A MAN strangled his ex-partner after bombarding her with vitreolic text messages, a court heard.

Teacher Sally Jessop stayed in the unhappy relationship with Peter Hutchings because she feared he would kill her if ever she left him, which she finally did in the early part of last year.

Her worst fears came true on New Year’s Eve, when he tied a ligature round her neck at their former home in Harcourt Drive, Canterbury.

Hutchings, 60, is on trial at Maidstone Crown Court where he denies murdering the 48-year-old teacher but admits manslaughter on the grounds of provocation.

Prosecutor Eleanor Laws said: “It is the Crown’s case that he was not so provoked, and that he strangled her intending to do at the very least, really serious harm.”

The jury heard how his messages to his former partner became more sinister after he discovered she had formed a relationship with another man.

Hutchings and Miss Jessop had been together for 24 years until their relationship ended 10 months before her death.

For much of that time Miss Jessop, who was head of English and music at Joy Lane Junior School in Whitstable, was the breadwinner, while he stayed at home as a 'house husband’ and cared for their daughter, Frances, now in her early 20s.

In August, last year, Miss Jessop started to keep a diary of the texts Hutchings sent to her. One dated August 9 read: “Romance will be the death of you.” In another, he wrote the words: “Who will mourn?”

In the end she gave up writing them down but they did continue.

Another aspect of his behaviour was that he sometimes followed her. He would, for example, turn up at the tennis court where she played, and would take her mobile phone from the car and interfere with it.

His threatening messages to her would be deleted, along with the telephone number of her new partner, the court was told.

The trial continues.

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