Banker stabbed to death by partner told colleague she ‘wasn’t coping’ with break-up

A banker murdered by his partner offered her £70,000 and a plot of land in Greece in a split up deal, a court has heard.

Henrik Slotsaa had admitted to his partner Joanna Cierpka on her birthday that he had met someone else he ‘liked’.

Mr Slotsaa, 52, had offered Cierpka, 51, a financial settlement for a breakup, months before his body was found by police at their home in Elephant and Castle, south London.

The Old Bailey was told officers found the Citibank worker dead in his bedroom in March, while Cierpka was discovered injured in the living room.

Cierpka, from Poland, denied a charge of murder, but claims she is guilty of manslaughter by reason of her diminished responsibility.

A prosecution psychiatrist has said jealousy over Mr Slotsaa’s new relationship with Aimee O’Shaughnessy could have played a part in his alleged murder.

Mr Slotsaa had met Ms O’Shaughnessy at a work event last November, a couple of months after he started at Citibank’s Canary Wharf offices.

The pair later exchanged numbers and had a lunch on at least a couple of occasions, including in January 2026, when Mr Slotsaa told Ms O”Shaughnessy he ‘enjoyed spending time’ with her, to which she replied she wasn’t ready to ‘get involved with someone’ at that point in her life.

Asked what she understood their relationship status to be, Ms O’Shaughnessy told court they were just friends.

She added that Mr Slotsaa had mentioned having a ‘hard time’ in his current relationship with Cierpka, who he said was suffering from depression and had stopped taking her medication to treat it.

Mr Slotsaa had confided in her plans to financially resolve things with Cierpka so they could separate, she told the court.

She said: ‘He was very good with his numbers and he worked a plan out that he thought could potentially work.

‘But he was still very concerned about that because he didn’t think it was the right thing to do because his partner, he deemed her to be not coping.’

Asked what could have been on the table as part of an offer, Ms O’Shaughnessy said Mr Slotsaa was considering an offer of £70,000 and a plot of land in Greece.

In one text message sent to Ms O’Shaughnessy, Mr Slotsaa wrote: ‘I always need you for some reason, I can’t explain.’

‘We’re def friends for life so you are stuck with me’, she replied.

Following her arrest, Cierpka told a psychiatrist that Mr Slotsaa had admitted last December that he no longer loved her and had met someone else at work.

Jurors heard that she also told a member of staff at hospital that she had ‘killed her partner’, a remark which was recorded in a note dated and signed by her.

The trial continues.

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