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who called her at 8:10?
UK UK- Janet Brown, 51, research nurse, found nude, gagged, handcuffed & bludgeoned to death, @ home, Buckinghamshire,10 April '95, *DNA, new initiative*
- Thread starter dotr
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who called her at 8:10?
I believe the theory is based on the fact that she didn't answer her phone calls, after answering calls up to about 8:15. She'd told her daughter she planned to go to bed early.
The links upthread to YT should work - I'm in Canada too.
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Well, plenty of killers wait two years. It’s more common as far as I know, than a spree like Steve Wright for there to be a gap of months or years. Satisfaction is achieved and the urge abates for a while.
I don’t know those cases well enough but from the little I know, the killers seem to have a different profile to me, the victims were also different. Carolanne and Janet were virtually the same age and killed in their homes, it jumps out at me but I realise not everyone will agree.
Someone mentioned the police didn’t link them in 1997 — the police didn’t link the Railway Killers in the 1980s until a Crimewatch viewer with expertise rang to suggest it. They didn’t connect Robert Napper after killing the Bissets with Rachel Nickell. So I reserve judgement on what the police think are connected, I’ve seen statements from them that they think the burglary angles are relevant on both these cases which I don’t think they really are at all.
All just IMO.
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This article has some interesting information. One is that a prowler had been reported in the area by two other women in the weeks prior to janets murder and the other is a random shooting of a doctor 4 months before in his home who also worked in the same research hospital as janet.
www.oxfordmail.co.uk
Detectives revealed after Mrs Brown's death that a prowler had frightened two other women in the area in the six weeks before her murder.
Detectives investigated at one point the theory that Mrs Brown's murder could be linked to the fatal shooting of Dr Michael Meenaghan at his home in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, in December 1994.Both were working on medical research projects for Oxford University at the time of their deaths. But no definite link between the two unsolved murders could be made.
www.oxfordmail.co.uk
Will nurse's killer ever be caught?
Five years ago today, colleagues were stunned by the vicious murder of Oxford nurse Janet Brown in her home, writes Emma Henry.
Detectives revealed after Mrs Brown's death that a prowler had frightened two other women in the area in the six weeks before her murder.
Detectives investigated at one point the theory that Mrs Brown's murder could be linked to the fatal shooting of Dr Michael Meenaghan at his home in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, in December 1994.Both were working on medical research projects for Oxford University at the time of their deaths. But no definite link between the two unsolved murders could be made.
Relative seeks answers to 'tragic' unsolved murder on 30th anniversary
An author from Glasgow is hoping his new book will lead to answers about an unsolved murder in Blackbird Leys 30 years ago.
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Thanks for the interesting newsThis article has some interesting information. One is that a prowler had been reported in the area by two other women in the weeks prior to janets murder and the other is a random shooting of a doctor 4 months before in his home who also worked in the same research hospital as janet.
Will nurse's killer ever be caught?
Five years ago today, colleagues were stunned by the vicious murder of Oxford nurse Janet Brown in her home, writes Emma Henry.
Detectives revealed after Mrs Brown's death that a prowler had frightened two other women in the area in the six weeks before her murder.
Detectives investigated at one point the theory that Mrs Brown's murder could be linked to the fatal shooting of Dr Michael Meenaghan at his home in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, in December 1994.Both were working on medical research projects for Oxford University at the time of their deaths. But no definite link between the two unsolved murders could be made.
Relative seeks answers to 'tragic' unsolved murder on 30th anniversary
An author from Glasgow is hoping his new book will lead to answers about an unsolved murder in Blackbird Leys 30 years ago.
link!
£20,000 offered in Blackbird Leys murder case from 20 years ago
A £20,000 reward is being offered for information about the murder of research scientist Michael Meenaghan shot through his kitchen window 20 years…
''Dr Michael Meenaghan was a lecturer at Oxford University’s Sir William Dunn School of Pathology when he was killed on December 10, 1994.
