Social Media Murders S03E01 The Murder of Jade Ward (4th July 2024)
Days after 27-year-old Jade Ward ended her relationship with her controlling husband Russell Marsh, she was murdered. Digital forensics, unseen body cam and police interviews are used to get justice for Jade.
Days after 27-year-old Jade Ward ended her relationship with her controlling husband Russell Marsh, she was murdered. Digital forensics, unseen body cam and police interviews are used to get justice for Jade.
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00:00At the moment I don't know what you're sorry for Russell, so are you able to tell me?
00:15Russell, I know you're struggling at the moment mate, but can you tell me what's happened?
00:21Is your wife hurt at the moment?
00:23I'm so sorry, I forgot my tobacco.
00:28Pardon?
00:29I forgot my tobacco.
00:30Take some deep breaths then, slow your breathing down.
00:34Oh no.
00:37We've got people on the way round, but I'd like to know what we're going to go into when we get there, so what's happened?
00:47That's it, compose yourself, that's it, nice deep breaths.
00:53Hello?
01:01Police, open the door!
01:08What's the back door like?
01:09That's the back door here, same as.
01:23You're not going to be able to come in, would the kids be in there with us?
01:28I don't know, she's got four boys.
01:33Stay inside, I'll go.
01:40It's the dog, come on, come on, close that gate, close that gate, the dog's gone.
01:46Hello, police?
01:53Is there anyone else at home with your wife?
01:55No, no one.
02:01My dog, I forgot about my poor dog, well I forgot my dog.
02:06Is my dog there?
02:07OK.
02:08My dog.
02:10My dog.
02:13Come on, come on.
02:16She might be in there.
02:17She might be in there.
02:18She might be in there.
02:19She might be in there.
02:21Come on.
02:42Hello, police?
02:49Where's your wife at home?
02:50She's upstairs.
02:52OK.
03:04Whereabouts upstairs is she?
03:10Pardon?
03:12In the hut?
03:16Which room?
03:18In your room?
03:19Russell's saying Jade is in their bedroom upstairs.
03:23If you can relay that to North Wales.
03:28Hey, buddy.
03:29Door's locked.
03:31Locked?
03:32Yeah.
03:34House is empty.
03:44There's no signs of any disturbance in the address either.
03:49Yeah, we are at the right house.
03:52There's no children here either, so potentially she's with the children somewhere.
03:57Can we do some Moscow checks?
04:06Russell?
04:08Is that in relation to our job?
04:09Yeah.
04:13She's confirmed it's empty.
04:15How is it empty?
04:17Russell, the house is empty.
04:21It's not.
04:34Yeah, we've got a body.
04:36No.
04:39Deceased.
04:41Deceased.
04:43Deceased.
04:45Deceased.
04:47Can we get an ambulance, mate?
04:58Hey, Russell?
05:00I'm with 938, and you're under arrest for murder.
05:05You do not have to say anything, but may I have a defence if you do not mention my question?
05:08Then you should be blindfolded.
05:10And you should say no to any evidence.
05:12Stand up for me.
05:13Hands behind your back.
05:17Ooh.
05:19Ooh.
05:26Are you the sister?
05:28No, but I'm her auntie.
05:29Auntie.
05:30Who's her next of kin?
05:31Me.
05:33Shall we go back to your address?
05:34No.
05:36Where is my niece?
05:37Right.
05:38All I'm going to know is that she's OK.
05:40Unfortunately, she's not.
05:41She's deceased.
05:42Oh, my God!
05:47SHE SIGHS
05:53Jade was beautiful inside, and she was beautiful outside.
05:58She was literally just the bestest person you could have in your life.
06:03She was just brilliant.
06:08How do you feel, Jade?
06:12SHE LAUGHS
06:17Jade was born in 1994 in Chester.
06:21This bundle of joy she was.
06:23Ooh, but she was gorgeous.
06:25She was just sweet.
06:27Really, really sweet.
06:30She was a really kind and caring little girl.
06:33CHILDREN SING
06:36She loved music, she loved singing, she loved dancing to it.
