Swindon MP calls for better protection for domestic abuse survivors

South Swindon MP Robert Buckland has called for the Government to publish and respond to the Domestic Homicide Review that he commissioned in 2021.

Sir Robert commissioned the aforementioned review back when he was Justice Secretary. 

The Swindon MP made the call after attending a reception in Westminster this week, hosted by Diana Parkes, mother of Joanna Simpson, who was brutally attacked by her husband, Robert Brown, at their family home and bludgeoned to death by a claw hammer in October 2010.

Following the attack, which took place inside their home in Ascot Berkshire, as the couple’s children listened, Brown, a former British Airways Pilot, went on to bury Joanna’s body in a pre-dug grave in Windsor Great Park.

Brown admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility and was jailed in May 2011 for 26 years. He is due to be released in November having served half his sentence.

Diana Parkes, Mother of Joanna, has appealed directly to Justice Secretary, Dominic Raab to keep Brown in prison as he would be classed as a ‘critical public protection case’ and is deemed to pose an extremely high risk of serious harm.

The reception was organised by the Joanna Simpson Foundation, a charity that Diana Parkes helped to create to ‘transform the care, support, and protection of children affected by domestic abuse and homicide.’

Former Justice Secretary, Sir Robert Buckland spoke at the reception about the importance of protecting the public and the role of the law.

Sir Robert said: “Following the reception in Westminster this afternoon, I am urging the Government to publish and respond to the Domestic Homicide Review that I commissioned as Justice Secretary in 2021.

“There needs to be better protection for the millions of people who experience domestic abuse, and the government must use its powers to strengthen measures to tackle perpetrators.”