A former pilot who killed his wife after repeatedly hitting her with a hammer could become the first prisoner to have his release blocked by the justice secretary.
Robert Brown killed his estranged wife, Joanna Simpson, at their home in Windsor on Halloween in 2010 in earshot of their children, before digging a grave in Windsor Great Park and leaving her body there.
He pleaded guilty to manslaughter with diminished responsibility and was sentenced to 26 years in prison – but he could become the first prisoner to have his release blocked under new rules, the MailOnline reports.
The reforms, brought in under Dominic Raab, would allow the justice secretary to use a ministerial veto, which overrules the parole board’s decision.
Current Secretary Alex Chalk could also force the parole board to hear Brown’s case.
Mr Chalk met Joanna’s mother, Diana Parkes, during a visit to HMP High Down in Surrey and said this had ‘reaffirmed his decision’.
He said: ‘I will say to you what I said to them — that I was very affected by what I heard from them and I will do everything I properly can within the law to ensure that justice is done in their case.
‘Ministers themselves have to be accountable and that is being built into the system.
‘But when it comes to those serious offenders, protecting the public is a top priority and I am absolutely determined to follow through on that principle.’
Speaking on This Morning earlier this month, Diana, 84, warned Brown would be a danger to other women if he is released in November, as scheduled.
She explained: ‘I am very concerned about his release because he will seek revenge. He will blame everybody else but himself for what he did.
‘Jo’s friends, my family and women in general will be in general because he has lost everything that he had – he’s been stripped of it all.
‘He’s lost his job as a British Airways air captain, he’s lost his home, he’s lost his status, he’s lost his high earning, but most of all he’s lost his children because they never want to see him again.’
Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, a close friend of Joanne’s, added: ‘With manslaughter in the determinate sentence, which is what Robert Brown got, they get given a sentence but they are entitled to be let out halfway through – now two thirds of the way through.
‘And that’s the problem, there is no protection for the public.
‘And what we’re trying to do is leverage the changes that came in last year, which gives one man on this planet the ability to stop this from happening and that is Alex (Chalk).’
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