It’s quite a common trajectory that marriages end when the youngest has done GCSEs / A levels or left home and it seems this is where the Brown marriage was at as the house was being sold ahead of a divorce. It might be the case that Graham and his ‘affair partner’ were now in a more established relationship and they were already building a life together so R couldn’t or wouldn’t live with her Dad so went to live with her sister. I expect the affair, separation and financial divorce settlement negotiations were challenging years for Janet and her children.
UK UK- Janet Brown, 51, research nurse, found nude, gagged, handcuffed & bludgeoned to death, @ home, Buckinghamshire,10 April '95, *DNA, new initiative*
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Professor Moriarty
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Roxanne could hardly have continued with her A levels in High Wycombe, if she had moved to Switzerland. She would have needed a visa to live in Switzerland and probably could not speak the language used in the part of Switzerland where her father lived. (If the father could not speak the language that might not have been a problem in a high powered scientific job where highly educated colleagues spoke English.)
I had read that, at an earlier stage, there was a possibility of the family moving to Canada, but that didn't happen and Grahaem (I think that is the unusual spelling) got the job in Switzerland. The house was old and big, it seemed to have had some problems, and there was a substantial amount of land attached. There would have been a lot of maintenance and expense. Zoe had already left home, the son was in his final year at university and likely to leave home soon and it wouldn't be long before Roxanne would be away at university or college most of the time. So you can see why it would make sense to sell the house and downsize. However, house sales are often a stressful experience, especially if problems arise. It seems that in this case there were problems. Subsidence has been mentioned and the roof of the barn was in a state. Building work was being done.
Online, you see people saying that "the husband must have done it". This is libellous (if he is still alive). The police cleared him. In the outrageous scenario of his employing a hit-man, it would hardly make sense to do this before the house sale was completed. The husband would have created huge problems for himself. Selling the house would then be extremely difficult and postponed for a long time. A lot of people would not want to live in a house where such an awful event had happened. The price would have to be reduced unless a long time elapsed before trying to sell it. I have no doubt that he had nothing to do with what happened.
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I expect this article from the Mammoth Book Of Unsolved Crimes has been linked before but just in case anyone hasn't seen it.
The mammoth book of unsolved crimes : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (pp24-35)
It's also available immediately on the below site:
See pp 5-6. This is a Russian site so here are a few quotes for those who may not wish to click on the link:
"Naturally, the police have considered that the secret of her death lies in the detail of her life. They have talked to everyone they can find who knew Mrs Brown and have discovered how little a woman can disclose to those around her. It does not appear that she had anything to hide, except herself. Likewise, the neighbours, friends and colleagues I’ve spoken to have wanted to assist but have sometimes struggled to find things to say about her.
She liked to buy clothes at Whispers in Oxford. She suffered the occasional migraine. She was good at her job and was liked and respected at work. She was slight in build but not timid by nature. She was determined. She once left her husband and children behind to take an adventurous holiday in Peru, but that was a long time ago now. Perhaps there are photographs in an album or a drawer somewhere from this holiday, but I haven’t seen them."
"At the time of Janet Brown’s murder the family had been living at Hall Farm for a decade and had been trying to sell and move on for a year or two. The sale had been hampered by problems of subsidence, requiring underpinning, but a buyer had finally been found for £340,000 and they were no more than a week or two away from completion."
"Janet Brown’s husband, Grahaem, worked in Switzerland. A retired army officer and medical doctor he had, in recent years, moved into the management of pharmaceutical research, first for Glaxo’s in Canada and more recently for Ciba Geigy in Basle. To the villagers of Radnage he was a remote, somewhat aloof figure not at ease with casual conversation and not much blessed with the personable qualities that oil a small community. Some of them speculated that there was more than mere physical distance between the doctor and Janet Brown. Some of them wondered if he had killed his wife and, sadly, some of them still do."
"The police cannot be sure but they believe Mrs Brown was upstairs in bed when this happened. Her clothes were neatly piled by the bed in her tidy way and she usually slept undressed. If the police accept that the incident began before the ten o’clock period when the alarm was set off, it is hard for them to understand why she apparently did not respond to the loud noise of the shattering glass by immediately triggering the nearby panic button or putting on the dressing gown which she kept by the bed. They speculate that she may not have heard the noise-perhaps because she was asleep or the television in the bedroom was on, or both-or may have frozen in fear, but Detective Superintendent Short concedes that these are half-hearted explanations. Though she was killed downstairs a small piece of the packing tape was found in the bedroom, indicating that she was gagged there."
"They [the traces of diluted blood found on the light switches] support the theory that he stayed on in the house for an unknown amount of time and there are additional signs of a cursory, exploratory search of the house. Nothing was stolen however and the only clue that burglary may even have been intended was that both the television and video recorder downstairs had been unplugged from the mains, as if being readied for removal. Janet Brown’s daughters noticed this when they went through the house for the police a couple of days after the killing, looking for things missing or out of place.
