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KILLER WIFE
Abused wife Penelope Jackson, 66, jailed for life as she’s found GUILTY of murder after knifing husband to death
A WIFE who stabbed her husband to death in a row over a birthday dinner after years of abuse has today been jailed for life.
Penelope Jackson, 66, murdered David, 78, at their home in Berrow, Somerset - before making a chilling 999 call where she confessed to knifing him.
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After the deadly attack, the retired accountant told a 999 call handler she had tried to stab David through the heart but that "he doesn't have one".
A judge told her she must remain in jail until she's at least 84 as she's shown "not a shred of remorse" for her actions.
Penelope described decades of physical, sexual and emotional torture from the retired lieutenant colonel before she snapped on February 13 this year.
David had previously held a knife to his abused wife's throat at a family barbecue - leaving the couple's daughter "scared" for her mum's safety.
And Penelope told jurors how David threatened her with a poker at Christmas in a row about a TV remote control.
Penelope earlier admitted manslaughter but denied murder, claiming her husband was both violent and coercively controlling of her.
She was today convicted of murder amid gasps from the public gallery following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
A judge this afternoon sentenced her to life behind bars. She must serve a minimum of 18 years before she can be considered for release.
The Jacksons' daughter Isabelle Potterton told of her devastation after her mum was jailed - and said her "whole world fell away from her feet".
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Penelope knifed her husband after she "lost control" following a row about her serving bubble and squeak with a posh birthday meal their daughter bought them during lockdown.
She then wrote a confession note, saying: "To whom it may concern, I have taken so much abuse over the years - look at my records.
"But he was a good Daddy. However, the mask slipped tonight. That was unforgivable. I accept my punishment, may he rot in hell."
Despite his wounds, David managed to call the emergency services himself - before Penelope grabbed the phone off him.
A recording of the chilling call was played to the horrified jury.
In it, an eerily calm Penelope said: "I’ve killed my husband, or tried to because I’ve had enough. I might go and stab him again.
"I am in the lounge, he is in the kitchen bleeding to death with any luck."
She said she had put "three holes in him" and added: "He is getting a bit slumpy.
"He threatened me before, but he's not threatening me now."
Penelope refused to help her husband - who she had been married to for 24 years - when the 999 handler asked her to apply pressure on his wounds.
"I am not going to help him," she said.
"I know this is being recorded. I am compos mentis, but I have had enough of the abuse and the nastiness. I am not doing anything to help him.
"He deserves everything he has got - I accept everything that is coming my way. I might just go and do it again."
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She added: "Once I thought I had got his heart, but he hasn't got one. And then twice in the abdomen."
In bodycam footage taken by the cops who arrested her, Penelope is heard asking to go back into the house to get her coat.
An emergency responder says paramedics need to get inside "pronto" to begin CPR, to which Penelope says "Oh don't! No no no, please don't. I should have stabbed him a bit more."
She then continues to direct cops to retrieve her coat from the murder scene.
The trial heard that police had been called just before Christmas last year when he grabbed her by the arm and left her with bruises in a row sparked about the volume button on a remote control.
She told how her husband had grabbed a poker - the first time he had ever picked up something to hit her with.
Penelope said: “While we had issues and he was controlling and nasty he had never used a poker. It was a silly row and it escalated.”
On the night of David's death, a fight between the pair had broke out about potatoes and bubble and squeak - and an iPad charger.
MURDER ARREST
The defendant told the operator they had been on a zoom call with their daughter and son-in-law and had a lovely meal before he "went off on one".
Asked by the paramedic if she meant for him to die, she responded: "Not when I started, but now I just want a way out.
"I'll end up in prison but that is preferable to my life now."
Police officers then arrived and arrested her on suspicion of murder.
David couldn't be saved and died as a result of stab wounds, a post mortem later revealed.
The couple's daughter Isobel, 31 - the biological daughter of Penelope and the adopted daughter of David - described incidents between 1997 and 1998 that left her "scared".
She said David once held a knife against her mum's throat on the landing - and it took three of the guests to pull her father off her mother.
The daughter remembers a sudden change in mood among guests before everyone ran towards the house and up to her parent's bedroom.
Isobel told Bristol Crown Court: "I can remember mum saying something, everyone jumping up, and then running into the house," she told the court.
