Simon Birch death: Adam Jenkins' sister abused by victim

Simon Birch was in a relationship with his accused killer's sister for two and a half years

A man who was fatally stabbed on Christmas Day domestically abused his accused killer's sister, a court 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.

Mr Jenkins, 35, denies murder and manslaughter at Newcastle Crown Court.

Mr Birch had been in a relationship with Mr Jenkins' sister Emma and jurors heard there was a history of violence between the couple.

The court was shown a police interview with Ms Jenkins the day after the fatal stabbing in which she could be seen with large bruises under each eye and a cut on her forehead.

She told police she could not recall much of what happened having been drinking wine throughout the day, but said the atmosphere at the family gathering had been "absolutely brilliant" until the night.

Mr Jenkins' partner Natalie Shaw previously told jurors Mr Birch repeatedly punched Ms Jenkins "like a punch bag" minutes before the fatal encounter in the driveway.

Jurors heard Mr Birch was bundled out of the house by the two women before Mr Jenkins ran up to him and stabbed him in the neck, with the action being caught on the home's CCTV system.

Ms Jenkins said she did not see the blow being struck to her partner of two-and-a-half years but went outside to see what was happening.

She said Ms Shaw had her hand clamped to Mr Birch's neck to stem the bleeding and Mr Jenkins said: "I've killed him."

Ms Jenkins said her partner's face was grey and she was screamed at by her brother and Ms Shaw to get back inside so she returned to the house.

"My instinct should have been to run over [to Mr Birch] and I just walked away," an emotional Ms Jenkins told the police interviewer.

She said she was at an eight on a one to 10 scale of drunkenness while her brother and partner were both a nine.

Ms Jenkins was taken to hospital for her injuries and said her face and hair were covered in blood.

The family had been celebrating Christmas at defendant Adam Jenkins' home

Jeremy Dein KC, representing Mr Jenkins, read out dozens of messages sent between the Jenkins siblings and Mr Birch detailing the latter's chaotic behaviour while under the influence of ketamine.

They included references to Mr Birch dragging Ms Jenkins along the floor by her hair, hitting her on the head and body and frequently shouting aggressively at her.

In one message to her brother, Ms Jenkins said Mr Birch was a "genuinely nice boyfriend" but when he took drugs he became a different person.

Once while holidaying in the Lake District, she fled their lodge after he assaulted her and police were called by staff after Mr Birch shouted at them because the hot-tub wasn't warm enough.

In another message, Ms Jenkins said: "This is abuse to me and [Mr Birch] is an abuser."

'Family's defender'

Under questioning by Mr Dein, Ms Jenkins said her relationship with her brother was "brilliant" and she had missed him "so much" since his arrest and remand into custody.

She said she sent emails to Mr Jenkins after his arrest in which she called him the family's "defender" and "protector".

Ms Jenkins told the court her relationship with Mr Birch, a builder, was "not right from the off" with the domestic violence starting a few months in.

She said he had had issues with substances "all of his life" but the problems escalated massively when he started taking ketamine in February 2021.

She said she had discussed the way she was being treated by Mr Birch regularly with her brother, who was a successful businessman running a bricklaying agency.

Ms Jenkins said she was "100%" sure she never heard Mr Jenkins ever make any threat to Mr Birch.

She also said she missed Mr Birch and stayed with him to try and "help him get off drugs".

The trial continues.