Bletchley community helps convict Christmas Day double murderer
Jake Brown described the events as they unfolded in the flat where Joanne lived with Jazwell Brown who was her partner.On Tuesday during sentencing, Luton Crown Court heard Ms Pearson and her killer had been smoking crack cocaine on Christmas Day and the attack happened after Joanne refused to hand over the crack pipe in front of the Brown's son.She was found by police just inside the doorway to her flat.Mr Latter, who lived with his partner Teohna in the flat across the communal landing, was found semi-conscious at the bottom of the stairs as police arrived.He told the police Brown came across the landing and walked into their flat, which was unlocked, and then started his attack with a baseball bat and a knife.Officers found Teohna on the balcony.
Mr Latter "himself suffered something like 20 knife injuries to his neck alone and somehow survived" said the detective."We have two crystal clear accounts of exactly what has happened" and "after that it was all about making sure every little bit of that corroborated"."We had forensic examinations of the scene, we had lots of members of the public living in nearby properties phoning us as well – each of them had heard little bits of the attack," said Det Ch Insp Brangwin."One of them (members of the public) even gave us a description and told us his name and told us the registration number of the car Brown got into and used to get away."As it happened: Live updates from Tuesday's sentencingMr Brangwin said: "We were very fortunate in that an unmarked car managed to identify Brown's car as he made off and then we managed to co-ordinate a number of armed response vehicles and he was arrested within half an hour."We were well supported by the community and they did everything to help us build that picture around the two initial accounts we were given."
When Brown was interviewed by police he answered no comment throughout.He gave some unsolicited comments outside of the formal interview in which he simply said he went "loopy", "lost the plot" and "lost his cool" said Det Ch Insp Brangwin."He made some other comments about it not being self-defence but we do not really know much other than that about what prompted him to behave the way he did. It almost seems to have come out of nowhere," said the detective.Evidence suggested his relationship with Joanne was volatile at times but there was no clear evidence that it was violent."What is clear from the evidence presented by other witnesses is that drugs featured in both his and Jo's life and their lives did involve the use of cocaine and cannabis," added the senior officer."We know he was likely under the influence of cocaine but really there is nothing that seems to have prompted it or started it on Christmas Day."A number of the families have said the sentencing is just the beginning of the healing process and I hope it does provide them with an opportunity to start moving forward."
Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
US landlord who killed Palestinian-American boy dies in Illinois prison
An Illinois landlord convicted of murdering his six-year-old Palestinian-American tenant in a violent hate crime has died in Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars in May for the murder of Wadea al-Fayoume as well as the severe wounding and attempted murder of his mother Hanaan Shaheen in 2023. Police say the landlord targeted the pair for their Islamic faith shortly after the start of the Israel-Gaza war. He died at the Illinois Department of Corrections on Thursday, according to the Will County Sheriff's had served less than three months of his decades-long sentence when he died of a currently unknown cause at the age of 73. The family had been renting rooms from Czuba in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64km) from Chicago, when the attack took place. Police say Czuba stabbed al-Fayoume 26 times. The boy later died in was convicted of two counts of hate crime, one count of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and two of aggravated mother testified in court that Czuba had also attacked her with a knife before moving on to her son, telling her "you, as a Muslim, must die", Reuters did not attend her son's funeral as she was recovering in hospital from injuries received in the crime scene footage displayed during the trial was so explicit that the judge agreed not to show it to audience members. Al-Fayoume's family had been among the took less than 90 minutes to return a verdict in the case that received attention across the US and renewed fears of anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian Rehab, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Chicago office, said in a statement after Czuba's death that while "this depraved killer has died, the hate is still alive and well".A memorial to al-Fayoume was unveiled at a playground in Plainfield in June. The city is home to a large and well-established Palestinian community.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Daughter of woman murdered by man who US deported speaks out: ‘He was denied due process'
The daughter of a woman murdered by a man from Laos who is among those controversially deported from the US to South Sudan has spoken out about her family's pain but also to decry the lack of rights afforded to those who were expelled to countries other than their own. Birte Pfleger lives in Los Angeles and was a history student at Cal State University in Long Beach when her parents came to visit her from their native Germany in 1994 and ended up shot by Thongxay Nilakout during a robbery while on a sightseeing trip. Pfleger's mother, Gisela, was killed and her father, Klaus, wounded. Nilakout, now 48, is Laotian and was among eight convicted criminals from countries including Mexico, Cuba, Vietnam and Myanmar who were deported to the conflict-torn African country, amid uproar over Donald Trump's extreme immigration policies. In an interview with the Guardian, Pfleger said: 'It's been 31 years living with the irreparable pain and permanent grief, so, on the one hand, I wanted him gone. On the other hand, I'm a historian and I have taught constitutional history. He was denied due process and that's a constitutional problem.' The government of South Sudan has not disclosed the men's exact whereabouts since arriving in the country earlier this month, after legal problems had caused them to be stuck in nearby Djibouti after legal wrangling, or provided any details about their future. A lawyer representing the men said 'their situation is fragile,' noting their relatives have not heard from the deportees since a US military plane flew them to Juba, South Sudan's capital, before midnight on 4 July. A police spokesperson in South Sudan, Maj Gen James Monday Enoka, indicated that the men may ultimately be moved on. 