Jeroen Ensink: Wife blames ‘austerity’ one year after tragic knife death outside Holloway home

A young mother has blamed “austerity” for mistakes which led to a mentally ill man being free to kill her husband.

Renowned academic Dr Jeroen Ensink, 41, was set upon as he left home in Hilldrop Crescent, Holloway, to post cards announcing the birth of his daughter, Fleur, a year ago tomorrow.

Student Femi Nandap, 23, admitted carrying out the frenzied knife attack and was handed an indefinite hospital order in October.

Since then, Dr Ensink’s widow has emailed an open letter to politicians including Labour leader and Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn calling for an independent investigation into the circumstances of his death.

The Old Bailey heard that police were alerted that Nandap was receiving psychiatric treatment in Nigeria while on bail awaiting trial on knife-related charges earlier in 2015.

And days before the killing, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case against him in a magistrates’ court.

On the eve of the anniversary, Nadja Ensink-Teich said she is frustrated that lessons were not being learned.

She said: “It’s an issue with austerity, it’s an issue with not sharing information. If the police and CPS collaborated, information would have been shared.

“The CPS did not even know he was in a mental hospital. All the information came out later on. If they had known about that before, he would have got psychiatric help and then it might not have happened.”

She went on: “The CPS said a mistake has been made and the charges should not have been dropped.

“Clearly, mistakes have happened and they admit it and it’s like, so what? There was no sorry. There was nothing.

“I do not know if there are going to be any consequences and they won’t discuss this with me.”

On the heavy toll of the past year, she said: “It’s surviving, it’s not living. My friends and family have been absolutely amazing.

“It’s just been really hard. I’m completely exhausted but sitting still is not an option.”

Her daughter, who was just days old when her father was killed, is a great comfort to her. She said: “She is the most gorgeous little girl. So beautiful. She is the reason I get up in the morning. She’s the reason I can’t give up.”

An inquest is due to be held into the death of Dr Ensink in April, yet his widow fears it will not deal with the wider issues.

She said: “I do not think they will look much further at what could have been done to prevent this. I see it as a start. I don’t think it’s the end of it.”

Nandap admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in October.

He told psychiatrists that he started to receive telepathic messages and considered himself the “chosen one” or “Messiah” in spring 2015.

While on conditional bail for knife-related charges, he went to Nigeria where he was treated with anti-psychotic drugs which he stopped taking by the time of his return to the UK.

On August 25, his sister had handed a letter to police saying he was not fit to travel back to the UK earlier because he was suffering “depression and psychosis”.

Just six days before he attacked Dr Ensink, Nandap had charges of possession of a knife and assaulting a police officer dropped in a magistrates’ court.

Mrs Ensink-Teich discovered her husband had been killed when she went outside and saw the blood-stained cards he had been carrying strewn on the pavement.

Reporting by Press Association.