A man who brutally murdered his ex-wife callously went to the pub for a drink and ate a Chinese meal before turning himself in.
CCTV captured the movements of Mark Donovan, 39, who inflicted 70 separate injuries on Elise Mason, 37, in their Chelmsford, Essex home on April 25, 2023.
He strangled the beloved mum-of-two and battered her with a lamp – because he could ‘never accept that she had moved on from their relationship’.
After killing Elise, Donovan visited his local pub, The Blue Lion – where he discarded Elise’s phone in a toilet.
He enjoyed a drink, then went to two separate massage parlours, before ordering a Chinese takeaway and turning himself in at Ilford Police Station.
Donovan was munching on noodles while speaking to an officer in the station.
A jury at Chelmsford Crown Court found him guilty of murder last week, and he is facing a hefty prison sentence when he’s sentenced on Wednesday.
Elise’s mum previously said: ‘ 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. Please respect our privacy at this time.’
DI James Holmes 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.
This Is Not Right
On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.
Throughout the year we will be bringing you stories that shine a light on the sheer scale of the epidemic.
With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to engage and empower our readers on the issue of violence against women.
You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at [email protected].
Read more:
- Introducing This Is Not Right: Metro’s year-long violence against women campaign
- Yvette Cooper’s message to abusers and rapists: The streets don’t belong to you
- Remembering the women killed by men in 2024
- Stories about violence against women don’t make an impact – this is why
- Men – we need your help to end violence against women
- What to do if your loved one is at risk from domestic abuse
‘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.
Learn more about femicide
- On average, one woman a week is killed by a partner/ex-partner.
- Of the 249 female domestic homicide victims between March 2020 and March 2022, the suspect was male in a staggering 241 cases.
- Women’s Aid have found that women are over three times more likely to be killed by a partner than by not wearing a seatbelt
- A Killed Women survey found that only 4% of bereaved family members said their loved one’s killing was not preventable at all
‘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.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
