• You must be logged in to see or use the Shoutbox. Besides, if you haven't registered, you really should. It's quick and it will make your life a little better. Trust me. So just register and make yourself at home with like-minded individuals who share either your morbid curiousity or sense of gallows humor.

Abroad

Veteran Member
A "controlling and manipulative" man who killed his wealthy lover to fund a lavish lifestyle will serve a minimum of 32 years in jail, a judge has said.

Donald Graham, 60, was convicted of murdering Janet Brown, of Hexham, Northumberland in 2005, before stripping her estate.

A judge at Newcastle Crown Court jailed Graham for life, adding he would not be eligible for parole for 32 years.

The body of Ms Brown, a property developer, has never been found.

Graham, of Sparty Lea, Northumberland, had denied murder but admitted fraud.

Ms Brown's body has never been found, despite an extensive search of farmland close to Graham's home.

Sentencing, Judge Justice Openshaw said: "He was once a JCB digger driver, he could have disposed of her in some deeply-dug pit or put her down one of the many mine shafts in the area, or buried her in some wild and remote place.

"That he disposed of her body is obviously an aggravating factor."

He added that the fact that the murder was driven by financial gain was another aggravating factor.

"All these offences were made possible only by the murder and he used the money to fund his extravagant and flashy lifestyle", he said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-27938586
 
Murderer and fraudster Donald Graham, who has been jailed for life with a minimum of 32 years, spun such a web of lies that his lover Janet Brown's parents never suspected foul play.

Graham had fallen for another woman and wanted property developer Ms Brown's money to fund his lavish lifestyle.

He went on to strip her estate and that of her wealthy parents.

Although he was careful to cover his tracks, his lies were ultimately discovered.

Graham's first move had been to convince Ms Brown's parents she was in France, and such was his success they told police they had no concerns over her whereabouts.

One of Ms Brown's friends who confronted Graham two years after she was last seen was told she was "doing her own thing".

Graham, 60, of Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, forced his wife to impersonate her, to get her money and in a bid to show she was still alive.

The officer reported her parents as saying she was not travelling with a mobile phone and planned to contact them at her next port of call.

They had recently had a call and were expecting another, they said.

The officer's report ended by describing her parents as "very relaxed and happy".

One friend, Maureen Houghton, had repeatedly attempted to contact Ms Brown, but found her phone dead.

When she questioned Graham after spotting him on a Hexham street in 2007, he gave evasive answers.

At his trial, she said: "I asked him was it not strange that she had not contacted him and he was quite blase about it, and said that Janet would do her own thing and that was it as far as he was concerned."

In 2006, Ms Brown's Porsche, with personalised number plates, was sold on eBay.

Later that year, someone claiming to be Ms Brown rang her bank and after answering security questions, transferred all the money into Graham's account.

Meanwhile, her parents Olive and Eric were elderly and in poor health and Graham inveigled himself into their lives.

He gained access to their bank documents and personal details and when they died, in 2007 and 2008 respectively, he organised the funerals.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-27680607
 
A woman who posed as a murdered heiress to help her lover gain access to the dead woman's estate has been sentenced.

Janet Brown, of Hexham, disappeared in 2005. Her lover Donald Graham was jailed for life for her murder in 2014.

Graham persuaded new lover Elizabeth Todd to impersonate Ms Brown in an attempt to convince people she was still alive.

Todd admitted fraud at Newcastle Crown Court and was handed a six-month prison term, suspended for 18 months.

[...]

Todd, 52, of Elsdon Avenue, Seaton Delaval, was posed as Ms Brown, by writing a letter to her bank and making telephone calls under her name.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-31665393
 
A woman who posed as a murdered heiress to help her lover gain access to the dead woman's estate has been sentenced.
Tyler Perry did a similar bit in one of his Madea movies. It worked out really well in the movie, who would have ever thought it would fail so miserably in real life.:shrug:
 
An air rifle has been found hidden inside a wall at the former home of a man who killed his wealthy lover to fund a lavish lifestyle.

Northumbria Police said the rifle was discovered by a builder carrying out renovation work at the building in Intake Head, Sparty Lea, on 23 March.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: "The air rifle was seized by police and sent away for forensic testing.

"Further searches were carried out of the building an no other weapons were found."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-32447753
 

Latest posts

Back
Top