She Never Left Hexham: The Murder of Janet Brown

In June 2005, Janet Brown was 45, living in a converted barn outside Hexham in Northumberland, her elderly parents in the farmhouse next door. She was fiercely independent, she loved her dog, and she was happy travelling alone. On 1 June she booked a ferry to France, sailing on 18 June. She never made the crossing.

Because Janet had no office expecting her on a Monday, and a long habit of solo travel, her absence explained itself. No alarm was raised. No missing person inquiry was ever opened. Her partner, Donald Graham, wrote letters and cards to her parents in her name, telling them she had made a new life abroad. Olive Brown died in January 2007 and Eric Brown in March 2008, both still believing it. Graham attended both funerals, then forged Eric's will, with Janet's forged signature as the attesting witness.

What brought it all down was a clerk at the Skipton Building Society noticing that a signature did not match. A fraud inquiry became a missing person inquiry. A missing person inquiry became a murder inquiry. In June 2014, a jury convicted Donald Graham of murder without Janet's body ever being found. Life, minimum 32 years. He has never said what he did with her.

Solo episode this time.

If you have information about the whereabouts of Janet Brown's remains, please contact Northumbria Police, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.