Simon Birch killing: Accused feared man had killed sister

A man accused of murdering a guest on Christmas Day feared the victim had killed his sister in a domestic violence attack, a court has heard.

Simon Birch, 39, was fatally wounded in the neck at the home of Adam Jenkins in Newbottle, Sunderland, at about 23:20 GMT on 25 December 2021.

At Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Jenkins, 36, has denied murder and manslaughter.

He told jurors that moments before the fatal attack, Mr Birch had knocked his sister Emma unconscious.

The court has heard that Mr Birch had been in a relationship with Emma for two-and-a-half years and that there had been multiple incidents of domestic abuse.

Mr Jenkins said he had been in bed after a "brilliant" and "perfect" day of celebrating Christmas when he heard the couple were fighting.

He said Mr Birch was "out of control" and had chased Ms Jenkins into the living room, grabbed her by the hair and repeatedly landed uppercuts to her face.

Mr Jenkins said his sister was screaming hysterically that she was going to be killed and he tried to grab Mr Birch, but to no avail.

He said Ms Jenkins then fell silently to the floor and he was "100% sure" she had been killed.

He said Mr Birch then attacked him and his partner Natalie Shaw, and in the chaos he ended up shut in the kitchen away from Mr Birch and his other relatives.

Mr Jenkins said he could still hear screaming and kicked at the door in a bid to get out and "protect my family" from Mr Birch, adding he believed "he had already killed one of them" and "Simon was going to kill all my family members".

Mr Birch was then forced out of the house and Mr Jenkins ran at him in the driveway and fatally stabbed him in the neck in an attack that was caught on CCTV, the court heard.

He said he could not recall picking up a knife but he "must have had a knife in my hand to cause the injury" and he assumed he had taken it to "protect" himself from Mr Birch.

He said the two men were shouting at each other and Mr Birch walked towards him with his arms outstretched in a manner suggesting he wanted a fight and then punched Mr Jenkins in the chest.

Mr Jenkins said he could not remember inflicting the fatal blow but his assumption now was that he had held the knife up to tell Mr Birch to "back off" and leave the property.

When asked by his barrister Jeremy Dein KC if he "deliberately slashed the throat" of Mr Birch, Mr Jenkins replied: "No I did not."

He also said he "definitely [did] not" mean to harm Mr Birch, adding: "I'm not a violent person. It's not my nature."

He said his next memory was hearing his partner shouting at him and telling him to call an ambulance, which he did.

He also attempted CPR, adding: "I was just in a total panic and shock trying to get an ambulance there and trying to keep him alive."

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Francis Fitzgibbon KC, Mr Jenkins admitted Mr Birch did not have a weapon but he "had his two fists".

He rejected the prosecutor's claim that he did not like Mr Birch and said he "totally disagreed" with Mr Fitzgibbons saying the reason he took the knife out was because that was the "only way you could get the better of him in a fight".

Mr Fitzgibbon said Mr Jenkins' failure to remember the fatal blow was a "lie" but the defendant said he had told jurors everything he could recall.

Mr Jenkins earlier told jurors he was close to his sister and became friends with Mr Birch after the couple got together in March 2019.

He said he knew Mr Birch could be violent and had previous convictions but he initially believed everything was fine with the relationship.

But trouble began in April 2021 when Mr Birch began taking ketamine and drinking heavily, and the relationship was "out of control with violence" with Mr Birch giving Ms Jenkins black eyes, a burst nose and lips.

He said he was scared of Mr Birch's "volatile and erratic" temper, adding Mr Birch would "scream and shout and demand" and would gesture with his arms when "really angry".

Mr Jenkins said he would act a "peacemaker" between the couple but never tried to break them up as Ms Jenkins would "take him back regardless" and Mr Birch would have reacted violently against the whole family.

He said Mr Birch got "clean" in August 2021 and, after being "reassured" by Ms Jenkins that the "relationship was fine", he invited Mr Birch over on Christmas day.

The court also heard how Mr Jenkins left school at 16 to become an apprentice bricklayer and went on to set up "one of the best companies in the North East" when he founded a bricklaying agency, AJAY Brickwork, in 2015.

He said he was also involved in charity work and several days before Christmas had visited a soup kitchen in Sunderland to hand out food and presents to homeless people.

Mr Jenkins said he had no previous convictions although had had his own issues with alcohol and cocaine for about a year in 2012, which he said he was using to self-medicate after a traumatic family incident.

Mr Jenkins and his partner bought the detached four-bedroom home in July 2020 and he built a bar and games room in the garden.

His family came over to celebrate Christmas there before the night ended with the death of Mr Birch, a father of two.

The trial continues.

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