The 33-year-old’s murderer has never been caught and his mother Pat Meenaghan, 82, said: “It is now 20 years since Michael, my only child, was murdered. His death is always with me and there is not a day goes by when I don’t misshim.
“We still don't know why someone would be so callous as to take his life and...
Dr Michael Meenaghan was known as Spike. He was shot through the window of his flat. He was apparently something of a womaniser and police thought his murder might have been related to this.
I don't think his murder was linked to Janet Brown, but you never know.
They both worked for the university, but so did a lot of people in Oxford.
I don't think his murder was linked to Janet Brown, but you never know.
They both worked for the university, but so did a lot of people in Oxford.
A friend of Roxane called at 8.10pm and spoke to Janet.
Janet's husband called at 8.30pm and she didn't answer.
The builder called at 9pm and she didn't answer.
The friend calling suggests that it wasn't really common knowledge amongst Roxane's acquaintances that she was out for the night.
I'm not sure why Janet's husband called, or why he didn't call back for that matter. Wouldn't he have expected Janet or Roxane to answer at that sort of time?
The builder was calling to discuss the work he would be doing the next day. He was the one who found Janet's body. I can see why he didn't try to call back later, as 9pm is already fairly late for a work related call.
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Case notes: what we know about the night Janet Brown was murdered
Twenty years after Janet Brown was killed in her home, the Bucks Free Press reviews the facts from the case.
Aerial view of property
ETA
DO YOU KNOW THE COOL KILLER WHO BATTERED JANET TO DEATH? - Free Online Library
Free Online Library: DO YOU KNOW THE COOL KILLER WHO BATTERED JANET TO DEATH?(Features) by "The People (London, England)"; News, opinion and commentary General interest
www.thefreelibrary.com
But then, having made so much effort to be quiet, he forced his way in by smashing the large double-glazed panes. From then on, little makes sense.''
Assuming the intruder imprisoned Mrs Brown by 8.20pm, what happened between then and around 10pm when the alarm was triggered? Why, and how, did she set off the alarm at that time? Mrs Brown must have heard the noise of the break-in. There was a phone nearby on the landing and a panic button by her bed but she did not raise the alarm then.
It would have taken 30 seconds for the intruder to reach her bedroom where, detectives believe, the first confrontation took place.''
''He battered her more than 11 times in a merciless frenzy of violence, stopping only to change his position before striking again.
Amazingly, the killer remained in the house after the murder - even though the alarm was going off and it could have been linked to a police station.''
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Some photographs taken at the time:
www.alamy.com
These include some intrusive shots of the family at the funeral.
Hall Farm now appears to be called Harefield House.
Crime - Janet Brown Murder - Radnage. POLICE CONTINUE WITH A FINGERTIP SEARCH IN THE GROUNDS OF HALL FARM WHERE JANET BROWN WAS FOUND MURDERED Stock Photo - Alamy
Download this stock image: Crime - Janet Brown Murder - Radnage. POLICE CONTINUE WITH A FINGERTIP SEARCH IN THE GROUNDS OF HALL FARM WHERE JANET BROWN WAS FOUND MURDERED. - GCBPYA from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors.
www.alamy.com
Hall Farm now appears to be called Harefield House.
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So if she spoke to the friend at 8.10 and then didn't answer the phone at 8.30 to husband yet police believe she was first confronted in the bedroom...did she go up to bed, get washed & changed for bed, (most women also apply night creams etc.) and then she is in bed and fast asleep within 20mins?
So much doesn't make sense. The more I think about it the less I'm convinced it was a burglary, what burgler would take handcuffs?? Most burglers like to get in and out without being caught. The killer went with the intention of restraining her which again signals to me janet was the target not the home/valuables.
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Basle is one hour ahead, which doesn't make all that much difference, but perhaps Janet was an early sleeper and he knew that and didn't want to disturb her, and perhaps he assumed Roxane was out and about.
I am interested in the eyewitness report that spotted Janet driving away from her home at 18:30 that evening. It hasn't been established where she was going.
