rocky" relationship that also included accusations by the defendant his wife had been physically abusive, the court heard.

The jury was told a listening device had been placed in the home by the defendant as he suspected his wife was cheating on him.

After Dr Castelvedere's death, police discovered notes that she had made on her phone, Mr Paxton said.

One in October 2021, read: "Gets drunk and threatening me. Falls from stairs and breaks bannister."

On 31 May 2022 she wrote: "Unfortunately Ertan has fallen back into a dark state of mind and I fear for my life."

Mr Paxton told jurors: "She was right to fear for her safety. Just hours later the defendant, perhaps letting his guard down, told a friend that at times he wanted to kill his wife Antonella, to get it over and done with.

"Within 24 hours Antonella lay dead on the kitchen floor of the family home she shared with her husband and five-year-old daughter."

The trial continues.