06:41CHILDREN SING
06:47She was always fiercely independent.
06:53I'm the youngest.
06:54There's Kai, and then Becky, Jade, and then me.
06:57Jade was eight years older than me, so I've always been the baby.
07:00Even now, they call me the baby.
07:05We all shared a room, me and my sisters.
07:07But I used to stay in Jade's bed all the time, cos we were, like, so close.
07:12I first moved into this house with the twins,
07:14and Jade was a lovely, bubbly nine-year-old girl.
07:18And very quickly, we built up a friendship, myself and Karen.
07:21I became Jade's godmother, and Karen became my younger daughter's godmother.
07:31We met when I was about 11 or 12.
07:35She was wild.
07:37Loved life. Absolutely loved life.
07:39She started dying her hair, and I said,
07:41''What have you done?''
07:42She had the outrageous claws, but I and Jade could carry it off.
07:52LAUGHTER
07:55She was so fun.
07:57That was my bed.
08:00That was in Shotton.
08:02Yeah.
08:03Thereabouts, where you'll find all the clothes, you'll find everything there.
08:07Look at that.
08:08I did live there.
08:09Oh!
08:12Russell's arrested on suspicion of murder,
08:14and then he gets a phone call from a friend.
08:17He's got a phone, and he's got a phone.
08:19He's got a phone.
08:20He's got a phone.
08:21He's got a phone.
08:22He's got a phone.
08:23He's got a phone.
08:24He's got a phone.
08:25He's got a phone.
08:26And then he gets taken to High Custody.
08:30It was half past ten in the morning that I'm notified
08:33and asked to help lead that investigation.
08:37A woman who was found dead at a property in Shotton in Flintshire
08:40on Thursday morning has been named locally as 27-year-old Jade Ward.
08:45A 29-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder
08:48and is in police custody.
08:56When you've woken up Wednesday morning,
08:58did you have plans to go to that address?
09:02No, I didn't.
09:05What was your intention on getting to that address?
09:10Coming.
09:12This is a murder investigation.
09:14It's his opportunity to tell us, as the investigation team,
09:19what's happened.
09:21You tell me what you know about the murder.
09:26No comment.
09:27Because Russell was given sort of no real indication
09:31as to what's happened, we need to piece everything together.
09:35So I'm going to ask you then, Russell,
09:37are you responsible for the murder of Jade?
09:41No comment.
09:51A mother-of-four who was found dead at her home
09:54has been named locally as 27-year-old Jade Ward.
10:00North Wales Police said a man aged 29
10:03has been arrested on suspicion of murder and is in custody.
10:07In relation then to the murder of Jade,
10:11you were cautioned and there was no reply at the time of caution.
10:14However, you have stated,
10:16I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I f***ing love her and I love my boys.
10:22You then stated, you don't know the truth.
10:26I don't know the truth.
10:28I don't know the truth.
10:30I don't know the truth.
10:32I don't know the truth.
10:34I don't know the truth.
10:35You then stated, you don't know,
10:37you don't know what I've gone through for three years.
10:42Can you confirm that you said those words?
10:46No comment.
10:48Because he had come into the police station,
10:51I thought he was going to tell us everything.
10:54So I was really disappointed to hear on that first interview
10:57that he didn't answer any of those questions.
11:01What was it about Jade that attracted you to her?
11:06No comment.
11:14She met Russell, I think she was about 16,
11:17and they hit it off straight away, I think.
11:20I was nine when they first got together.
11:22And he seemed nice.
11:23They seemed like they were happy.
11:25Definitely.
11:26And then she obviously found out she was pregnant then.
11:29I remember Jade telling me she was pregnant.
11:31We were stood in just the hallway of the house.
11:33She was like, you're going to be an auntie.
11:35She always said she wanted quite a few kids
11:38and to have that happy, crazy family lifestyle.
11:42Jade, who was the teenager,
11:43has suddenly transformed into Jade, the mum.
11:46Jade, the adult.
11:48It was really nice to see.
