Berrow death: David Jackson was no threat when killed by wife, jury told

A woman accused of murdering her husband stabbed him with a kitchen knife in their home when he was no threat to her, jurors have heard.

Penelope Jackson, 66, stabbed husband of 24 years David, 78, three times in Berrow, Somerset, in February.

Prosecutor Christopher Quinlan suggested she had "deliberately lunged" at her husband and he was no threat when she attacked him a second time.

Mrs Jackson admits manslaughter but denies murder.

She says her husband was coercive, controlling and physically violent, and that she lost control when he called her "pathetic" and later taunted her in the kitchen, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Following a row over a gourmet meal on Zoom with their daughter and son-in-law, Mr Jackson was first slashed across the chest in a bedroom of the couple's house, jurors heard.

He was then stabbed twice in the kitchen while on the phone to the emergency services, the court heard.

"I didn't intend anything. I had lost the plot, I had reacted. I knew I stabbed him - it was the blood - I was horrified," said Mrs Jackson.

Referring to the 999 call, in which Mr Jackson could be heard summoning help, Mr Quinlan, cross-examining, said: "He was not threatening to you when you stabbed him again?"

Mrs Jackson replied: "It was that face."

Mr Quinlan continued: "He was calling for help. You did it twice when he was calling for help, Mrs Jackson. No threat to you, was he? Was he?"

Mrs Jackson replied: "He was in my… taunting me… I never thought… I lost it.

Breaking down, she told the court: "I didn't know what I thought, I wasn't thinking. He was always a threat when he had that face on."

Mr Quinlan said that in her defence case statement there was no mention of Mr Jackson being "face to face" with her in the kitchen.

The court was also told Mrs Jackson had called the police in December when Mr Jackson smashed a glass door with a poker during a row over the TV remote control.

Also giving evidence, son-in-law Tom Potterton told the court he and his wife had joined the defendant and Mr Jackson for the Zoom meal and that he had witnessed the argument, over bubble and squeak.

"David said that if Penny didn't stop going on about it, he would walk away and my wife started to diffuse the situation," he said.

"[David] said something along the lines of, 'You can't admit when you are wrong'. He was really calm, he just said it as anybody would," Mr Potterton said.

"Penny was upset. She looked as though she had been crying."

The trial continues.

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