A father of three accused of murdering his wife and eldest daughter did so because he was “jealous” and “angry”, a court heard.

Marcin Zdun, 40, is standing trial at Winchester Crown Court charged with two counts of murder following the death of his wife Aneta, 40, and daughter Nikoleta, 18 at their home in Wessex Road, Salisbury.

He has previously pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Today (December 2), as the trial began, a jury was told that Zdun and his wife, a community support worker at Wessex Care, had separated and that the defendant had moved out of the family home about a month and a half prior to the killings.

'Children screaming in terror'

In his opening statement, prosecutor Nicholas Haggan QC said the former employee at the Tesco store on Southampton Road had been living in lodgings on Rawlence Road but returned to the family home in the afternoon of June 1.

Addressing the jury, Mr Haggan said: “Within a matter of minutes of his arrival, various neighbours and workmen in the vicinity of the property heard children screaming.

“As you will hear for yourselves, it was not the sound of children playing. It was the sound of children screaming in terror.”

It is alleged Zdun used a knife to cut the throats of his wife and daughter in a pathway running along the side of the property.

Mr Haggan said Aneta and Nikoleta suffered “catastrophic” injuries.

“Despite the best efforts of the several police officers that attended the scene, both women died on the pathway before the paramedics arrived.

“Had the paramedics arrived sooner, it would have made no difference,” Mr Haggan told the court.

After the killings, Zdun was chased by workmen who detained him until the police arrived.

When he was arrested, he was found with a knife, £900 and his passport. 

Marriage 'difficulties'

The court heard there were “difficulties” in the marriage between Aneta and the defendant and the defendant wrongly suspected she’d been having an affair with another Tesco worker.

He had complained about the house being “a mess” and the way Aneta spent the family money and “he did not like the closeness of the relationship between Aneta and Nikoleta”.

“He felt Aneta gave Nikoleta her own way too often and the two of them were pushing him out of the marriage. This clearly angered him,” Mr Haggan said.

Victim's earlier fears

On April 3, the court heard Zdun tried to strangle his wife. When Nikoleta intervened to stop him he allegedly pushed her against the kitchen cupboard.

Five days later, in an exchange of messages on Facebook, Aneta told her mum in Poland that she was “worried the defendant might kill her and the children”.

“She told her the defendant was a psycho and that her eldest daughter Nikoleta was terrified of him,” Mr Haggan said.

Zdun moved out on April 13. Just two days before the killings, on May 30, he agreed to a divorce.

The trial continues.