I'm also interested that the police were convinced or fairly convinced she hadn't been having an affair. I assume because they couldn't find any evidence she had been seeing anyone, but perhaps she had been and they just could not find that out.
The murder really does not seem like a burglary gone wrong. A professional burglar rang the hotline and said that no burglar would enter a property like that. The cars in the drive would also put a burglar off, and it's most likely whoever did this brought the handcuffs with him, which are not items you would expect a burglar to carry. If they were Janet's, it's unlikely she had them on her bedside table for Roxane to see! Perhaps the perpetrator knew Janet but she did not know him -- if he was someone who had been stalking her from afar. But if she was targeted, he had knowledge that she was in the house on her own -- husband away and daughter out. It would have been harder to control two people, and thus riskier.
Why did PB think that the killer wanted to target Roxane as well? Makes less sense to me.
That's a great article, thanks for finding that.
However I see so many glaringly obvious assumptions being made, for example:
- since she didn't answer her phone calls, the killer must have already broken in and subdued her. I'm someone who would go to bed and ignore phone calls, especially if I lived with a teenager whose friends were calling her all evening.
- that the killer 'bounded up to her bedroom in 30 seconds'...right there the author is assuming the killer was targeting her, knew which was her bedroom, knew she was alone in the house, even knew he had to handcuff her to prevent her from hitting the panic button...?
I think to properly profile a crime and even figure out what kind of crime it was, you have to start with a.clean slate and make no assumptions based on imagination filling in the blanks.
JMO
Maybe her pre bed routine was quite fast, or perhaps she was just very tired. Who knows? The killer must have arrived before 8.30, unless she slept through the phone ringing as well as someone breaking in, which seems unlikely.
It was a massive house though, so again who knows how the sound carried. If she had the shower running then perhaps she couldn't hear what was going on downstairs until it was too late.
I don't think it was a burglary either. A burglar would usually try to strike during the daytime, when nobody is at home. I think he used the handcuffs as part of his fantasy. Why fiddle around with handcuffs when he could just bind her wrists with one of the rolls of tape he had?
Good point about the idea teenagers calling the house all evening. Maybe Janet was expecting, or even half expecting calls from her husband and the builder. They were in a race to get the house sold.
The house having been up for sale could perhaps explain how the killer knew the layout. Although IIRC Janet's bedroom was observable from outside and she never drew the blinds
It does seem this killer had a picture of the crime in mind, but perhaps it just didn't all work out that way?
1. 'I'll cut carefully through the glass and use my special tape, and enter like a cat burglar'...then after a lot of work...'oh to hell with it, I'll just smash all the glass'
2. 'I'll confine her so she can't resist' ...but somehow she hits the panic button
3. 'I'll attack her in the bedroom and keep her there'...but she ends up apparently escaping downstairs
4. 'I'll tape her mouth tight and watch her suffocate'...'no, I can't stand this, I'll beat her to death with 11 blows even though one or two would have been enough'
5. 'Wow, that was a frenzy of violence.and the alarms are ringing,..I better go upstairs and clean up so that I won't be covered in blood when police arrive...'
JMO
Good spot regarding the driving witness at 6.30.
Janet's husband said he thought he recalled some handcuffs being in the dressing room years earlier. I agree that they probably wouldn't have been on visible display!
I think PB suspects that the killer had watched the house for a while and knew that two women lived there. PB seems to think that a sadist who enjoys prolonged torture might take additional risks to have two victims. Once the killer has them bound and separated, he can inflict additional psychological terror. Do what I say or I'll go next door and kill your daughter/mother type mental torture.
Just on the glass and entry, Paul Britton says that there was much more glass on the outside than inside, so it was probably broken from the inside.
My take is that the killer wanted investigators to think that he broke in, but he had actually effected entry another way e.g because he knew her or he had a key for some reason
My take is that the killer wanted investigators to think that he broke in, but he had actually effected entry another way e.g because he knew her or he had a key for some reason
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