Officers among the first on the scene of an alleged double murder in Suffolk have given evidence in court.
The trial of Peter Nash continued on Wednesday, April 26, in which he is accused of murdering his wife and 12-year-old daughter before trying to kill himself.
When the emergency services entered their home in Great Waldingfield, near Sudbury, they found Mrs Nash’s dead body on the floor in the living room under a quilt and Louise’s body under a sheet in a bedroom.
Two of the officers first on the scene have given evidence before the jury in Ipswich Crown Court.
The court heard that they had been called to the bungalow in Heath Estate in Great Waldingfield on the morning of September 8 last year.
When they had gained entry, officers were greeted with a "pungent" smell of gas, which meant they quickly had to leave and then helped evacuate nearby properties.
It was earlier heard in the trial that Mr Nash allegedly tried to kill himself by gassing himself and then stabbing himself when that failed.
Giving evidence, the officer then heard fire crew members shout something along the lines of: "We have people in here."
When the man, who was still alive but bleeding, was discovered to be holding a knife, emergency services fled through the window and shouted repeatedly for him to drop the knife.
In police bodyworn footage shown in court, Mr Nash was seen being tasered, before eventually dropping the knife.
He had 22 stab wounds, according to the consultant at Addenbrooke's Hospital, which the court heard were "self-inflicted".
The court heard earlier in the trial how Mr Nash, 47, had confronted his wife Jillu, 44, after discovering a picture of her with another man.
Mrs Nash had been having an affair with a man she worked with at Homebase in Sudbury and had been preparing to leave her husband/
It is alleged he strangled her before stabbing their daughter Louise, who was described as being autistic and non-verbal, and didn’t go to school.
A Home Office post-mortem examination found that Jillu Nash’s cause of death was pressure on the neck while Louise Nash died from a stab wound to the abdomen.
The trial continues.
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