BA captain acquitted of murder after killing wife with claw hammer

Robert Brown, 47 and originally from Edinburgh, bludgeoned millionairess Joanna to death with a claw hammer in their sprawling family home as their two young children cowered in the playroom.

He then bundled her body into the boot of his car and later dumped it in a make-shift coffin in Windsor Great Park.

The brutal killing took place on October 31 last year - just days after a landmark ruling at the Supreme Court in which judges decided a "marriage contract" was binding.

Less than 10 days later, Brown and his 46-year-old wife were due to attend the High Court for a final hearing to resolve their own financial disputes.

Today a jury at Reading Crown Court acquitted him of murder but convicted him of obstructing a coroner from holding an inquest.

Brown, of North Street, Winkfield, Berkshire, had already admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

The jury delivered their verdicts following 14 hours and 46 minutes of deliberation. Brown will be sentenced later today.

During the eight-day trial jurors heard how he had been consumed by anger and resentment during the course of his marriage.

When his wife, known as Jo, filed for a divorce, it set in motion three years of protracted legal wrangling.

Problems came to a head last year, when Brown, who was by then living with his French girlfriend Stephanie Bellemere, 41, drove to his wife's home to drop off their children following the half-term break.

He arrived at his wife's home Tun Cottage armed with a claw hammer, jurors were told.

There, with the youngsters out of sight in the playroom, he hit Mrs Brown at least 14 times around the head.

He then scooped the children into his Volvo 4x4, wrapped Mrs Brown's body in plastic sheeting, placed a bin-liner over her head to "avoid leaving bloodstains" and dumped her in the car.

Brown's daughter later told police she heard her parents "hitting each other" before she watched "dad put mum in the car because he ... hurt her".

Leaving the children at his home, Brown drove to Windsor Great Park where he had already buried a garden crate that would serve as his wife's coffin.

He was arrested the next day after police called to investigate Mrs Brown's disappearance discovered spots of blood on her drive and in the hallway of her mock-Tudor mansion.

Brown, a keen cross-country runner, confessed to her killing, leading officers directly to the secluded burial site.

In the "robust plastic crate" - likened to those sold by DIY stores or garden centres - investigators found Mrs Brown bound with a strap and garden ties.

On top of her body were rolls of tape, more garden ties, latex gloves, plastic footwear and two white paper overalls.

An archaeologist suggested the grave could have been dug a "matter of weeks earlier", but Brown told police he had lowered the box into the earth as long ago as January 2009 as a symbolic gesture to bury the "sham" of his marriage.

An examination of his wife's battered body - which was found on its side - revealed extensive fractures to the skull and facial bones, along with a brain injury from which she would have had no hope of recovering.

During interviews, Brown admitted killing his wife, from Ascot, Berkshire, claiming to have hit her with a hammer after an argument over schools.

He told police he had been suffering from "severe stress" and an "abnormality of mental function" which substantially impaired his self-control.

During his own evidence Brown told the court he had "burst" with rage at his wife but could not remember how many times he hit her or explain why he attacked her.

He said: "I just lost it. I just burst and that's it. I just burst, and I can't remember.

"I just blew and the next thing I remember I was standing over Jo and there was blood all over the place."

Breaking down, he said to the public gallery "I'm sorry darling, I'm really sorry", before telling Joanna's brother: "I feel your pain James, I'm sorry."