The Murder of Jade Ward

REAL

Naomi Channell

Society & Culture, News, Documentary, True Crime

4.8 • 725 Ratings

🗓️ 10 December 2025

⏱️ 32 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 2021, Jade Ward finally broke up with the father of her 4 children, after years of enduring his controlling behaviour. He'd even booked them a secret wedding, in an attempt to 'keep her'.

But Russell decided that if he couldn't have her, nobody else could either.

Jade was murdered and her children were devestated at the loss of their caring and devoted mother, but from his prison cell, Russell was still controlling the children, because HE had parental rights.

Until Jade's family decided enough was enough... and changed the law.

This is REAL.

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https://www.edwinduggan.co.uk/

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Warning, this is a true crime podcast and is not suitable for all audiences.
0:05.5	Please use discretion.
0:08.1	Imagine this.
0:09.6	Your father kills your mother.
0:12.0	Your father is sent to prison.
0:14.7	But he still has parental responsibility for you.
0:19.6	He can decide if you go on school trips. He can decide where you're
0:24.5	educated, if you can travel and make decisions regarding your healthcare. Well thankfully in the UK,
0:32.5	there is now a law that's going to come into effect that will stop that from being the case.
0:39.2	Children who have had one parent take the life of another won't be under that living parents' control.
0:48.7	But behind this law, known as Jade's law, there's a mother who will never see her four children again, because of the evil actions of their father.
1:00.2	I'm Today's case takes us to Shotton in Flintshire, a small town in Wales on the border of England.
1:49.5	It's home to just over 6,500 people, and in August 2021, it was home to 27-year-old mother of four, Jade Ward.
2:00.8	When Jade was 16, she met a man called Russell Marsh.
2:05.6	He was two years older than her, and when they started dating, Jade's friends and family
2:11.5	could see how quickly she'd become infatuated with him.
2:16.2	They accepted him and welcomed him into their family with open arms.
2:22.4	They liked him, they thought they made a good couple, and shortly after meeting, Jade fell
2:29.2	pregnant with their first child. She'd always wanted to be a mum, so despite being a young mum, she was
2:38.0	excited, and when she gave birth to their son, she doted on him. A few years into their relationship,
2:46.4	Jade's friends and family noticed that Russell's behaviour towards Jade had started to change.
2:53.9	He became possessive and controlling. He needed to know where she was at all times.
	...

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