11:49It was like, that's who Jade's supposed to be.
11:51Jade calling in life was to be a mum.
11:55She was absolutely a mum.
11:57She was absolutely amazing at it.
12:07Before we go through, is there anything you want to tell us?
12:17His behaviour was, one minute he sort of couldn't talk.
12:23He was sort of heaving.
12:26And then the next minute he would just sort of not react at all.
12:32There's clearly things going through your head.
12:35You've probably got a lot of images and a lot of memories in there.
12:40And the questions are only going to get harder in the next interview for you.
12:48Right at the beginning, I thought he was nice.
12:52When I first met him, yes, I did like him.
12:56We loved that man.
12:58You know, we loved him, we accepted him into our family.
13:03As much as he seemed very sociable, he was very quiet.
13:07Didn't really like to get himself involved in things too much.
13:12Would you describe yourself as aggressive in the relationship?
13:17No comment.
13:18A few years in, into the relationship, I'd say he definitely changed.
13:25I'd see text messages like, you're not doing this,
13:28and I don't want you to do that, you're not going.
13:34She was a strong person, but I also think that in some cases,
13:38Jade found it easier to just go along with things,
13:41rather than to have an argument because she wasn't confrontational.
13:45You described as controlling, jealous, obsessive.
13:50Have you got any comment to make in relation to that?
13:53No comment.
13:54OK.
14:00He would visit the co-op that she worked in.
14:04He would phone the co-op to make sure that she was there.
14:09He'd go onto his Snapchat and he'd know where she was,
14:13wherever her phone was, he knew where she was.
14:17Wherever she was, he'd turn up,
14:19but he'd ring and ring and ring and text and text.
14:23He would just hound her and hound her and hound her.
14:28She'd always have to change her passwords
14:30because he'd just go snooping on everything.
14:32He was very possessive.
14:34To me, looking back, that was signs of a coercive relationship
14:37that I'd missed out on.
14:39Wanted her all to himself. Didn't want to share her.
14:45Whenever they did split up,
14:47because they did split up on a number of occasions,
14:50he would, you know, sort of drive past the house,
14:53want to know where she was, what she was doing, who she was with.
14:58He'd drive past the house and then he'd stop and he'd beep
15:03and he'd shout and it was just all too much for her.
15:06She didn't really want to be back with him,
15:08but she got back with him for the boy's sake.
15:13She'd give him chance after chance after chance.
15:17Jade didn't want her children to be from a broken family.
15:20She wanted her children to all be as part of a family unit.
15:24Jade would do anything to keep the boys happy.
15:28The boys were Jade's life, end of.
15:32At this stage, we know that you had a relationship with Jade.
15:35OK, that relationship was some ten years long.
15:38And, obviously, you fathered four of Jade's children.
15:41You were split up and got back together with Jade a number of times.
15:44That's been evidenced by friends and family.
15:47If any of what I'm saying is incorrect, please do correct me.
15:50I'm not here to put words in your mouth.
15:52He'd gone and booked the wedding,
15:57booked the reception, sorted everything out,
16:01without Jade knowing.
16:03Jade didn't know she was getting married
16:06until she'd come in from work and the kids told her.
16:09Jade couldn't break the ban.
16:11She couldn't break the ban.
16:13She couldn't break the ban.
16:15She couldn't break the ban.
16:17She couldn't break the ban.
16:20Jade couldn't break the boys' hearts,
16:23you know, by saying, not a chance, matey.
16:26She just went along with it cos she didn't want to disappoint the boys.
16:30She didn't want to marry him, she didn't want to get married.
16:34Jade had no say in the wedding.
16:37It was all done by him.
16:42She was really heavily pregnant at the time, number four.
16:46Definitely a last. She didn't want no more.
16:49All he had there was his parents.
16:52Russell didn't even have no friends that he could have for best man.
16:59As they're walking back up, he looks at her and he says,
17:02you know, now you're mine.
17:06Now, if I'd have heard that,
17:09I'd have told all my family to get him out of here,
17:13cos you'd have known what kind of man he was going to turn out to be.
