A British Airways captain who killed his estranged wife and buried her body in a pre-prepared grave has been jailed for 26 years. Robert Brown, 47, was convicted of manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and obstructing a coroner after killing millionaire Joanna with a claw hammer in their home in Ascot, Berkshire.
The attack took place on 31 October last year as the couple's two young children cowered in a playroom. Brown then placed his wife's body in the boot of his car and later dumped it in a makeshift coffin in a remote part of Windsor Great Park. He had previously dug a hole and left a spade wrapped in tarpaulin nearby.
Brown and his 46-year-old wife were due to attend the high court in November 2010 for a final hearing to resolve financial disputes. Just days before the killing, the supreme court ruled that a 'marriage contract' was binding, a decision Brown believed had 'stitched him up'.
A jury at Reading crown court acquitted Brown of murder but found him guilty of obstructing a coroner. He had earlier admitted manslaughter. Sentencing, Mr Justice Cooke told him: 'You intended to kill, you intended to conceal the body and to hide the evidence of the killing.'
The judge noted that Brown never called an ambulance or took his wife to hospital, and that he took extensive steps to ensure the body would never be found. 'You directed the police to the site only when it became plain that the evidence was so strong,' he added. Brown looked skywards as sentence was passed, while his wife's relatives broke down in tears in the public gallery.
