Simon Birch death: What happened at Christmas Day killing?

Simon Birch was killed at the end of a family's Christmas Day celebrations (file photo)

Simon Birch was fatally stabbed at the end of Christmas Day 2021 by his girlfriend's brother. How did a day of merriment end in mayhem?

It was a festive scene replicated across millions of homes - a family laughing at cracker jokes, playing games, gorging on food and drink.

But at Adam Jenkins' home, the day that began with the tearing open of presents ended with his de facto brother-in-law bleeding to death on the driveway.

Jenkins, a 34-year-old bricklayer, was a self-made man running a successful agency placing builders on construction sites across the North East.

He and girlfriend Natalie Shaw, a best friend since childhood and partner since 2009, had bought the large detached house on a hill in 2020 and this was their first year hosting the Christmas get-together.

Simon Birch was in a relationship with Emma Jenkins for two and a half years

Guests started arriving at the compound on the edge of Newbottle from mid-morning with alcohol soon starting to flow.

Among the relatives was Jenkins' sister Emma and her 39-year-old partner Simon Birch, known - even to her - as "Birchy".

They had been together for a volatile two-and-a-half years.

Birchy was a good boyfriend, she recalled, but his drug use changed him - ketamine would turn him violent.

He would shout "I am the ram - I am the man", a reference to his Aries birthdate and the large ram he had tattooed across his back, and would punch Emma or drag her along the ground by her hair.

It was no secret to the rest of the family he would hit Emma. Several family members had previously driven around the country to rescue her from his rages while the couple were on holiday, but they welcomed him nonetheless on Christmas Day, reassured he was now clean of drugs and the domestic abuse had stopped.

Birchy - a builder - was a father of two teenage girls who said he had the "biggest and kindest heart", while his parents, Ian and Jennifer Birch, said their car and motorbike-mad son "was the life and soul of any party".

And Jenkins wanted to support him in beating his drug addiction.

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

It was a happy day with guests enjoying a sumptuous Christmas dinner, but beneath the smiles and jokes there was a a tension simmering between Birchy and Emma.

They had been bickering throughout the day but things started to get uglier when the family decamped to the garden that evening.

While some played darts, shot pool or sang karaoke, Birchy and Emma grew increasingly fractious.

Birchy was giving it the "big I am" according to Darren Naisbett, known as Nes and partner of eight years of Jenkins' mother Susan.

"I said to him, 'why don't you sit down, you're being an arsehole'," Nes would later tell police, adding: "He was spoiling the day for everyone."

The pair nearly came to blows but the situation was defused by Jenkins' partner-turned-peacemaker Natalie.

Eventually, Emma was escorted to one bedroom, Birchy to another and the family that remained started to make their way to bed.

Nes was being helped upstairs when he fell, and the noise roused both Emma and Birchy who again started remonstrating with each other.

Adam Jenkins was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter

No-one saw the slap but they heard it - a loud clap swiftly followed by the scream of Emma as she fled downstairs.

Birchy ran after her, pursued as well by Jenkins who had by now woken up, and a scuffle ensued in the living room between the two men, Emma and Natalie.

A toy car, newly opened that day, was thrown, the men scuffled and Birchy repeatedly smacked Emma "like a punch bag", Natalie recalled.

"The noise was horrible," she said.

Jenkins saw Birchy grab his sister by the hair and uppercut her several times, the final blow cutting short her hysterical screaming and sending her to the floor in a silent, bleeding heap.

Screams and shouts

"I said, 'you've killed her'," an emotional Jenkins recalled to Newcastle Crown Court jurors, adding he "100%" believed she was dead.

In a bid to part the men, Natalie pushed Jenkins into the kitchen while trying to get Birchy out of the front door to cool him off in the December air.

The kitchen door was broken and could not be opened from the inside, so Jenkins could only hear the screams and shouts from beyond, his anxiety and fears for his family soaring.

He said he did not remember grabbing three knives from an open drawer, but told jurors he assumed he did so to arm himself, Natalie and Emma against further attacks from Birchy.

Natalie called police to report a "domestic incident", and she could be heard by the operator saying, "Adam, Adam, Adam" with increasing volume and panic.

CCTV captured what she was screaming about.

Birchy was in the driveway, Jenkins vaulted a waist-high wall and ran up to him.

He said Birchy was standing with his arms out in a stance he used when he planned to fight, Jenkins said he did not realise the knife was in his hand when he swung a defensive blow.

The blade sliced into Birchy's neck and blood instantly stained his white T-shirt red.

Jenkins fled back to the house, Natalie ran to Birchy and clamped her hand to his throat while shouting at her partner: "What have you done?"

Birchy collapsed to the floor after about a minute.

Jenkins called 999 and begged for an ambulance, then ran back to his partner and the man he had wounded.

Jenkins pulled his top off and pressed it against the wound as the 999 operator talked the couple through CPR.

They were screaming for help, pleading for it, but by the time the police and paramedics arrived barely 10 minutes later it was already too late.

Simon Birch was confirmed dead just a few minutes into Boxing Day.

Adam Jenkins said he could not remember picking up a knife and slashing Simon Birch

Jenkins was arrested at the scene on suspicion of assault, but by the time the police van had arrived at the station at about 00:25, it had been upgraded to murder.

"Is he dead?," a clearly shocked Jenkins asked the arresting officer while still in the back of the van, before saying "no way" and collapsing in tears.

He told jurors he felt suicidal and "awful" about Birchy's death, adding: "I just wish he was back."

He accepted he had killed the man he described as a friend and part of the family, but insisted he did not intend to harm him and had no memory of the fatal blow.

Why did he have a knife?

He couldn't remember, he said, but assumed now he just wanted to make sister's violent boyfriend "back off".

Neither could he recall the moment of the fatal wounding.

Birchy was unarmed and posing no threat, prosecutors said, but Jenkins said he was an experienced fighter and had a weapon in the form of his two fists.

Jenkins, now aged 36, was charged with murder and manslaughter but denied both.

A first jury failed to reached a verdict, the second took eight hours to clear him of murder and a further three to find him guilty of manslaughter after a three-week long trial.

He will be sentenced at a later date.