The police think it possible that the killer may have triggered the alarm himself, deliberately, for whatever reason, before finally leaving the house."
"In Radnage she had been one more mother supporting her daughters at pony club events, regarded by some as a woman who kept herself slightly apart from the group. We never set eyes on her from the day the children stopped riding, one villager told me. Though neighbours said they would see her out walking her dog, a Great Dane, before it died and noted that she would was not afraid to be out alone at dusk and even in darkness with the dog by her side.
On rare occasions neighbours would see both Mr and Mrs Brown out walking together. She would be the one to smile and wave....There was talk, for instance, of the family moving to Canada when Grahaem first began working abroad but this had been abandoned in favour of the continuity of the children’s education here.
Only one couple, Lesley and Andy Bryant, seem to have had any kind of regular contact with Janet Brown...
The Bryants knew the locals sometimes speculated about the solidity of Mr and Mrs Brown’s marriage but heard nothing from Janet to indicate any problem and, taking as they found, could only say that the couple seemed happy enough together. Andy sometimes said that it wouldn’t do for him, that kind of long-distance relationship, but that was the Browns’ business. Lesley knew how much Janet’s work meant to her. Janet had recently gone back to work after many years spent raising the children. She had originally trained as a nurse and midwife but had returned as a medical researcher."
"[Detective Superintendent] Short then decided to seek an independent view of the case and approached the forensic psychologist Paul Britton who has been among the pioneers of offender-profiling techniques. Short was not put off by Britton’s involvement with the aborted case against Colin Stagg over the killing of Rachel Nickell. It is, after all, detectives who lead, and take responsibility for inquiries, not psychologists. Paul Britton was only one more resource in any inquiry."
"As Britton readily conceded, the skills or wisdom of offender profiling could never be a science of precision. He too had noticed how little there was to know about Janet Brown. It was very important, he said, to know about her. But what you had was a tight picture with very little detail available. It was not a question of the detail being concealed so much as it simply not being there at all.
When it came to the incident itself, Britton did not know what to make of the means of entry. The person had come prepared to do what they did. “You saw time, you saw effort and application, but you also saw a woefully inadequate appreciation of what was required to complete the task.” It was as if somebody was mirroring the real methods of a housebreaker without actually knowing how to do it."
"Both Short and Britton believe the killer is likely to be a local man, or at least, a man who is familiar with the area and they both believe this man will be known to a wife, partner or parent. They think this person might have noticed some change in behaviour, or be suppressing their own fear that a person they know could be involved.
Britton speculated that the killer would have had a relationship that had failed or be in a relationship that was failing now. He would not have gone around boasting about it, after killing Janet Brown, but the change in his demeanour would have been observable. He might have become very agitated, or more agitated, preoccupied and withdrawn or he might have shown disproportionate interest in the reporting of the killing, with an elevation in his mood from the buzz of achievement."
THE SECRET JANET TOOK TO THE GRAVE by David James Smith
It's free to read on the Internet Archive if you are signed up:The mammoth book of unsolved crimes : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive (pp24-35)
It's also available immediately on the below site:
See pp 5-6. This is a Russian site so here are a few quotes for those who may not wish to click on the link:
"Naturally, the police have considered that the secret of her death lies in the detail of her life. They have talked to everyone they can find who knew Mrs Brown and have discovered how little a woman can disclose to those around her. It does not appear that she had anything to hide, except herself. Likewise, the neighbours, friends and colleagues I’ve spoken to have wanted to assist but have sometimes struggled to find things to say about her.
She liked to buy clothes at Whispers in Oxford. She suffered the occasional migraine. She was good at her job and was liked and respected at work. She was slight in build but not timid by nature. She was determined. She once left her husband and children behind to take an adventurous holiday in Peru, but that was a long time ago now. Perhaps there are photographs in an album or a drawer somewhere from this holiday, but I haven’t seen them."
"At the time of Janet Brown’s murder the family had been living at Hall Farm for a decade and had been trying to sell and move on for a year or two. The sale had been hampered by problems of subsidence, requiring underpinning, but a buyer had finally been found for £340,000 and they were no more than a week or two away from completion."
"Janet Brown’s husband, Grahaem, worked in Switzerland. A retired army officer and medical doctor he had, in recent years, moved into the management of pharmaceutical research, first for Glaxo’s in Canada and more recently for Ciba Geigy in Basle. To the villagers of Radnage he was a remote, somewhat aloof figure not at ease with casual conversation and not much blessed with the personable qualities that oil a small community. Some of them speculated that there was more than mere physical distance between the doctor and Janet Brown. Some of them wondered if he had killed his wife and, sadly, some of them still do."
