Penelope Jackson: Murdered man was an arrogant bully says brother

Sami Quadri31 October 2021

The brother of a man who was murdered by his wife has defended her - claiming she had been “pushed to her limits”.

Penelope Jackson, 66, stabbed her 78-year-old husband David to death at their home in Parsonage Road, in Berrow, Somerset, on February 13 this year.

The retired accountant - who told a 999 operator “I thought I’d get his heart but he hasn’t got one” in the aftermath of the gruesome hacking - was jailed this week for a minimum of 18 years.

But Alan Jackson, who is David’s younger brother, has labelled his late brother an “arrogant bully” and vowed to visit Penelope in prison so she knows she is “not on her own”.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, the 75-year-old ex mechanic said:

“I want to say to her, ‘What you’ve gone through I can quite imagine. I know what he was like towards me and my wife. You’re not on your own.”

He added: “The poor woman never had anybody to stand by her side and say, ‘Hang on, she’s not as bad as you’re trying to make her out to be’.”

Alan, from Kidderminster, Worcestershire, said he and his brother were close but their relationship deteriorated after David developed a drinking habit.

The pair were later embroiled in disputes over their mother’s care and inheritance.

He recalled one incident in which David tried to strangle their mother Lilian.

During another argument, David is alleged to have told his brother: “Alan, if you don’t pick up the phone and if anything happens to mum before we get her out of hospital, I’ll walk all over your grave and walk all over you.”

His comments come after Jackson was found guilty at Bristol Crown Court of murder after the jury deliberated for 11 hours on Friday.

There was a gasp from the public gallery, which was packed with David Jackson’s extended family, when the verdict was read out.

Jackson did not react to the jury’s verdict.

During the two-and-a-half week trial, the jury heard the Jacksons had rowed about the defendant serving bubble and squeak with a gourmet meal bought for them by their daughter during lockdown to celebrate Jackson’s birthday.

The victim and defendant had eaten the meal with their daughter and son-in-law Isabelle and Tom Potterton over Zoom.

Mr and Mrs Potterton both said the row seemed to have blown over but added they had ended the call when the Jacksons began arguing over who had failed to charge their computer properly.

In her evidence, Jackson said the row over bubble and squeak had tipped her over the edge.

“He had the contempt for me and he had been so rude and obnoxious in front of our daughter,” she said.

“It wasn’t the straw that broke the camel’s back but in was in the bundle.”

Describing her marriage, Jackson said: “I didn’t know if I was waking up to nice David or nasty David.”

The defendant said her husband was often violent following arguments.

Lawyers for Jackson are believed to be preparing to lodge an appeal against her conviction.

Martin Winter, Jackson’s solicitor, said: “There was a lot of unchallenged evidence in the trial that Penny Jackson was the victim of domestic abuse between the late 1990s right up to just before Christmas.

“It is wrong to suggest that all of the allegations of abuse were exaggerated or made up.”

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