Curtis, Nicholas

Nicholas Curtis was convicted in April 2019, alongside his brother Stuart Curtis, of the murder of Glenda Jackson, who was killed outside her home in Birkenhead in the early hours of 30 September 2018.  

On the night of her death, Ms Jackson had reported to the police that she had been assaulted and subjected to homophobic abuse by a group associated with the Curtis brothers.  After the police had left, further confrontation took place. It was alleged that Ms Jackson attacked a van belonging to Nicholas Curtis with a hammer and knife before both brothers attacked her.  

The prosecution case was that Nicholas Curtis stabbed Ms Jackson five times while Stuart Curtis kicked and stamped on her head. Both men were arrested and charged with murder, which they denied. 

At trial, Nicholas Curtis argued that he had acted in self-defence when confronted by an angry aggressor armed with a knife who had intentionally damaged his van. His case was that Ms Jackson had lunged at him, stabbing him twice, and that she sustained fatal injuries in the ensuing struggle. 

The prosecution case was that, even if Ms Jackson had used unlawful force, the medical evidence showed that the response was a deliberate attack which went beyond reasonable self-defence. It argued that Ms Jackson was the victim of a joint attack by Nicholas and Stuart Curtis, motivated by retaliation. 

Both men were convicted of murder following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. Nicholas Curtis was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years. His attempts to appeal against his conviction were unsuccessful, and he applied to the CCRC in June 2024. 

Following a review, the CCRC decided to refer Mr Curtis’s conviction to the Court of Appeal.  

The CCRC considered there was a real possibility that the Court of Appeal would find the conviction unsafe because it was not clear that the trial judge properly considered whether the jury should have been allowed to consider the partial defence of loss of control. There was no record of the judge’s reasoning on this issue. 

The CCRC also considered there was a real possibility that, had the issue been fully considered at the trial, loss of control would have been put to the jury. The CCRC considered there was sufficient evidence for the jury to decide whether the legal requirements for the defence were met. 

Loss of control was not raised by either the prosecution or the defence at trial and did not feature in Mr Curtis’s grounds of appeal. Had the defence been put to the jury as an alternative to self-defence, and had the jury accepted it, Mr Curtis would have been acquitted of murder and convicted of manslaughter instead. 

The CCRC referred the conviction in October 2026.