Penelope Jackson guilty of murdering husband over dinner row

A woman has been found guilty of murder after stabbing her husband to death following a row over a birthday meal.

Penelope Jackson, 66, attacked 78-year-old David Jackson with a kitchen knife at their home in Somerset in February.

Jackson claimed her husband was violent and coercively controlling and that he had "ruined" her special occasion by belittling her.

At Bristol Crown Court she was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 18 years.

Jurors found her guilty by a majority verdict of 10-2 after almost 11 hours of deliberation.

She stabbed Mr Jackson, her fourth husband, three times with a kitchen knife at their home in Berrow.

The killing followed a row over a serving of bubble and squeak with a gourmet meal bought for them by their daughter.

The pair had eaten the meal with their daughter and son-in-law, Isabelle and Tom Potterton, on a Zoom call as the birthday took place in lockdown.

Mr and Mrs Potterton told the court they believed the row had blown over before the call ended.

But later, Mr Jackson called the emergency services after he had been wounded, and his wife stabbed him again while he was on the phone.

He was heard screaming in pain as she drove the knife into him for the final time.

Jackson then took over the call, saying: "I've killed my husband, or tried to, because I've had enough."

She then told a call handler her husband of 24 years was "bleeding to death with any luck".

And in bodyworn footage, released by the police when they went to the couple's home on 13 February, she told officers "I stabbed him, I've had enough" and that she "should have stabbed him a bit more".

Mrs Potterton said "my whole world fell away from my feet" when police knocked on her door to tell her what had happened.

"I had not only lost my dad but I had lost my mum too. My life was changed forever," she said.

"I have lost the man that I looked up to and loved. I have lost the man that was always there for me no matter what," she added.

She said she still loved her mother but that their relationship would never be the same.

"I have lost the woman who always knew how to make me feel better. Yes I know mum is here but she's not the same person I knew," said Ms Potterton.

Her husband Tom said he could never forgive Jackson for the pain she had caused his wife.

"This did not have to happen. It was a selfish act with no regard to how it may affect those who were close to yourself and David, you could have walked away but you chose not," he added.

As he jailed Jackson, Judge Martin Picton said that she had shown "not a shred of remorse" for the killing and had sought to portray her husband as a "monster".

"Whilst there was no doubt, as in any marriage, points of friction that the lockdown would have exacerbated. I have no doubt that he was nothing like the person you have claimed.

"You took the life of another human being. That is a terrible thing to do and it represents a burden you and all the other family members will have to bear for the rest of their lives," he said.

David Jackson's estranged daughter Jane Calverley accused the defendant of being the abuser in the relationship and that her father would never have asked for help because he would have been too proud to admit to being bullied and abused by his wife.

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