Woman who stabbed 'controlling' father cleared of murder

Jury accepts Jessica Breeze, 20, killed Colin Brady in self defence

Jessica Breeze outside Teesside Crown Court after the verdict (PA)

A woman who killed her bullying and abusive father has been cleared of his murder and manslaughter after a jury accepted she was acting in self-defence.

Jessica Breeze, 20, wept as she was cleared of the charges following a trial at Teesside Crown Court where she admitted she stabbed Colin Brady, 49, with the longest kitchen knife in the house last June.

She and her mother Kelly Breeze were in the property in Keith Road, Middlesbrough, with Mr Brady when he flew into a rage, attacked his daughter and then his partner when she tried to intervene.

Mr Brady, both women said, punched and spat at them before threatening to kill them both, and she grabbed a knife and plunged it into his back.

Giving evidence during the trial, Ms Breeze who was 19 at the time, told the jury: “I didn’t want him to die, I just wanted him to stop.”

Moments before, she had been one digit away from dialling 999 and alerting the police to what was going on, when her father demanded she hand over her phone.

Earlier, she had also tried to flee from the locked house by jumping from an upstairs window but he grabbed her and started to strangle her on the bed, she said in court.

The prosecution had claimed she stabbed him in the back as he was leaving the house.

The nursery worker told jurors she could not remember fatally stabbing her father.

The knife penetrated his left lung to a depth of 18cm, and although paramedics took him to the nearby James Cook University Hospital, he could not be saved.

After the jury cleared her of murder and the alternative charge of manslaughter, judge Stephen Ashurst told her: “In the light of the jury’s verdicts you are now free to leave the building.”

She was embraced by some family members in the public gallery, but other relatives left the courtroom in tears.

The trial heard how Mr Brady had a history of domestic violence and previous convictions, including grievous bodily harm with intent.

Outside court, Ms Breeze’s solicitor Sean Grainger said in a statement: “The jury accepted she was acting in lawful self-defence of herself and her mother when under a sustained and violent attack by her father.

“Further, whilst Jessica was brought up in a highly toxic home environment where she and her mother were regularly subject to extreme physical and emotional abuse by her father, Jessica wishes to make it clear she loved her father, she still does and wishes he was still here.

“She now wishes to rebuild her life, get back to work and move on from the seven month ordeal she has endured since her arrest.”

Outside court, Ms Breeze briefly answered reporters’ questions, saying: “I’m just happy that it’s over.”

She said the last seven months had been “horrible” and that she had got through it with the help of friends and family.

Press Association