I investigated Joanna Simpson’s brutal killing… here’s the three signs I knew her ex was guilty
THE police officer who investigated the killing of Joanna Simpson has said it will “always haunt” her that her killer is set to serve just 13 years for bludgeoning her to death.
Speaking in a new Netflix documentary about the 2010 case, Investigating Officer Melanie Savage said it was “heartbreaking” that Robert Brown was found not guilty of murder and handed a manslaughter sentence instead.
The episode of When Missing Turns To Murder shows how estranged husband Brown bludgeoned Jo to death while their two young children played within earshot in the next room.
He hit the 46-year-old mum over the head 14 times before he wrapped her in a plastic sheet and buried her in a pre-dug grave in Windsor Great Park.
Former BA pilot Brown is set to be released from jail in November after serving just half of his 26-year term.
Her family are campaigning for him to be kept in prison for his whole sentence and have received support from Carrie Johnson, the wife of former PM Boris.
Former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland KC and former Home Secretary Priti Patel spoke at a special screening of the documentary in Westminster last night.
Joanna’s mum Diana Parkes hopes the new Netflix show, out now, will bring the case into the spotlight and highlight the injustice of Brown’s short sentence.
KILLER’S DISTURBING CALL
The chilling phone call Brown made to the police the day after he killed Joanna is heard in the documentary.
In the recording from November 1 2010, Brown said: “I’d like to make an appointment to come in regarding an incident which occurred yesterday. It was a domestic issue.
When asked by the police officer if both people involved are OK, he said: “Well, one person is.”
There were three signs that Investigating Officer Melanie Savage said meant she knew pilot Brown was guilty.
He expressed no emotion in the interview, no sense of urgency despite Joanna being missing, and was arrogant “even in his silence”.
Melanie told the Netflix show: “Robert Brown was very much what I would classify as a narcissist.
Very quickly it was apparent that he felt that he was of a higher intellect than the two girls sat in front of him interviewing him.
“He was very arrogant, even in his silence. There was no sense of urgency, there was no emotion. There was nothing, I was getting nothing from him.
“Very quickly it was about he was the victim in this bitter divorce and he wanted his say, he wanted his voice to be heard. He was obsessed with the finances.
She added: “He felt so wronged by Joanna and her family – and it was all over money.”
After two days of questioning Brown eventually confessed to killing Joanna and took the police to where he had buried her body.
NOT GUILTY VERDICT
But after a 10 day trial at Reading Crown Court in 2011, Brown was found not guilty of murder because he had claimed he was suffering from “adjustment disorder”.
Melanie said: “The whole courtroom, outside of the jury, was just in shock. It was heartbreaking.
“Almost 10 years on major crime, dealing with homicides, and it is still the verdict – I don’t think I will ever understand how that jury got to that conclusion.
“It will always haunt me that Robert Brown didn’t serve justice for what he did. But he’s certainly not going to have the money, the status, the superiority, he’s never going to fly a plane again.
“All of those things, which I think are really important to Robert, have been stripped. Because of his character, because of his narcissism that is going to be a very difficult process for him.”
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk met with mum Diana earlier this year and told The Sun that he vowed to push ahead with reforms that will allow him to step in when dangerous criminals are set to be released from prison.