Kettering killer Saju Chelavalel pleads guilty to three murders of wife and two children

A man has pleaded guilty to three murder charges after the death of his wife and children in Kettering last year.

Speaking through an interpreter, Saju Chelavalel wearing a grey sweatshirt spoke to confirm his name and then pleaded guilty to each charge put to him by the court.

After pleading guilty to the murder of his wife Anju Asok, 35, son Jeeva Saju, six, and four-year-old daughter Janvi Saju, Chelavalel sobbed into his hands.

He said: “I don’t know what happened but I’m guilty.”

Police were called to Petherton Court at about 11.15am on December 15 and found Kettering General Hospital nurse Ms Asok and her children with serious injuries.

Ms Asok, who moved to the UK from Kerala in India in 2021, died at the scene while Jeeva and his sister Janvi, who both went to Kettering Park Infant Academy, died at hospital.

Forensic post-mortem examinations found that all three died as a result of asphyxiation.

Officer in charge of the investigation DI Simon Barnes from Northants Police confirmed Chelavalel was the biological father of the children.

Chelavalel has been remanded back into custody and is due to be sentenced on July 3 at Northampton Crown Court.

Judge Herbert KC said: “There can be only one sentence and that’s a life sentence.”

Jeeva and and his sister Janvi were pupils at nearby Kettering Park Infant Academy in Park Avenue having joined the school in 2022.

At the time of the incident, their headteacher Sarah Powell paid tribute to them in a statement.

She said: "They were delightful and caring children who had many friends at our school. They will be sadly missed by us all.”

Their mother Anju Asok, a 35-year-old Kettering General Hospital nurse, was originally from Kerala in India.

Paying tribute following her death, KGH chief executive Deborah Needham said: “Anju Asok was an internationally trained nurse who joined our KGH family in 2021 and predominantly worked on Barnwell B - one of our orthopaedic wards.

“She was a committed and compassionate staff nurse, who was loved and respected by her dear friends and colleagues.

“All our thoughts are with her friends and family as they come to terms with this sudden loss.”

It is believed that the children and their mother were killed late in the evening of December 14 or sometime in the early hours of the next day (December 15, 2022).