"Everybody was upstairs on the landing at the doorway of mum and dad's bedroom.
''Dad had a knife to mum's throat. She was against the doorway."
YEARS OF ABUSE
Family members eventually managed to pull David's arm back and disarm him, she said.
Penelope said she was taken to stay with nearby friends for a short period after the attack before she returned to her parents.
She also remembers a time when she had just come off the bus from primary school, also in Germany, when she witnessed her dad once again grappling with her mum.
Isobel said: "Mum was up against the wall of the hallway. Her nose was bleeding and dad had her pinned up against the wall."
She added: "After that, mum packed two suitcases, and we went and stayed in a hotel that night. She said we were leaving."
However, later the next day the pair reconciled, and she returned with her mother back to the family home.
Penelope said she arranged for the birthday dinner to take place over a Zoom call on February 13 this year.
'NO REMORSE'
Due to the lockdown, she had sourced the food in advance so the family could eat together.
"We had cocktails to start off with," she said. "We'd all dressed up, it was all good."
However, Penelope said that an argument among her parents that had arisen over a lack of potatoes in the pre-prepared food box had resurfaced over the zoom call.
This afternoon, Judge Martin Picton said she'd tried to portray David "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," he said.
"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.
"Their memories of (David Jackson) will always be tarnished by the manner of his death and by the way you sought to portray him."
I've not only lost my dad, but my mum too... my life has changed forever
Daughter Isabelle
He added he had not seen "a shred of remorse" from the defendant during the four days she gave evidence.
Following the sentencing today, Isabelle said she has "not only lost my dad, but 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. The man that came and fixed things in my house which I didn’t know even needed fixing. The man that could make me laugh.
"But I feel I have also lost my mum.
"I have lost the woman who always knew how to make me feel better.
"The woman who was my friend, my champion and my support. The woman who cared, cherished and loved me.
"Yes, I know mum is here but she’s not the same person I knew. I don’t know what the future holds but I do know that the relationship I once cherished can never be built back to what it was."
How you can get help
Women's Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, where you call 999 and press ‘55’ if you can’t safely speak.
- Always keep some money or a bank card on you, including change in case you need a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to move towards an exit if you are inside the house and get your phone in case you need to call for help.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other potential weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom.
Women’s Aid provides a - available every day from 10am-6pm or email [email protected]
SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
She said: "When they opened the box before, I was told that dad had said, "Oh, there's not a lot there." And then Mum had said 'It's okay, I'll get bubble and squeak out'.
"The meal was that you had the lobster with the potatoes, and you had the steak with the broccoli. Dad was a bit confused about why you wouldn't have potatoes with steak.
"When it came to it and mum said something about the bubble and squeak, dad said 'well, I didn't want the bubble and squeak, and then they had a bicker about who had first said about the bubble and squeak or not.
"I just rolled my eyes because I just thought, 'Oh, they're being silly.' I just tried to move the conversation along.''
Later, another argument broke out between the married couple as the iPad that they were using for the group Zoom call was running out of battery.
"They were having a bicker about it not charging," remembered Penelope.
"Dad said something along the lines of, 'Your mum will never admit when she's wrong'.
"I could see that mum was getting upset. Dad was walking out of the room, so we just said we'd leave it there."
She called her mother at 8.08pm to check she was OK.
"(The defendant) said: 'I'm absolutely fine, don't worry I'll call you in the morning'," Penelope said.
'I DID IT'
Not long after that David was stabbed in an upstairs bedroom.
When Penelope was arrested on suspicion of murder, officers advised her to be quiet and wait for legal advice.
She responded: "There's nothing. I did it.
"Why I did it is a different issue, but I did it."
The defendant continued: "Remorse is easy, it's been a long time coming - I did it, I'm guilty.
"If I was given the chance, I'd do it again, even if they locked me up for 125 million years it would still be worth it."
She added: "I should have walked away years ago but you don't, I deserve everything that is coming my way because you shouldn't do what I did.
"Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do."
When in a holding cell, Penelope asked: “Do you think P&O will give a rebate?”
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“Comfortably-off” Penelope and David had booked five cruises booked - including the Canaries and Caribbean - but they had been deferred because of Covid.
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