UK UK- Janet Brown, 51, research nurse, found nude, gagged, handcuffed & bludgeoned to death, @ home, Buckinghamshire,10 April '95, *DNA, new initiative*

[Bibitty]

The ‘affair’ speculation is confusing. Could she have gone to the triangle at 6:30 to pick up a secret boyfriend who parked there so that his car was not in her driveway as she knew she would be home alone? But what then would be the sequence of events - that they were both back at the house by 6:40 for the call from R as well as the call from R’s friend at 8:10 - then something went wrong and the boyfriend murdered her with kit he had taken there and then faked a break in?
None of that adds up. Earlier on this thread someone said that Janet and her husband were already separated as he was already in a new relationship in Switzerland and house was almost sold as part of the divorce. The builders were there to address some issues that had come up from a buyer. I don’t know how long the husband had worked away or how long the property has been on the market but there would likely have been a lot of people who knew that Janet and her young daughter had lived there alone for sometime. They might well have had workmen / handy men / gardeners / delivery / post workers in over the years who would know the set up - also it’s not that remote, there are a couple of pubs in the village, it’s near other built up areas. After so long it’s unlikely new info will come through but amazingly they have the DNA.

 

[tes1984]

Incompetent burglar?
Extortionist looking for a safe?
Sexually motivated killer?
Hired hitman?
University research related murder?
Mental patient with freedom of movement?
Affair turned very sour?
Property deal turned very sour?
Bondage master?
Drug addicts?
Teenagers attempting a home invasion?

 

[Mayfly]

Incompetent burglar?
Extortionist looking for a safe?
Sexually motivated killer?
Hired hitman?
University research related murder?
Mental patient with freedom of movement?
Affair turned very sour?
Property deal turned very sour?
Bondage master?
Drug addicts?
Teenagers attempting a home invasion?

The problem is it could be any of the above or something else entirely.

The thing which puzzles me is the DNA - if the killer is still around he (or they) has managed to avoid any situation where they would be required to give a sample and have not left any trace at any crime scene since. I don't know for sure whether the system routinely searches for familial matches but if it does then the close relatives must be law abiding too. So was this a one-off? If it was then it suggests a strong personal motive.

The chances are that the killer is dead by now, so won't be brought to justice, but Janet's family deserve to know what happened.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I read one of Paul Britton's books, years ago, and was reasonably impressed. (However, he wrote the book!) One thing he kept talking about was "m**********y fantasies". He said sex offenders have these fantasies and are compelled eventually to act them out. (Or is it only some who reach that stage?) He also said that they use the memory of that act for some time, until it fades and then they have to act it out again. I have no expertise in this area, but is it a case of "to a hammer, everything looks like a nail"? If you are a criminal psychologist, does everything appear to have a psychological explanation and this can be explained by a copy and paste formula?

This offender does not seem to have done it again, with the possible exception of Carolanne Jackson. Was he hit by a bus? Or has he managed to restrain himself? Was he so shocked by it that he would never repeat it?

We also hear the mantra "Every contact leaves a trace" from forensic scientists. Is this a wishful thinking exaggeration? There doesn't seem to be DNA from the Carolanne Jackson murder, despite a large physical element.

"He must have done this before." "He is bound to do it again." "He must have told someone." "He will have been covered in blood." "He must have been affected by this and behaved differently afterwards." "Someone must know." "Allegiances change." How often do we hear this?

 

[Bibitty]

Do we think that JB was bludgeoned at the base of the stairs or had she been attacked before in the bedroom and been pushed down the stairs or fell?

The time that R left the house has been reported as different a few times 3:30 then 5pm. Do we know who picked up R or did she walk somewhere alone (unlikely?). Did she leave after the builders had finished for the day?

Do we know what time the car was spotted in the triangle - was it the same time the alarm was ringing?

 

[rvlvr]

I read one of Paul Britton's books, years ago, and was reasonably impressed. (However, he wrote the book!) One thing he kept talking about was "m**********y fantasies". He said sex offenders have these fantasies and are compelled eventually to act them out. (Or is it only some who reach that stage?) He also said that they use the memory of that act for some time, until it fades and then they have to act it out again. I have no expertise in this area, but is it a case of "to a hammer, everything looks like a nail"? If you are a criminal psychologist, does everything appear to have a psychological explanation and this can be explained by a copy and paste formula?