17:17Worst thing she could have done was marry that guy.
17:22I just hate the fact that she married him.
17:24I hate the fact how things went.
17:26When Jade signed her name, from that day, Jade was doomed.
17:38Towards the last few years,
17:40Jade didn't want to be with him any more.
17:43I think it was because of the way he was.
17:47I think she just fell out of love with him,
17:49and I think he knew that deep down.
17:51I just wouldn't like her doing anything without him.
17:54Jade couldn't do anything.
17:56She couldn't go anywhere, be with anyone without him on the phone.
18:11Jade said that she didn't love you any more
18:14and that she didn't want to sleep with you
18:16because it made her feel sick.
18:19No comment.
18:21The thought of doing anything sexual made her skin crawl.
18:24That was her exact words.
18:26He makes my skin crawl.
18:30Did you love Jade?
18:33Or did you hate her?
18:37No comment.
18:39Russell would regularly look on social media,
18:42and he used that to find out where she was.
18:45It's just another way that he would control Jade
18:48and give her that message to say,
18:51I know where you are, I know what you're doing.
19:07August the 20th, we had gone to a friend's housewarming party.
19:13That night, it was the first time I'd noticed
19:16that Jade was set in stone.
19:18She was done, it was over.
19:20They were still together, but he used to just sleep on the sofa.
19:24She was going back to tell him to pack his stuff and he was gone.
19:27And I said, oh, yeah, Jade, whatever, same old story,
19:30I've heard this a million times over.
19:32She was like, no, I'm really done.
19:38Russell knowing that he was probably starting to lose
19:41some of that control on her.
19:45Russell was fixated on the fact
19:48that Jade might be seeing someone else.
19:53She wasn't.
19:55Every time we do something, we do it together,
19:57there's quite a lot of us, we're all really close.
19:59So we've known Charlie for years.
20:01Jade and Charlie, it was just a friendship.
20:04You know, so they met at parties, nothing happened,
20:07nothing ever, ever, ever happened.
20:12How would you feel about her starting a new relationship?
20:15No comment.
20:20Did you have any issue with her having male friends?
20:27We came back here after we'd been to the housewarming party.
20:32Charlie decided he was just going to drive down.
20:36Jade jumped in with him and I said, no, I wanted a bit of fresh air.
20:39So me and my partner, we walked home.
20:44Unbeknownst to us, Russell was watching from down the street.
20:49And he was texting her.
20:55Bombarding her with texts.
21:02It wasn't like that at that particular time.
21:05She went home and said that she didn't want to be with him anymore.
21:08And he had to leave there and then.
21:13That night, he knew he had no more control over Jade.
21:19That was it then, they were done.
21:21You know, they were done.
21:24Were you concerned that she was having sex with anybody else, Russell?
21:30No comment.
21:35On the 22nd of August, we've got CCTV of Russell visiting Jade in work.
21:43There's no sound.
21:45However, I think you can see from her demeanour that Jade doesn't want Russell there.
21:54This is probably him realising now that this is really the end of the relationship.
21:59Did you plan this?
22:02No comment.
22:09You understand the gravity of this situation, I know you do.
22:12I can see it on your face.
22:14This evidence doesn't look good.
22:17I don't know what to do.
22:19I don't know what to do.
22:21I don't know what to do.
22:23I don't know what to do.
22:25I don't know what to do.
22:28This evidence doesn't look good.
22:36The evidence is pointing towards the fact that you killed your wife.
22:40Russell, is there any reason why you're not being able to explain to us what's happening?
22:48He gave no real indication as to any sort of motive
22:52or why he would want to kill her.
22:56I don't know what to do.
22:58I don't know what to do.
23:00I don't know what to do.
23:02I don't know what to do.
23:04I don't know what to do.
23:06I don't know what to do.
23:09There's been no real indication as to the motive or why he would want to do this,
23:14so it's really important for the investigation team to piece together
23:18not only what happened on the night
23:20but in the days leading up to the killing.
