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Robert Brown: Man who killed wife Joanna Brown with claw hammer to be released in less than two months
British Airways captain Robert Brown bludgeoned Joanna Simpson to death with a claw hammer in October 2010 as their two young children cowered in a playroom. He then dumped the 46-year-old's body in a makeshift coffin.
There are several things about this case and article which bother me.
The article states that the victim’s family were told that because he was found guilty of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility rather than murder and it is a ‘lesser charge’, he will be released half way through his sentence without appearing before a parole board.
Is that even a thing? I watched a fascinating documentary called Parole on the BBC (watch it if you can find it!) and people were appearing who had been convicted for theft, affray, fraud you name it. All crimes which are far less serious than murder.
Is this just a really badly written article and the reason is because he had previously pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was found not guilty of murder by the jury?
I’m hoping the vast array of expertise on here can explain this.
As for the fact he was found not guilty of murder - that must be torture for his wife’s family. I’m amazed by the verdict.
He beat his wife to death with a claw hammer whilst their children hid terrified in a play room and then dumped her body in a ‘makeshift coffin’ in Windsor Great Park.
I have a problem with the claim of ‘diminished responsibility’ because it so often seems to include an element of victim blaming which merely adds character assassinations of the victim (who cannot refute any slur) as an additional attack on top of the killing. If this follows a life of domestic violence,& coercive control and appears to be an act of desperation, I can believe it, but here there was a financial dispute and killing was not the way to address it.
In this case it was claimed he had a ‘stress-related adjustment disorder’.
I’m afraid I am not impressed with his adjustment disorder and his claims he had planned to ‘discuss the children’s education’ on the day of the murder, since he arrived with the claw hammer hidden in one of their bags (the couple were living apart during an acrimonious divorce); placed her body in a makeshift coffin lined with plastic he just happened to have in the car and went on to bury his wife’s body in a grave he had prepared the previous year.
This link has details from the case.
Robert Brown murder trial: The full story
The British Airways pilot who hit his estranged wife over the head 14 times with a hammer has been found not guilty of her murder
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