This offender does not seem to have done it again, with the possible exception of Carolanne Jackson. Was he hit by a bus? Or has he managed to restrain himself? Was he so shocked by it that he would never repeat it?

We also hear the mantra "Every contact leaves a trace" from forensic scientists. Is this a wishful thinking exaggeration? There doesn't seem to be DNA from the Carolanne Jackson murder, despite a large physical element.

"He must have done this before." "He is bound to do it again." "He must have told someone." "He will have been covered in blood." "He must have been affected by this and behaved differently afterwards." "Someone must know." "Allegiances change." How often do we hear this?

The Christy Mirack case over in the States was a big eye opener on this for me, her killer Raymond Rowe was a seemingly normal guy who was never on the radar and as far as anyone call tell didn’t kill again. If not for IGG he’d very likely still be a free man.

Mirack was badly beaten and was probably strangled.

Prosecutors said they are not sure whether Rowe and Mirack knew each other or why he targeted her.

Rowe lived about four miles from Mirack in 1992, and the prosecutor said Mirack’s home was on a likely route between Rowe’s home and where he worked at the time.

DJ pleads guilty to 1992 murder after relative's DNA test links him to crime

Raymond Charles Rowe, known as DJ Freez, apologized for killing 25-year-old elementary school teacher Christy Mirack

www.theguardian.com

 

[Daisychain3]

First post so please go gentle on me!

Firstly I’m always absolutely baffled and fascinated by the amount of serious and fatal crimes that happened to females in the 90’s throughout England, many with no resolve and just so little making sense. Kate Bushell, Shelley Morgan, Suzanne Lamplugh Lyn Bryant, Melanie Hall, Lin & Megan Russell (IMO don’t believe they had the correct perp for that one) Penny Bell…the list is absolutely endless and of course including Janet Brown.

I always hope, when I open my new browser every morning that someone has been found responsible for even just one of these awful deaths and give the families some peace.

Back to this case, I hadn’t heard mentioned before, until the above video how important Janet’s husband’s job was and that he could have had some confidential/influential documents in the property. Could it be that is the explanation for the thorough search of the property, combing each room etc but taking nothing that a normal burglar would consider valuable be because it was something in particular he was looking for. Along the same lines and with the upcoming sale of farm house (which I didn’t realise sat on a lot of acres) was there a discrepancy in the deeds, properties boundaries that someone was angry about, maybe a farmer that relied on land for livestock and therefore income.

The other possibility is back to one of the OG theories that the killer expected Roxanne to be in the property and he believed she had fled and hid and he was trying to find her, this would possibly explain why he took the risk of carrying on with what he was doing rather than making a run for it with the alarm going off.

Interestingly the only thing touched or moved was the scuba diving equipment, I wonder if that was stored in big boxes and rather in being interested in the kit the killer believed Roxanne may be hiding in or behind them.

To me the clues are in the odd actions of the perp.

Why was it so important he stayed and searched the property, was what he was looking for the goal of the crime.

He didn’t flee with the alarms this reiterates two things for me, he either had knowledge that the system wasn’t going to raise an alarm or again finding what he was looking for took precedence.

 

[Daisychain3]

Also to follow on from my previous post, it does say in the last video with the footage on the inside of the house that the property had been broken into previously and since then Janet had become very security conscious. She had installed the hi tech alarm system, had kept a “beware of dog” sign up and also was the chair person for the new neighbourhood watch group.

 

[tes1984]

Also to follow on from my previous post, it does say in the last video with the footage on the inside of the house that the property had been broken into previously and since then Janet had become very security conscious. She had installed the hi tech alarm system, had kept a “beware of dog” sign up and also was the chair person for the new neighbourhood watch group.

I'm not sure how accurate some of the information in that video is. I wouldn't take it as gospel but that's JMO...

 

[rvlvr]

Very good suggestion that the perp was searching the house for Roxanne rather than for money or valuables, hadn’t considered that.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I hadn’t heard mentioned before, until the above video how important Janet’s husband’s job was and that he could have had some confidential/influential documents in the property.

Did the video say that he took documents to Radnage? He spent most of his time in Switzerland. Why would he take work documents to Radnage (and leave them there)? Do pharmaceutical companies break into houses and brutalise women? Wouldn't the intruder have been better off breaking into the Swiss property? The intruder could have broken in when no one was home?

(I had read somewhere that the Browns had previously been burgled.)

 

[Daisychain3]

I mean I’m just here theorising as much as the next person on the information that was given, I don’t have the answers.

