Evil husband who stabbed uni lecturer wife to death just 24 hours after she made haunting prediction is guilty of murder
A CONTROLLING husband who stabbed his wife to death just 24 hours after she made a haunting prediction has been found guilty of murder.
Ertan Ersoy, 51, knifed Dr Antonella Castelvedere, 52, “many times” at their home in Colchester, Essex.
He then ran into the street “soaked in blood” and shouted: “I think I’ve killed my wife.”
Ersoy has now been convicted of murdering Dr Castelvedere last June following a trial at Ipswich Crown Court.
The killer husband had mistakenly believed his wife, who taught an MA in English and creative writing at the University of Suffolk, was cheating.
He bugged the family home with a listening device but this “proved no such thing”.
Ersoy had also searched for a private investigator online and was “obsessed” with his wife’s previous relationships.
Before her death, the mum told a friend her husband had “fallen back into a dark state of mind and I fear for my safety”.
Just 24 hours later, a neighbour found the lecturer on the kitchen floor with a 15cm knife wound on her neck and a “halo of blood” framing her.
Consumed by “anger, jealousy and his failings”, Ersoy had slashed at his wife 15 times in the face, neck, chest and hands.
He cruelly claimed Dr Castelvedere had knifed him in the stomach but there was no evidence to back this up.
But police did discover a cache of chilling notes the lecturer had made leading up to her brutal killing.
In December 2021, she told how Ersoy had sent links to websites “on the topic of obsession with ex-boyfriend”.
Another from August 2021 read: “Questioning where I went, I asked him not to go back to attitude of three months earlier.”
While in one from October 2021, Dr Castelvedere told how her husband had got drunk and “threatened” her.
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Ersoy, who is also a lecturer and teaching fellow, denied murder but admitted manslaughter.
The dad claimed he was suffering from an “abnormality of mental functioning that arose from a medical condition, depression” at the time of the stabbing.
He will be sentenced at the same court tomorrow.
Following the verdict today, Dr Castelvedere’s family said: “The family thanks for the respect shown towards Antonella, respect that Antonella did not have from her husband, and for all the people involved, and the delicacy with which they communicated to us the developments of this tragic story.
“Respect is important for those who remain”.
Detective Chief Inspector Ant Alcock, of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate, said: “Ertan Ersoy is a clever, manipulative and calculated man, but his defence was based on a lie which was found out.
“He was a man who sought to control his wife’s life and that ultimately culminated in a cruel and brutal attack in June last year.
“As an investigation team, we are very aware that no verdict will ever bring Antonella back but we hope that the jury’s decision will be of some comfort to them.”