23:23Is there anything you can do to help us understand how Jade died?
23:30No comment.
23:32Russell met his friend in a pub.
23:35He was talking about Jade having an affair
23:39and cheating on him.
23:40And he was saying things like, you'll see me in the papers.
23:45His friend was really quite concerned about his behavior.
23:49He offered to put him up for the night.
23:53Russell was going to stay on the sofa.
23:55His friend left him to go to bed.
23:58Russell was just staring at a blue screen.
24:03His character, he was this family man
24:06where he was doing the right thing, he was working.
24:10And he'd give everyone the impression
24:11that he was this person he wasn't,
24:13because underneath he had a dark side.
24:17My kitchen backs onto the side of their house.
24:20And it's amazing how much you see in a person
24:23without actually speaking to them.
24:26He would pace up and down the side of the house,
24:29chain-smoking, you know, quite angry, stern look on his face.
24:33And there was a time where he was like that
24:36and he was really not in a great mood.
24:38He was fuming.
24:40He was overly angry for somebody whose wife
24:45had just been out with friends.
24:59No comment.
25:01What triggered you to want to do that?
25:06No comment.
25:10The relationship was over between Russell and Jade,
25:13and Jade had asked for the key to the house back.
25:15He wasn't living there at the time.
25:22We got CCTV of Russell going into a shop and getting a key cut.
25:28For me, that shows clear intent.
25:38The last day I spent with Jade, we went to a place in Chester
25:43and we had a picnic up there.
25:45It was a really fun day, the last day we spent with her.
25:52She'd received messages off Russell,
25:54so she knew he'd been looking for her.
25:59He's like, well, where are you? Your car's not there.
26:01You know, so we knew he'd been in the street,
26:03thinking that she was there.
26:06He said that he'd wanted the kids for a few hours
26:08before he went to work at the power plant.
26:11So she said, well, that's fine, you can have the kids.
26:14We're going to pop to the Melrose pub.
26:16So he came, got the kids.
26:18She'd asked him for the house key,
26:20and he said he would do that when he dropped the kids off.
26:22Russell says that he's got to go to work at 6 o'clock,
26:26so she needs to be back by then.
26:28I literally was finishing my drink,
26:29I watched her walk down the street,
26:31and I said, oh, I'll be with you in 5, 10 minutes.
26:35Jade comes back, and some other people come back to the house,
26:39and then Russell goes off to work.
26:46Went down to her house, he'd just left.
26:51She said he was acting a bit weird.
26:55CCTV shows him arriving at work.
27:02It's about half 7, and Jade, Taylor, and Charlie,
27:08and another friend of theirs, they were all just sat
27:11in the front garden, and they were having
27:13an absolute blast that night.
27:16And then the phone call started.
27:18Then the messages were coming.
27:23Message after message, to the point she turned it on silent,
27:25turned it upside down, so we couldn't actually see
27:28when it flashed up that he was ringing,
27:29and it had its own chair in the middle of us.
27:32And I remember turning the phone round,
27:34and she'd had 37 missed calls.
27:37She even made a joke, she said he'd probably be here
27:39somewhere watching us.
27:41From the investigation, we know that just before 10 o'clock
27:44in the evening, he then messages his supervisor
27:47to ask if he can leave work.
27:53His boss replies and says, yeah, that's no problem.
27:56But from work that we've done from the investigation team,
27:59we know that that was a lie, because he
28:01was actually on the phone with his boss,
28:03and he was actually on the phone with his supervisor,
28:05and he was actually on the phone with his supervisor,
28:07and he was actually on the phone with his supervisor,
28:10and that was a lie.
28:11Because we had the CCTV, we were able to show
28:13the route that Russell took.
28:15He didn't go to any hospital.
28:17He didn't contact his brother.
28:21We've got him on CCTV, stopping for petrol and to get a drink.
28:28This is really compelling evidence.
28:32It just can't be disputed.
28:37There was a little connection between Jade and Charlie
28:40that night.
28:41I hadn't seen her that happy in ages.
