Murder conviction of Birkenhead man referred to Court of Appeal over manslaughter defence

Nicholas Curtis, jailed for life for the 2018 murder of Glenda Jackson, has had his case referred back to the Court of Appeal by the CCRC.

Birkenhead murder conviction referred back to Court of Appeal

Nicholas Curtis, sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 18 years for the murder of Glenda Jackson outside her home in Birkenhead in September 2018, has had his case referred back to the Court of Appeal, thejusticegap.com reports. The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) concluded there is a real possibility the conviction is unsafe.

Curtis was convicted alongside his brother, Stuart Curtis, in April 2019. The CCRC's central concern is that the trial judge may not have properly considered placing the partial defence of loss of control before the jury — and that no record of the judge's reasoning on that question exists. Had the defence been accepted, Curtis's conviction could have been reduced from murder to manslaughter.

The CCRC said sufficient evidence existed for a jury to determine whether the legal requirements for loss of control had been met.

On the night she died, Ms Jackson had reported to police that she had been assaulted and subjected to homophobic abuse by a group connected to the Curtis brothers. A further confrontation took place after officers left the scene.

The prosecution alleged that Ms Jackson attacked Nicholas Curtis's van with a hammer and knife before the brothers assaulted her. It said Nicholas Curtis stabbed her five times, while Stuart Curtis kicked and stamped on her head.

Nicholas Curtis maintained he had acted in self-defence, claiming Ms Jackson had confronted him with a knife, lunged at him and stabbed him twice, and that she sustained fatal injuries in the struggle that followed.

Prosecutors argued the force used went beyond reasonable self-defence and that the brothers had carried out a retaliatory attack. Neither the prosecution nor the defence raised loss of control during the trial. The issue was also absent from Curtis's subsequent grounds of appeal, which were unsuccessful. He applied to the CCRC in June 2024.

CCRC chair Dame Vera Baird KC said: 'The law requires all relevant defences to be properly considered when a person's guilt is being decided.' She said the commission had identified a significant issue that had not been raised at trial or on appeal.

The referral allows the Court of Appeal to examine whether the conviction can safely stand. It does not overturn the conviction; the Court of Appeal will determine whether it should remain in place.

Source: Google News UK — Crime (en)