Joanna Simpson: Hammer killer who battered wife will not be automatically released, justice secretary vows

Alex Chalk has used new powers to block Robert Brown’s automatic release after serving 13 years for killing Joanna Simpson and burying her in a pre-dug grave

A controlling husband who battered his wife to death with a hammer and buried her in a pre-dug grave will not be automatically released from prison after the justice secretary intervened.

Alex Chalk has stepped in to stop former pilot Robert Brown from being freed next month after his victim’s family mounted a desperate campaign amid fears for their safety.

Joanna Simpson’s family told The Independent they feared for their lives and were ramping up home security as they faced the prospect of Brown’s release from 6 November after serving half of his 26-year sentence.

But in a victory for her loved ones, Mr Chalk announced on Thursday that he would use his “powers to detain”, which are designed to protect the public from dangerous offenders, to stop him from being automatically freed.

Mum of two Joanna Simpson, 46, was killed by Robert Brown on 31 October 2010 (Family handout/Independent)

Announcing his intervention, he said: “Joanna Simpson was bludgeoned and buried at the hands of Robert Brown, which left two children without a mother and caused irreparable harm to her family and loved ones.

“I made a commitment to Joanna’s family that I would give this case my closest personal attention. Having reviewed all the information available to me, I have blocked Brown’s automatic release and referred this case to the parole board using powers we introduced to protect the public from the most dangerous offenders.”

Brown will now face a parole board hearing which will assess whether it is safe for him to be released.

Ms Simpson’s mother Diana Parkes, 84, said: “I am delighted that Alex Chalk the Lord Chancellor has blocked Robert Brown‘s automatic release and is referring the decision to the parole board. 

“Having to continuously relive my daughter’s brutal killing is emotionally exhausting.

“We hope that the parole board will appreciate how dangerous Robert Brown is and we fear for the safety of our family, Jo’s friends and any female he may form a relationship with in the future. We would urge them to keep him in jail.”

Refuge chair Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, who struggled with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after her close friend Ms Simpson’s death in 2010, added: “We appreciate the secretary of state for justice looking at this case with his closest personal attention and realising that Robert Brown is a danger to the public.

“Whilst today has been a victory for Diana Parkes, Joanna’s children, myself and Joanna’s wider family and friends, we know the fight doesn’t and won’t end here, we now hope that the parole board sees the level of danger that Brown poses and makes the decision to block his release.”

Ms Simpson and her mum Diana Parkes (Family handout/Independent)

Ms Parkes described her former son-in-law as a “total threat to society” after he killed former marketing manager Ms Simpson, 46, a week before a High Court hearing which would have finalised their divorce.

The former British Airways captain bludgeoned her to death at her home in Ascot, Berkshire, striking her 14 times with a hammer as their two children cowered in the playroom next door.

Afterwards, he bundled Joanna’s body into the car with the children and dropped them at his girlfriend’s house, before dumping her body in a grave at Windsor Great Park lined with a garden box.

At trial, the charming former British Airways captain was cleared of murder, after he told the court he was suffering from an adjustment disorder. He instead admitted to the lesser charge of manslaughter by diminished responsibility and was sentenced to 26 years in prison. Joanna’s family said it was one the “greatest miscarriages of justice of the past 10 years”.

Following a meeting with Ms Barkworth-Nanton and Ms Parkes earlier this year, Mr Chalk promised to give his close personal attention to whether Brown should be automatically freed halfway through his sentence. On Thursday, he announced he was stepping in to halt his automatic release.

The justice secretary has used his power to refer Brown to the parole board (PA)

The power to detain is understood to have been used around 21 times since it was introduced under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, which gives the justice secretary the authority to refer automatic release cases to the parole board where there are reasonable grounds that the prisoner would “pose a significant risk to members of the public of serious harm”.