"The police cannot be sure but they believe Mrs Brown was upstairs in bed when this happened. Her clothes were neatly piled by the bed in her tidy way and she usually slept undressed. If the police accept that the incident began before the ten o’clock period when the alarm was set off, it is hard for them to understand why she apparently did not respond to the loud noise of the shattering glass by immediately triggering the nearby panic button or putting on the dressing gown which she kept by the bed. They speculate that she may not have heard the noise-perhaps because she was asleep or the television in the bedroom was on, or both-or may have frozen in fear, but Detective Superintendent Short concedes that these are half-hearted explanations. Though she was killed downstairs a small piece of the packing tape was found in the bedroom, indicating that she was gagged there."
"They [the traces of diluted blood found on the light switches] support the theory that he stayed on in the house for an unknown amount of time and there are additional signs of a cursory, exploratory search of the house. Nothing was stolen however and the only clue that burglary may even have been intended was that both the television and video recorder downstairs had been unplugged from the mains, as if being readied for removal. Janet Brown’s daughters noticed this when they went through the house for the police a couple of days after the killing, looking for things missing or out of place.
The police think it possible that the killer may have triggered the alarm himself, deliberately, for whatever reason, before finally leaving the house."
"In Radnage she had been one more mother supporting her daughters at pony club events, regarded by some as a woman who kept herself slightly apart from the group. We never set eyes on her from the day the children stopped riding, one villager told me. Though neighbours said they would see her out walking her dog, a Great Dane, before it died and noted that she would was not afraid to be out alone at dusk and even in darkness with the dog by her side.
On rare occasions neighbours would see both Mr and Mrs Brown out walking together. She would be the one to smile and wave....There was talk, for instance, of the family moving to Canada when Grahaem first began working abroad but this had been abandoned in favour of the continuity of the children’s education here.
Only one couple, Lesley and Andy Bryant, seem to have had any kind of regular contact with Janet Brown...
The Bryants knew the locals sometimes speculated about the solidity of Mr and Mrs Brown’s marriage but heard nothing from Janet to indicate any problem and, taking as they found, could only say that the couple seemed happy enough together. Andy sometimes said that it wouldn’t do for him, that kind of long-distance relationship, but that was the Browns’ business. Lesley knew how much Janet’s work meant to her. Janet had recently gone back to work after many years spent raising the children. She had originally trained as a nurse and midwife but had returned as a medical researcher."
"[Detective Superintendent] Short then decided to seek an independent view of the case and approached the forensic psychologist Paul Britton who has been among the pioneers of offender-profiling techniques. Short was not put off by Britton’s involvement with the aborted case against Colin Stagg over the killing of Rachel Nickell. It is, after all, detectives who lead, and take responsibility for inquiries, not psychologists. Paul Britton was only one more resource in any inquiry."
"As Britton readily conceded, the skills or wisdom of offender profiling could never be a science of precision. He too had noticed how little there was to know about Janet Brown. It was very important, he said, to know about her. But what you had was a tight picture with very little detail available. It was not a question of the detail being concealed so much as it simply not being there at all.
When it came to the incident itself, Britton did not know what to make of the means of entry. The person had come prepared to do what they did. “You saw time, you saw effort and application, but you also saw a woefully inadequate appreciation of what was required to complete the task.” It was as if somebody was mirroring the real methods of a housebreaker without actually knowing how to do it."
"Both Short and Britton believe the killer is likely to be a local man, or at least, a man who is familiar with the area and they both believe this man will be known to a wife, partner or parent. They think this person might have noticed some change in behaviour, or be suppressing their own fear that a person they know could be involved.
Britton speculated that the killer would have had a relationship that had failed or be in a relationship that was failing now. He would not have gone around boasting about it, after killing Janet Brown, but the change in his demeanour would have been observable. He might have become very agitated, or more agitated, preoccupied and withdrawn or he might have shown disproportionate interest in the reporting of the killing, with an elevation in his mood from the buzz of achievement."
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Usually in a situation like this, the child would be sent to a private 'International School' where everything is taught in English alongside second-language level lessons in the regional language. Lots of these all over europe and plenty to choose from even within Switzerland, with the oldest being opened in the 1880s. Usually for the children of: academics on short contracts (sometimes even paid for by the university employing the parent), diplomats, bankers, etc.
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Just thinking that if Janet knew her killer than surely he wouldn't need to break in? Couldn't he just overpower her from the front door, under the guise he was there for some other reason? I do also think the alarm was the last thing to be set off I reslly can't imagine anyone spending a considerable amount of time in the house with that noise
I wasn’t aware of either of these things. If she was indeed found still wearing her jewellery then yes, a shower seems unlikely. Also if it was burglary you’d think the jewellery would be one of the first things he snatched. It really is a confusing case this one, there’s no clear motive whatsoever. I had always in the past thought burglary gone terribly wrong by a somewhat incompetent criminal, who perhaps had either severe anger issues or severe mental health problems. I had always thought that the panic button being activated was what caused him to commit murder. It seems every theory has holes with this case though, from what we DO know.