What I would say is I imagine Radnage was the family home where they all lived at some point.

I have never seen it mentioned how long JB’s husband had been in Switzerland before the the murders but my husband is, who is in the Forces spends months upon months based in different countries, occasionally more than a year but our family home is still full of his work stuff, some of it sneaky beaky.

 

[tes1984]

Did the video say that he took documents to Radnage? He spent most of his time in Switzerland. Why would he take work documents to Radnage (and leave them there)? Do pharmaceutical companies break into houses and brutalise women? Wouldn't the intruder have been better off breaking into the Swiss property? The intruder could have broken in when no one was home?

In the PB book he mentions that the study was undisturbed. Wouldn't that be the first place an intruder would search for documents or files?

 

[tes1984]

IIRC Janet's husband had been living in Switzerland for quite a few years. He had a girlfriend in Switzerland, and he and Janet seem to have pretty much led seperate lives.

Who knows what the arrangements were for when Roxanne turned 18. I read something about the whole family moving to Canada, but I think that was false information. The plan seems to have been for Janet and Roxanne to move into a smaller house a commutable distance from Janet's work and Roxanne's school. Presumably the husband would remain based in Switzerland.

After the murder, Roxanne ended up moving in with her older sister. I'm not sure how long Janet's husband spent back in the UK after the murder.

 

[dotr]

14 October 2025 rbbm.

Unsolved Oxfordshire nurse murder appearing on major BBC One show

There is a £20,000 reward for help for catching the killer with the murder of the Oxfordshire nurse set to feature on BBC One tomorrow.

uk.news.yahoo.com

'We have the killer’s DNA. That means if you give us a name of the person you suspect, we can easily rule that person in or out of the active investigation — even if they’ve passed away or moved abroad."

''Investigators also ruled out an extramarital affair as well as industrial espionage, a failed kidnapping and a contract killing.
Thousands of people were interviewed in relation to Mrs Brown’s death and in 2015, police tested 700 people after an isolated DNA sample was obtained from the scene.''

Apr 10, 2025
Cold Case murder: Janet Brown was murdered 30 years ago today. We need your help to catch the killer and there is a £20,000 reward. We have the DNA of the offender, all we need is a name. Please contact us via 101, report online, or by visiting a police station - quote reference 695 (8/4). You can also report via Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I thought someone on here had given a date for when the Browns had previously been burgled. If they had been burgled, that was probably before they got the Great Dane, which had died by the time of the attack, so it must have been quite some time before. (Great Danes tend to be protective of their owners, but they are not aggressive by nature. Sadly, they have a lifespan shorter than that of most dogs.)

 

[tes1984]

(I had read somewhere that the Browns had previously been burgled.)

I was wrong when I said that the Browns hadn't been burgled.

In 1986, Janet walked in on a burglar, who fled empty handed. After this scary incident Janet got the Great Dane, who passed away in 1993.

Janet set up the neighbourhood watch group in 1993, after a spate of burglaries occurred in the area.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

I was wrong when I said that the Browns hadn't been burgled.

In 1986, Janet walked in on a burglar, who fled empty handed. After this scary incident Janet got the Great Dane, who passed away in 1993.

Janet set up the neighbourhood watch group in 1993, after a spate of burglaries occurred in the area.

Thanks.

If Janet got the Great Dane as a puppy it did have a short life, relative to other dogs. Although they are not the best guard dogs, I think that, if an intruder came face to face with one, he would back away. It's a pity that the dog didn't live longer and scare off the intruder.

 

[tes1984]

The early newspaper reports contain some interesting allegations. Sometimes journalists get given false information though, so such things should be taken with a pinch of salt...

Quite a few early reports say that the murder was sexually motivated. Some speculation that Janet's head was smashed against the bed board. There are also reports which say a bloody iron bar was found near the house.

One thing which can be confirmed is that builders were at the house that day, working on one of the roofs. That would have made it very difficult for anyone to have been hiding in the grounds and watching the house.

 

[tes1984]

"He must have done this before." "He is bound to do it again." "He must have told someone." "He will have been covered in blood." "He must have been affected by this and behaved differently afterwards." "Someone must know." "Allegiances change." How often do we hear this?

The police definitely try to cover all bases, but in this case they may be appealing to the man who rang the police a couple of times with information in 1996.

They seem to have taken this information seriously so the allegiances change/someone must know appeals may be sincere.