A jealous thug who strangled and battered his estranged wife to death confessed to the attack after walking into a police station while eating a Chinese takeaway.
Mark Donovan, 39, left the battered body of Elise Mason, 37, in his home before visiting a local pub and two massage parlours. He gave himself up to police just hours after the attack when he walked into the police station in Ilford, Essex, while eating a Chinese takeaway, and told officers that he had done “the worst thing”.
Donovan denied murder and claimed that he acted in self-defence after being emotionally abused and threatened with a knife by Ms Mason on April 25, 2023.
Officers later made the “grim” discovery of her heavily bloodstained body lying on a floor under a blanket near the front door of Donovan’s home which she used to share with him in Rothmans Avenue, Great Baddow near Chelmsford, Essex. She had more than 70 injuries to her face, head, neck, upper body, arms and legs, and blood spots were found on the nearby walls and furniture.
Prosecutors said that a love letter from her new boyfriend was found next to her body, suggesting that Donovan had flown into a “jealous” rage after finding it and had attacked her. The letter had been neatly folded which suggested it had been in her handbag.
Donovan’s defence team argued that he had a personality disorder which meant he had an abnormality of mind at the time, and was therefore only guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
But jurors took under three hours of deliberation to reject the claim and find him unanimously guilty of her murder after a three-week trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.
Donovan had refused to enter the dock while the judge was summing up the case and was in prison when the verdict was returned this afternoon.
Judge Christopher Morgan adjourned sentencing until Wednesday next week, saying he wanted to give Donovan a chance to attend court again.
He thanked jurors for their service, and told them: “There is only one sentence that can be passed, and that is a life sentence. But I have to consider various factors in setting a minimum term before he can be considered for a release on licence.”
The trial heard how the couple had been teenage friends before beginning a romance in 2010 and living together until their relationship fell apart in 2022.
Ms Mason had acted as a carer to Donovan who was partially sighted, epileptic and a Type One diabetic, and had ensured he took his medication, jurors were told.
Prosecutor Andrew Jackson KC said Mr Donovan had “bombarded” her with “manipulative” texts and phone calls to try and win her back before her death.
Mr Jackson said the injuries to her body had been caused by a fist and a “blood-stained table lamp that was found close to her body”.
He added that Ms Mason was last seen entering Donovan’s house on the afternoon of April 25, 2023. Mr Jackson said that Donovan left the house with her phone and bank card around two hours after killing her.
He went to The Blue Lion pub in Great Baddow, where he was seen drinking at the bar, and disposed of her phone in the pub’s toilets before leaving in a taxi.
Donovan went to his grandmother’s home in Chelmsford, before going to a massage parlour in the city, but found it closed. He then went to another massage parlour in Romford, east London, before handing himself in at Ilford police station at 2:31am the following day while he was tucking into his Chinese meal.
Mr Jackson described how Ms Mason’s body was found, saying: “She had her coat on and her shoes with her handbag around her neck, looking like she was about to leave.”
He told the jury: “Found next to her was a love letter from her new boyfriend. You can readily conclude that she had been carrying it in her handbag which was found nearby.
“That was the bag that she was carrying over her shoulder as she took the fatal walk to Rothmans Avenue that day. The prosecution say that you can readily conclude that he [Donovan] saw that letter and it was that and her texting him that afternoon that probably caused that anger and murderous violence towards Elise.”
The trial heard that Ms Mason had texted her current partner while at Donovan’s home, asking: “You okay babe’. He replied ‘course babe’ seven minutes later at 4.49pm, but his message was never marked as read, suggesting that Donovan had already murdered her.
Mr Jackson said: “It tells you that at 4.42pm, half an hour after she went in, she appears to be capable of sending a message, but something happened between then and 4.49pm that meant she could not read his response.”
Dr Raman Deo, a consultant forensic psychiatrist acting for the Crown, found that Donovan had a personality disorder, but he told the court that he did not believe that he had an abnormality of mental functioning at the time of the killing.
Dr Nadji Kahtan, a forensic psychiatrist called by the defence, said that Ms Mason’s new relationship might have contributed to him suffering such an abnormality.
But jurors appeared to side with evidence given by Dr Deo and the prosecutor’s explanation that the killing was due to Donovan being “simply unable to deal with the breakdown of the relationship leading to anger and violence.”
Donovan did not give evidence in his trial, but told psychiatrists that he had gone upstairs to get a present for Ms Mason only for him to point what he thought was a knife at him.
He also claimed she had bitten him, stabbed him, put in a dog cage and pushed him down the stairs on previous occasions. Ms Mason’s mother paid tribute to her after her death, saying: “I have not only lost my daughter, but I have lost my best friend too. Elise was a fantastic mother to her children and she was loved by everybody.”
Detective Inspector James Holmes, senior investigating officer for Essex Police, said: “I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to Elise’s family and in particular her two children, who have tragically been left without their mother because of Donovan’s destructive and utterly heartless actions.
“I hope that the jury’s verdict will bring some closure for them, and they can move on with their lives to some degree. Mark Donovan is clearly a dangerous, selfish and manipulative man.
“Never content with accepting responsibility for the horrific attack he carried out against Elise, he instead decided to tell officers, medical professionals and a jury a series of awful lies about his victim in a bid to shift the blame onto her. Thankfully, due to the evidence we managed to gather, a jury saw through this despicable ploy.
“In reality, Donovan’s warped and self-centred mind could never accept that Elise had moved on from their relationship. He killed her in a fit of rage, only handing himself in after enjoying a drink at a pub, a massage and a takeaway meal. That behaviour shows the kind of man he is. He can expect to spend the rest of his life where he belongs.”
