British Airways killer's chilling plan for wife - from prepped grave to dark premonition
27.02.2024 - 01:09
/ dailyrecord.co.uk
A BA pilot and his millionaire wife looked like any other ordinary married couple - but behind closed doors, things were far from what they seemed.
A chilling turn in Robert Brown and Joanna Simpson's doomed marriage was revisited in the ITV documentary, The British Airways Killer, on Monday night.
The programme examines the harrowing story of how Brown murdered his estranged wife after she told friends she feared her ex after he held her at knifepoint. Tragically, as reported by the Mirror, when Simpson asked for a separation from Brown, she knew she was putting her life at risk.
Amid a costly divorce battle following a sustained period of domestic abuse - which included coercive control and severe violence - Brown beat Joanna to death with a claw hammer at their sprawling family home. The killer then buried her body in a prepared grave.
The ex-British Airways captain was sensationally cleared of murder, having admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility due to suffering from a mental illness. The killer has currently served 13 years of a 26-year sentence.
The two-part documentary examines Joanna's disappearance and the subsequent investigation that changed British legal history and led to a tragic discovery. So what happened to the mum of two on that fateful night?
On Halloween in 2010, it was reported that Brown became consumed by rage over a prenuptial agreement and believed Joanna, 46, had stitched him up. It was claimed he dismissed her offer of a £573,000 settlement and instead wanted her £3.5million home in Ascot, Berkshire.
He bludgeoned Joanna to death in their home as their two young children cowered in the playroom, using the hammer to beat her over the head at least 14 times. The court