Killer wife ‘threatened to Bobbitt husband’
Pensioner who stabbed ex-colonel ‘once said she’d cut off his manhood’
The retired accountant who repeatedly stabbed her husband once threatened to ‘Bobbitt’ him, a court heard yesterday.
Penelope Jackson, 66, knifed David, 78, three times before confessing to the attack during a dramatic 999 call as he lay dying.
Yesterday, Mr Jackson’s ex-wife Sheila Taylor claimed he had confided in her that he was ‘frightened’ the defendant would cut off his penis if he ever left her.
She told the court: ‘She said she would destroy him and ruin his career. he told me on many occasions he was very unhappy. I asked him if he is unhappy, why don’t you leave her? he replied she said if I ever try to leave she will do a “Bobbitt” on me.’
Lorena Bobbitt sliced off her husband John Wayne’s penis with a knife in 1993 in an infamous case in the US. Bobbitt claimed he had raped and abused her for years but he was later acquitted in court.
Mrs Taylor, whom the retired Army lieutenant colonel left for the defendant the same year, said they had a ‘very happy marriage’ and she did not want it to end.
Mr Jackson’s daughter Jane, from his first marriage, added Penelope Jackson would ‘bait’ her father, saying: ‘It never felt comfortable being in the room with them.’
Jurors at Bristol Crown Court also heard yesterday the wife had said ‘Oh good’ when police told her her husband had died at the couple’s home in Berrow, near Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, on February 13. She was told the case had been upgraded to a murder investigation when she was taken to a police station.
Prosecutor Christopher Quinlan QC said she replied: ‘Murder? Not attempted murder? Oh good.’
She allegedly added: ‘It was a long time coming. I am glad. If I was given the chance, I would do it again. I should have walked away years ago but I didn’t. I deserve everything coming my way but sometimes you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.’
Mr Quinlan told the jury police found a ‘confession note’ written by Jackson after they searched the property.
It said: ‘I accept my punishment, may he rot in hell.’ The note had clearly been written before the 999 call as police arrived while the incident was ongoing, Mr Quinlan added.
Jackson denies murder but has admitted to manslaughter. She claimed her husband was an ‘aggressive bully’.
A recording of the 999 call – which was placed by her injured husband – was played on the first day of the trial this week.
Mr Jackson could be heard begging for help before shouting: ‘She’s stabbed me again.’
his wife then took the phone and described how she inflicted two of the wounds. She also refused to help her husband.
She insisted she was ‘compos mentis’ when emergency services arrived.
But in a statement yesterday, she claimed her memory had gone blank after she was ‘goaded’ into inflicting the first wound with an eight-inch filleting knife. The trial continues.
‘Got to do what you’ve got to do’