Man stabs boss 15 times and writes 'bully' across her forehead, court hears

David Browning 'intense attachment' towards Jillian Howell and became 'possessive, controlling and jealous'

(Sussex Police )

A "possessive, controlling and jealous" man stabbed his boss 15 times, before carving "bully" across her forehead once he had killed her, a court heard.

David Browning, a university worker, left Jillian Howell covered in blood on the floor of the lounge of her Brighton home, after repeatedly stabbing her in the chest, neck and abdomen, jurors were told.

Prosecutor Alan Gardner told Hove Crown Court that he had formed an "intense attachment" towards her and became "possessive, controlling and jealous".

Browning had stayed in the house for "several hours" before dialling 999 at around at around on 26 October last year to say he was standing outside a police station and had tried to kill himself, the court heard.

When approached by officers, he was found to have a gun and a knife but was "calm, coherent and collected".

Asked what happened, he replied: "In a nutshell, I have killed my boss," the court heard.

After contacting police, Mr Browning directed officers to Ms Howell's home. They found her body inside with the word bully "scrawled" across her forehead and graffiti scribbled across the walls, Mr Garner said.

The 52-year-old is standing trial accused of murdering the Samaritans volunteer, who was his superior in the University of Brighton payroll department.

The married father-of-two admits manslaughter by diminished responsibility and possession of a knife in a public place, claiming his actions were prompted by depression brought on by the death of his father a year earlier. He denies murder.

Browning had worked in the payroll department since 1989 and first met Ms Howell when she joined as a manager in 2015.

He was her deputy and at times "expressed unhappiness" at her management style, but the pair became friends and started seeing each other socially outside of work.

Ms Howell told friends she was trying to "cheer up" a colleague by inviting him around for dinner and hoped her experience working with the suicide support charity would help.

Mr Gardner said Mr Browning grew increasingly fond of Ms Howell, buying her gifts and flowers.

In a string of text messages read to the court, Mr Browning described her in one as "stunning" and in another said: "I adore you personally and professionally".

In another he asked to see her again in September or October, adding: "I think you will realise how much you mean to me as a friend".

Later he sent her a message which said: "You are more than just my boss and I think you know that."

She told a friend she had sought professional help for Browning after he demanded she "must never leave the university or get a boyfriend as he needed her support", Mr Gardner said.

He attended three sessions with the university's occupational health team but "blamed" Ms Howell after describing these as making him realise he was "f*" and "much worse" than he thought.

Mr Browning, of Seaford, East Sussex, claimed he suffered an "abnormality of function" during the killing.

But Mr Gardner branded it a "premeditated, cold blooded murder of a woman in her own home by a colleague she trusted".

The court heard Mr Browning plotted the murder for at least a month, having applied for a shotgun licence and buying the weapon, allegedly telling shop staff he was taking up clay pigeon shooting.

Later, he bought a hunting knife with a 10cm blade - which was found to have been used in the killing - and said he needed it for outdoor sports.

Jurors were also told he picked up a hire van the day before which he drove to Ms Howell's house, leaving the shotgun inside.

Graffiti Browning allegedly wrote on the walls of her home even tried to implicate her close friend Sean McDonald - a former Worthing mayor - in the death but the court heard he was not involved.

Mr Gardner called it a "carefully planned murder out of jealously and out of anger" because Browning feared she was about to reject him.

He added: "He went to her house with the intention to kill her and also, he says, with the intention to kill himself. At some point during the course of that meeting he attacked her [and] stabbed her in the back.

"He didn't want anyone else to know about his problems. He had grown attached to her."

The trial continues.

Agencies contributed to this report