By Ashley Young-
A woman has been found guilty of murder after stabbing her husband to death following a row over a birthday meal.
At Bristol Crown Court she was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 18 years.
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Penelope Jackson, 66, attacked 78-year-old David Jackson with a kitchen knife at their home in Somerset in February.
In her defence, she 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.
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Judge Martin Picton served her with an 18-year minimum term life sentence, after a 10-2 majority verdict from a jury of eight women and four men.
Judge Picton said: ”I have no doubt you intended to kill your husband and it was a premeditated murder. Your behaviour shows a shocking level of callousness. During the four days of giving evidence I did not detect a shred of genuine remorse on your part for the crime you have committed.”
He said he had given a higher sentence than the 15-year minimum outlined in sentencing guidance owing to the physical harm inflicted on David Jackson, to whom she had been married for 24 years.
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.
Penelope Jackson was David Jackson’s third wife. She claimed he was coercive, controlling and physically violent.
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.
Her poor husband 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”.
Bodyworn footage, released by the police when they went to the couple’s home on 13 February, revealed that 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.
The couple lived together in the coastal village of Berrow in Somerset
Image caption,The murder was committed inside the home where the couple lived in the coastal village of Berrow in Somerset
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.
Jailing 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.
Jackson previously broke down in tears in court, telling the jury: “I don’t know what happened. I didn’t want to kill him. I did it, I am sorry. I didn’t want him to die. He loved me, and I loved him, and it’s awful about what happened.”
The jury had been told to focus on the issues of lack of intent and loss of control when reaching their verdict.
Judge Picton told them Jackson’s defence rests on the issues of a lack of intent to kill and loss of self-control.
He said they must consider whether a person in similar circumstances possessed of “a normal degree of tolerance and self-restraint” would have acted in the same way.
“If you are sure that such a person would not have reacted in such a way, the defence of ‘loss of self-control’ would not apply and your verdict on the charge of murder would be ‘guilty’,” Judge Picton said.
“If however, you decide that such a person would or may have reacted in a similar way to the defendant then the defence of ‘loss of self-control’ would apply, and your verdict would be ‘not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter’.
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