'They will be investigated, the truth will be established and if they are not South Sudanese they will be deported to their rightful countries,' Enoka said. But few details are forthcoming. The US Department of Homeland Security called the men 'sickos'. The deportations had been initially blocked by US district judge Brian Murphy, who had ruled that the group needed to receive notice and due process before being taken to South Sudan, including the opportunity to express fear of being harmed or tortured there. But in a 7-2 ruling, the US supreme court paused Murphy's orders, clearing all obstacles preventing the Trump administration's plan. Just days after the ruling, the administration issued a memo suggesting officials would ramp up deportations to third countries with little notice and due process. The directive by Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), said US officials may deport migrants to countries other than their own with as little as six hours' notice, even if those third party nations have not made assurances about their safety. Legal experts have objected. 'We are going to continue to fight the policy that conflicts with the statute, the regulations and with the constitution,' said Trina Realmuto, executive director of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance, an organization leading a class-action lawsuit against Ice. The UN human rights office denounced the action and urged the US to halt deportations to third-party countries. More than 250 Venezuelans have just been repatriated after being deported by the US without due process to a brutal anti-terrorism prison in El Salvador. Previously a multinational group of migrants was sent to Panama from the US and ended up trapped in a hotel then caged in a jungle setting, while more recently another group was deported to the tiny African kingdom of Eswatini, which critics there described as 'human trafficking' and lamented the prospect of more to follow. 'International law is clear that no one shall be sent anywhere where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to serious human rights violations such as torture, enforced disappearance or arbitrary deprivation of life,' the UN said in a statement. Nilakout was 17 when he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for his murderous attack on Birte Pfleger's parents. In 2012, the US supreme court ruled that life without parole was unconstitutional for minors. After nearly 30 years behind bars, Nilakout became eligible for parole in 2022, despite a challenge from Pfleger, and was released from a California state prison the following year. He was picked up in Trump's mass deportation dragnet after the Republican president returned to the White House in January. Pfleger, now a history professor at Cal State University in Los Angeles, said she felt conflicted when she found out that Nilokaut had been deported to South Sudan. 'The moral dilemma here is that he should have never been let out of prison. But once he was released from prison, Ice should have been able to deport him, or he should have self-deported to Laos. But of course, what happened is he was put on a Gulfstream jet headed for South Sudan that violated a federal judge's orders to give notice. He and the others were denied due process,' she said. Pfleger continued: 'I am not involved in victims' rights organizations or anything like that. I have not gone to law school, but I have read the constitution and the history of it. And I think that due process rights are fundamental. And when they're no longer fundamental, we all have a problem.' The pain for Pfleger and her sister of losing their mother and their father being wounded having watched his wife get shot and being unable to help her persists, and the family had not expected Nilakout to be freed, she said, adding that her father, Klaus, is 93 and frail. My mom was everything to him,' she said. In a statement, the government of South Sudan cited 'the longstanding support extended by the United States' during its fight for independence and its post-independence development, for the latest cooperation. Between 2013 and 2016, a civil war killed 400,000 people in South Sudan. Earlier this year, the threat of a new war breaking out pushed the US embassy to issue a level 4 warning to Americans not to go to South Sudan because of crime, kidnapping and armed conflict there. The German government recently warned, via the foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, posting on social media that: 'After years of fragile peace, South Sudan is again on the brink of civil war.' The UN commission on human rights in South Sudan warned 'We are witnessing an alarming regression that could erase years of hard-won public progress.' The UN added that a humanitarian crisis was looming with half the country already suffering food insecurity and two million internally displaced, with a further two million having fled the violence to seek sanctuary in neighboring countries.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Financial Ombudsman Service boss paid £230,000 after ousting
The ousted head of the Financial Ombudsman Service received a pay-off of almost £230,000, it has been disclosed in the annual report. Abby Thomas, who left abruptly on 6 February, was paid £229,869 in severance payments on top of her normal salary. The payoff included £100,000 for loss of office, £107,692 in lieu of notice and £22,177 for a period of gardening leave that began on the day she left, the FOS said. MPs on the Treasury select committee have hit out at the manner of her departure and criticised the FOS chairwoman Baroness Manzoor for refusing to answer questions on why Thomas left and whether she was forced out. The FOS, which rules on complaints by consumers about financial services firms and can set compensation orders, is under pressure to reform. Rachel Reeves has pledged to curb its powers so it no longer acts like a regulator after complaints from the industry that it has increased the cost of 'mass redress events'. It has been dealing with a significant rise in claims, mainly related to car finance loans, but also because of concerns about other consumer loans and more people complaining about banks' handling of frauds. Dame Meg Hillier, chairwoman of the Treasury committee, said this month: 'The handling of this situation by the senior leadership has been deeply disappointing.' Thomas, a former Virgin Media executive, served for less than three years. She has been replaced by James Dipple-Johnstone as chief ombudsman and Jenny Simmonds as interim chief executive. Manzoor is due to retire on August 1. The FOS received 450,000 new inquiries in the year to March, up from 330,000. The motor finance industry is braced for a judgment from the Supreme Court this Friday that could determine the scale of compensation payments for failing to disclose commissions paid to dealers.