Professor Moriarty
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True and that would have put plenty of distance between R and the events in Radnage. Thanks.
(I suppose R was partly through her A level course in the UK, partly through learning to drive in the UK and her friends were in the UK. She might have also felt that she would be a bit of gooseberry around her father and his Swiss lady friend.)
Isn't a lot of jewellery cheap stuff, of negligible second hand value?
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This is not what was said elsewhere - other sources speak of a thorough search.
Paul Britton had access to the crime scene photos etc and said there were minimal signs of ransacking. The study apparently looked undisturbed, but IIRC the killer had rummaged through a chest containing scuba equipment. It's not mentioned if the diluted blood was found on the scuba gear. The police will have held certain things back and may have asked PB not to disclose them.
Most burglars don't close draws after they've opened them, as it wastes time. I wouldn't put it past this guy to have done something like that though. It's hard to rule anything out with such a bizarre crime scene and timeline.
If the killer did make a thorough search, then he failed to find cash that was left in the kitchen, and also a piece of tape that was left on the floor in Janet's bedroom. He also left the handcuff keys under Janet's body, which potentially could have been something he went back upstairs to search for.
Professor Moriarty
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In the article to which Steve H helpfully linked, the writer said that Paul Britton was told not to disclose some things. The writer was allowed an interview with Paul Britton, the police officer leading the investigation sat in on the interview. Paul Britton always checked with the officer, before answering each question, if it was OK to answer.
The article also said that Paul Britton and the lead investigator shared a view as to the motive, but they have not disclosed it.
Janet could have had a shower before the killer gained access to the house.
The shower head was placed a lot higher than the police expected it to be for someone of Janet's height. IIRC the toilet seat was found raised and a second (man's) dressing gown was found on the bedroom floor. Staging, or did the killer take a shower himself?
If it was a drug addict/incompetent burglar, then he left behind cash as well as jewellery. I'm not sure if any of the jewellery in the house was valuable or not.
A killer with severe mental health issues seems a good possibility to me, as does a hot prowler who knows nothing much about burglary, but knows he would like to encounter vulnerable women.
I'm not sure about the idea that he kills Janet because she has pressed the panic alarm. She's about to suffocate to death anyway because he has bound her head with thick tape.
Thanks. Interesting that they mention four unidentified fingerprints found in the house. I wonder if any of the prints have ever been matched.
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Out of the blue question, but was there any indication that the house fridge had been opened and any food/drink consumed?
If anyone has followed PB - has he said what his theory is for the motive?
I haven't heard it mentioned, but it wouldn't surprise me.
Delroy Grant was placed at one of his crime scenes, because he left DNA when he helped himself to orange juice from the fridge.
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Murder of Janet Brown - Wikipedia
rbbm.
Sexual Sadism Disorder - Psychiatric Disorders - Merck Manual Professional Edition
Sexual Sadism Disorder - Etiology, pathophysiology, symptoms, signs, diagnosis & prognosis from the Merck Manuals - Medical Professional Version.
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The link in the previous post doesn't work for me. Here's one that does:
www.msdmanuals.com
Sexual Sadism Disorder - Psychiatric Disorders - MSD Manual Professional Edition
Sexual Sadism Disorder - Etiology, pathophysiology, symptoms, signs, diagnosis & prognosis from the MSD Manuals - Medical Professional Version.
Janet may have been punched, bound and gagged in the bedroom, but the blood splatter evidence suggested she was bludgeoned whilst lying or kneeling at the base of the stairs.
AFAIK it hasn't been confirmed what time Roxanne actually left the house, or what time the building work finished for the day. I don't know how Roxanne got to her friend's house. Perhaps by bus, taxi, or a friend giving her a lift by car. It was quite a long train journey, and also quite far for her to have walked.
The car was spotted at around 9.50pm, so around twenty minutes or so before the alarm was heard.
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Complete speculation, imo.
Did the various alarms in Janet's house also have flashing lights?
If not, any chance the perp was hearing impaired and the sounding alarms had little effect on him?
Maybe he regularly passed through the area enroute to a special school/workplace for the deaf?
www.psychologytoday.com
Did the various alarms in Janet's house also have flashing lights?
If not, any chance the perp was hearing impaired and the sounding alarms had little effect on him?
Maybe he regularly passed through the area enroute to a special school/workplace for the deaf?
Deaf Serial Killers
When I heard about the recent arrest of a deaf serial killer, I was reminded of this rare type. I decided to collect the cases I knew of serial killers who were deaf.
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