Jazwell Brown sat quietly while his son Jake came to visit the home he shared with partner Joanne Pearson and her dog Tilly in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire on Christmas Day
A teenager who went to visit his dad on Christmas night tried to stop him killing his partner, neighbour and dog in a horrific double murder.
High after smoking crack cocaine, Jazwell Brown sat quietly while his son Jake came to visit the home he shared with partner Joanne Pearson and her dog Tilly in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. Jo had said she didn’t want to smoke around Brown’s teenage son Jake, and the atmosphere changed. A court heard Brown picked up a screwdriver and a kitchen knife from the table in the living room and approached Jo, who asked him what he was doing and tried to walk away.
Without saying a word, 49-year-old Brown launched his attack, puncturing Jo’s body 31 times. The court heard his son Jake, from a previous relationship, tried to stop him.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC said: “Jake Brown tried to pull his father away from her, only for the defendant to turn to him and stab him in the chest.”
The lad, now 18, described his father as being “completely expressionless” as he attacked them, the court heard. As the killing went on, Jake called the police as he hid in the bathroom before Brown breached the room, holding the baseball bat.
He later told officers there had been no argument and nothing to justify the defendant’s actions, and that the attack was like “watching a horror film”.
The court also heard that after killing his partner, Brown made his way across a communal landing to the flat next door, where Bradley Latter and Teohna Grant were sitting in the living room enjoying a quiet Christmas Day.
The defendant stabbed both victims multiple times with a “blank” face, Ms Heer said. “He stared Mr Latter dead in the eyes and continued to stab him, without saying a word.”
Soon afterwards, a witness living opposite the flat saw Ms Grant come out onto the balcony of the flat holding the front of her throat with her hands, shouting: “Help! I can’t breathe.”
After leaving the second flat, Brown then walked “in a manner described as casual with his hands in his pockets” towards the car park where he got into his car, the prosecutor said.
Police officers, who had arrived at the scene and were standing in the road, attempted to stop him but the defendant instead drove directly towards them, forcing them to move out of the way, before driving off without switching his headlights on.
Brown’s vehicle was located by the police driving erratically at speeds of up to 50mph, eventually being brought to a halt by armed police in Milton Keynes. Officers described the defendant as “spaced out” and he appeared to have blood on his hands as they were placed in handcuffs.
Police bodycam shows the arrest of Jazwell Brown
A bloodstained knife was found on the passenger seat of his car, with the defendant’s fingerprint in blood on the knife, while spots of Ms Pearson’s and Mr Latter’s blood were found on his trainers.
While in a cell following his arrest, Brown made the unsolicited comment: “Oh Jesus, what happened tonight What happened tonight, boy? Pure f*****g madness. Pure madness. I’ve gone f*****g crazy guys. Just gone crazy.”
He went on to say “I’ve gone bloody looney”, before later saying: “Not self-defence. Murder. It’s plain murder, not self-defence. Murder.”
Mr Justice Kerr sentenced Brown to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 39 years for each of the murders of Ms Pearson and Ms Grant, with the sentences to run concurrently.
He also handed down 21 years imprisonment and 18 years imprisonment for the attempted murders of Mr Litter and Jake Brown respectively, an 18-month sentence for possession of a knife in a public place and a nine-month sentence for causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal, all to run concurrently.