28:46It was about 11 o'clock, and I had this urge
28:49to go and see Jade.
28:51And as I'm getting closer, I can hear laughing.
28:55And I walk in the gate, and Jade's like, oh, mum.
28:59And do you know what?
28:59She stood up, and she said, mum, I'm finally free.
29:03I've told him, no going back.
29:07We just hugged and kissed and told each other
29:10we loved each other.
29:11And do you know what?
29:12I walked out the gate smiling.
29:18We were able to show that his phone from 11 o'clock
29:22that evening was in the area around Jade's dress.
29:26He parked his car around the corner.
29:37No going back.
29:41And was obviously watching us for quite some time.
29:44It gets me now.
29:45Like, I can't go out in the dark anymore.
29:48I thought of him watched.
29:51I thought that he was sat there for ages just watching us
29:55and listening to our conversations.
29:58I passed him twice.
30:00I passed him when I was walking to Jade's with the dog.
30:05And I passed him as I was walking back.
30:09And he hid very well, because I didn't see him.
30:12Yeah, she just said to me that she'd had a feeling
30:15that he'd leave work and come back down to her house
30:17that night, to which then I agreed that I'd stay there.
30:20And she said to me, no.
30:21She said, I don't think he'd do anything
30:24while the kids are here.
30:25Now, that was her exact words.
30:27I don't think he'd do anything while the kids were here.
30:29I said, are you sure you don't want me to stay?
30:31She said, no, I'll be fine.
30:33So I left.
30:36Jade and Charlie have always been close friends
30:39until that night they were just talking.
30:41And I think they just shared a kiss.
30:44Obviously, Russell's seen.
30:46Charlie gave her a kiss goodnight.
30:50It was at 9 minutes past 12, and everyone went home.
30:53And that was it.
30:57Left in the house is Jade and the four boys.
31:01Russell then lets himself into the house.
31:04And he goes into the bedroom that's downstairs
31:07and whispers into one of the boys' ears
31:10that mummy was kissing another man.
31:13We then think he probably took a knife from the kitchen
31:17and that he went upstairs.
31:19One of the boys says that they heard mummy and daddy arguing.
31:23He falls asleep.
31:25And then at some point, Russell killed Jade.
31:29Did you kill her because she thought that she was having
31:31an infarct with somebody?
31:36No comment.
31:38We know from the pathology results,
31:40Jade had extensive amount of injuries.
31:43Did you cause these injuries?
31:47No comment.
31:49Large slash wounds to her face, stab wounds to her arms.
31:55So the pathology in this case is that she
31:58So the pathology in this case indicates
32:00that Jade was attacked with a knife,
32:02causing slash injuries to her face.
32:05And whilst trying to defend herself,
32:07she sustained stab wounds to the left arm
32:09and cuts to the fingers of the right hand.
32:12How does that make you feel, hearing that?
32:16No comment.
32:17Did you do that to Jade?
32:19No comment.
32:21We had a fingerprint mark in blood
32:25that was on a light switch within the house.
32:30Why is your fingerprint in Jade's blood on the light switch?
32:36No comment.
32:39This evidence firmly put Russell in the house
32:42at the time when Jade has received all of these injuries.
32:46But the actual cause of death was asphyxiation.
32:54The four boys were in the house.
32:56At any time, they could have been woken up.
33:00Your dad said if you've harmed her,
33:02tell me now so we can go to a police station.
33:03Does she need an ambulance?
33:05You've not responded to that.
33:08Why is that?
33:09No comment.
33:10I can only presume you've known in your head
33:13she wasn't going to get any better
33:15because she was dead by that point.
33:18Is that why you didn't phone an ambulance?
33:22No comment.
33:24No, never once did I think he would be able to do something
33:28like that.
33:32I think she must have been so scared and terrified.
33:37It's just unbearable to think.
33:47Just after 2 o'clock in the morning,
33:49Russell's made a phone call to his mum from Jade's phone.
33:53That phone call lasts about 40 minutes.
33:57His supervisor contacted Russell.
