A documentary about the chilling case of the British Airways pilot who killed his wife airs on ITV tonight.
Former British Airways captain Robert Brown killed his 46-year-old millionaire wife Joanna Simpson with a claw hammer more than 13 years ago.
Brown killed his wife in their Ascot family home on Halloween night in 2010 as his two children hid in the playroom of their house.
He then took the 46-year-old’s body and put it in a makeshift coffin, leaving it in a park in Windsor.
Details surrounding the horrifying case – including statements from the children who have never before spoken about their mother’s death – will be showcased in a two-part documentary, as part one airs this evening (26 February) on ITV.
Take a look at the trailer for The British Airways Killer below:
After killing his wife, Brown called police the next morning to report a domestic issue.
But when he handed himself in, he refused to help police with their missing persons investigation, despite having brutally bludgeoned Simpson to death.
Eventually he confessed that he had killed her and told the police where to find the body.
A jury acquitted Brown of murder in 2011, but he was still jailed after he admitted manslaughter through grounds of diminished responsibility.
He was sentenced to 24 years for manslaughter, with another two years for obstructing a coroner in the execution of their duty.
Earlier this month, Brown brought a High Court challenge against a Government move to block his automatic release from prison.
ITV
His lawyers argued at a hearing in London that Justice Secretary Alex Chalk’s referral was unlawful, while the Government says his legal action should be dismissed.
Although he admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, a psychiatric report said Brown suffered from an ‘adjustment disorder’.
Aged 47 at sentencing, Brown believed he was ‘stitched up’ by a prenuptial agreement and was affected by stress linked to his divorce, a judge was told.
In October, Chalk called for Brown’s case to be reviewed by the Parole Board rather than allow his release on licence at the halfway point of his sentence.
PA/Police Handout
Brown’s lawyers argue that the Parole Board referral was ‘an obvious attempt to seek to reverse engineer justification for a decision that was in reality prompted and obtained through conscious or unconscious political bias’.
His legal team said the risk posed by Brown had not increased and that he had been ‘subjected to a high-profile campaign through the media and with politicians that has sought to block his release’.
However, the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has rejected his allegations, as lawyers for the department say Mr Chalk believed Brown ‘would pose a significant risk of serious harm to the public if released on licence’, adding that the offender had ‘persistently refused to engage in the rehabilitative elements of his sentence’.
Episode one of the two-part documentary The British Airways Killer will air this evening (26 February) at 9pm on ITV and will be available to watch on ITVX
Featured Image Credit: PA/ITV
Topics: ITV, Crime, True Crime