34:02He doesn't ignore those messages.
34:04He does actually reply.
34:08He then gets the children, packs them into Jade's car,
34:13and takes them to his mum's house.
34:20Between 10 to 8 in the morning and half past 8 in the morning,
34:23all of the mobile phones go off the network.
34:27And we also know that none of those phones are missing.
34:29So why were those phones?
34:31No comment.
34:32We did do a search after Russell's arrest
34:34of his parents' address, and the mobile phones weren't there.
34:39So what was Russell thinking?
34:42If I get rid of them, they won't be able to show any of this,
34:45and I'll be able to give my own.
34:47We've never recovered the knife.
34:49What have you done with it?
34:50No comment.
34:51Where have you put it?
34:53No comment.
34:56And then he goes to the local police station
34:58and hands himself in with his dad.
35:02With his fake crocodile tears.
35:09At the moment, I don't know what you're sorry for, Russell.
35:11Are you able to tell us what you're sorry for?
35:13I don't know what I'm sorry for.
35:15Russell, are you able to tell me?
35:19Russell, I know you're struggling at the moment,
35:22but can you tell me what's happened?
35:24Is your wife hurt at the moment?
35:30He's more than a monster.
35:32He's more than a monster.
35:37He was just an evil, evil man.
35:41The work he'd done that night was bad, bad work he'd done.
35:52Russell was interviewed five times in total over a few days.
35:56This is your last interview with us now,
35:58so there is going to be a trial.
36:01There is going to be a court case.
36:04Jade's family are likely to be aware of the details
36:07of what happened to Jade, OK?
36:11If you were to plead guilty, then those details
36:15wouldn't come out in the court case.
36:20Come on, Russell, tell us what you're thinking.
36:29Do you want my consultation?
36:31Yeah, I can, yeah.
36:32Do you want us to pause the interview
36:34for further consultation?
36:35OK, the time is paused there in the room.
36:37The client's off for further consultation.
36:39I'm going to pause the interview for that to happen.
36:4927-year-old mother of four, Jade Ward,
36:51was found dead at her home in Flintshire.
36:55Her husband, 29-year-old Russell Marsh,
36:57has been in custody for two days and is still
37:00being questioned following his arrest
37:02on suspicion of her murder.
37:05This is a recommencement of the interview.
37:08Russell, you've asked for further consultation
37:10with your solicitor, OK?
37:13I can only assure you that's because you
37:15want to tell me something.
37:16Tell me what's happened that night.
37:21No comment.
37:23OK, I'm going to complete the interview.
37:29A man's appeared in court accused of murdering
37:3127-year-old Jade Marsh, also known as Jade Ward.
37:35Russell Marsh was remanded in custody by a special court
37:38in Mould.
37:39The 29-year-old spoke only to confirm his name,
37:42address, and date of birth.
37:43He's due to appear at Mould Crown Court on Wednesday.
37:49It's extremely frustrating that Russell didn't talk
37:51or tell us what happened.
37:53It means that we had to go to trial.
37:57He pleaded not guilty to all charges at the beginning.
38:00When the trial has started, he's still changing his account.
38:04Trial was long, grueling, full of lies.
38:11Russell's defense was that he'd gone to the house.
38:14He'd had consensual sex with Jade.
38:17She had the knife.
38:20He said that Jade caused the injuries to herself.
38:24And it was his word that Jade inflicted
38:27all these wounds on herself.
38:29He just tried to blacken her name.
38:31He thought she was going to get away with it.
38:35Russell's defense was that she was
38:38saying some awful things to him about how she'd
38:42moved on with somebody else.
38:43And he says at that point, he could just hear white noise.
38:48And all he wanted to do was to stop her talking.
38:52And at that point, he has strangled her.
38:55He didn't regret what he'd done at all, at all.
38:59Not one ounce of remorse on that person's face.
39:07The jury went out to deliberate.
39:12We were expecting it to take days.
39:15And next minute, we're being called back into the court.
39:18It was like less than two hours.
39:23When we heard the guilty verdict, we were all of us
39:26just burst into tears.
39:29Having to sit and endure two weeks
39:33of the most horrendous evidence.
39:35It was just a, you know, proper, oh my god.
39:40Jailing Marsh for life, the judge
39:42told him he'd been consumed by self-pity and jealousy.
39:45He said his actions had devastated
39:47the lives of Jade's children and the rest of her family
39:50and friends.
39:50And he'd shown absolutely no remorse for what he'd done.
39:54And he warned him there was no guarantee
39:56he'd be released from prison at the end
39:58of his 25-year minimum term.
40:04I think a lot of us felt that when he received a sentence,
40:08that we would feel that justice had been served.
40:12But I don't think any of us felt that.
40:14For me, personally, it wasn't enough.
40:18Before he got taken down, he looked up at us all,
40:21just smiled at us all.
40:24Just not one bit bothered.
40:27He's diabolical.
40:30It was slow, painful, terrifying death he had.
40:37It was like, right, what's next?
40:40Hence Jade's law.
40:47We all thought that with him being in prison, that would be it.
40:51We'll never hear and see him off him again.
40:53To which we found out that wasn't the case at all.
40:57The boys had been put into the family's care.
41:00Even though Russell was a killer,
41:03he was still able to say what school his kids went to,
41:08who they should be with.
41:09He was demanding school reports, wanted photos of them.
41:15And they had to give them to him.
41:19No, I'm not having that.
41:22I'm not having him.
41:23I'm not even having any control over them boys anymore.
41:28So then I spoke to Edwin, and I said, Ed,
41:30we need to do something.
41:34I thought there may be a way to prevent him
41:37by starting a petition.
41:39I had to write it in such a way that
41:41didn't conflict with any sort of legislation at the moment.
41:45So basically, it was a creation of something brand new.
41:49Once I devised the petition, I needed a way
41:52to get this petition out into the general population
41:55to get the numbers.
41:56Team Jade came to being very quickly.
42:00It was made up of Jade's friends or family.
42:03We had all the posters made and little flyers made.
42:07There were YouTube videos produced.
42:10We had people on the radio talking about it.
42:14We had people on the news talking about it,
42:18sharing everything on social media.
42:21We just went for it.
42:23We didn't stop, and we managed to get the 100,000 signatures
42:26in nine days.
42:30Wow, 100,000.
42:33Can't believe it's happened so quick.
42:36It triggered off a debate in Parliament.
42:39The Ministry of Justice were very much
42:41determined that they were not going
42:43to change anything at all.
42:47So we spent the next few months traveling up and down London,
42:51trying to keep MPs on board, trying to keep the pressure on.
42:57I sat down and wrote a lengthy letter to the prime minister
43:01saying that what would he do if his daughter had
43:05been murdered by an individual?
43:07Would he want to communicate with the murderer
43:10of his daughter?
43:17I get a phone call out of the blue.
43:20It was the Minister of Justice, he says,
43:24that they've reconsidered.
43:27We will enact Jade's law.
43:29No family should have to go through this.
43:31And thanks to their efforts, we will protect children
43:34and families by making their law a reality.
43:37Couldn't believe it.
43:40Absolutely made up then.
43:42It felt wonderful, to be honest with you.
43:44For such a small community to have taken on Parliament,
43:50it's absolutely astounding.
43:53So Jade's law is the suspension of parental rights
43:58when one person has taken the life of the other parent.
44:03They've got no control over them kids.
44:07And that's the main thing.
44:10Jade's become immortal through this campaign.
44:13Now she's going to be there forever.
44:25No parents should ever have to bury their own child.
44:30Far too tragic.
44:33Another sad thing that gets me angry
44:36is that the boys have to come up here to visit their mum.
44:40And do you know what?
44:41I prefer the anger than the sadness.
44:45Because the sadness is unbearable.
44:50People just bring up, you know, little things that mean a lot to them.
44:56Oh, Jade.
44:59I mean, I still text her phone in the hope that she'll answer.
45:04But she never answers any more.
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