Speaker 1: Well, I remember jo Anne getting stabbed out and losing
Speaker 1: her life, and I remember looking myself in the bathroom.
Speaker 2: For those familiar with British history, the name Blatchley stars
Speaker 2: echoes of wartime secrecy. Once home to the famed Blatchley,
Speaker 2: this quiet district of Milton Keynes played a decisive role
Speaker 2: in World War Two. It was here, behind closed doors
Speaker 2: at Station Ex that Alan Turing and his team cracked
Speaker 2: German codes, tipping the balance of the war. For decades,
Speaker 2: their triumphs remained a closely guarded secret, their brilliance unrecognized
Speaker 2: outside a select circle. In the decades that followed, Bletchley
Speaker 2: was absorbed into the newly designed town of Milton Keynes,
Speaker 2: a nineteen sixties experiment in modern urban planning. Today it's
Speaker 2: a place where history and suburbia sits side by side.
Speaker 2: Victorian railway buildings stand as reminders of the past, while
Speaker 2: post war estates and modest apartment blocks make up the
Speaker 2: fabric of everyday life. Santa Cruz Avenue is one such strait,
Speaker 2: lined with unassuming three story flats. The buildings themselves are ordinary, functional,
Speaker 2: rather than beautiful, but on Christmas they take on a
Speaker 2: softer glue, twinkling ferry lights, frame windows and balconies inflatable
Speaker 2: sanders sway gently in the wind, and the faint sound
Speaker 2: of Carol stripped from open windows. Inside, families lingered in
Speaker 2: the warmth of the holiday. Children sat cross legged on
Speaker 2: the carpet, still in pajamas, absorbed in new toys. Adults
Speaker 2: reclimbed on sofas, nursing full stomachs from Christmas dinner. The
Speaker 2: television playing the same festive specials it did year after year.
Speaker 2: But as dusk turned to night on the twenty fifth
Speaker 2: of December twenty twenty four, the comfort of the season shattered.
Speaker 2: A sound cut through the stillness. Screams echoed through the estate.
Speaker 2: Neighbors paused, glancing from behind curtains and stepping on the balconies,
Speaker 2: and one balcony woman stood, her clothing soaked in blood.
Speaker 2: She clutched the railing as though it was the only
Speaker 2: thing holding her up. She then screamed, I can't breathe.
Speaker 2: One of the flats along Santa Cruz Avenue belonged to
Speaker 2: thirty eight year old Joe Pearson. She shared the flat
Speaker 2: with her forty nine year old partner, Joswell Braun. The
Speaker 2: couple had been together for years, but Braun had a
Speaker 2: son from a previous relationship, Seventeen year old Jake, was
Speaker 2: a familiar presence at the flat, drifting in and out
Speaker 2: with the casualties of somebody who belonged there. They also
Speaker 2: had a dog, Tilly, a white Staffordshire bull Terrier, who
Speaker 2: occupied a central place in Joe's life. To those who
Speaker 2: knew her, Joe would described Tilly as her rock. She
Speaker 2: was a companion who provided steadfast support through whatever challenges
Speaker 2: life presented, and life for Joe had presented plenty of challenges.
Speaker 2: Jaswell Braun had a lengthy criminal history. He had send
Speaker 2: convictions for fifteen offenses dating back to nineteen ninety four.
Speaker 2: These included damaging property and one offense of battering Jake's
Speaker 2: mother in two thousand and nine. Both he and Joe
Speaker 2: were long term users of class A drugs, predominantly crack Okain.
Speaker 2: Neighbors had become accustomed to the songs that emanated from
Speaker 2: Flat number eight, raised voices that carried through walls and
Speaker 2: echoed in the stairwell, the kind of arguments that made
Speaker 2: you turn up the television or suddenly remember you needed
Speaker 2: to check the post. They were the sound track of
Speaker 2: a relationship that was held together by habit and history
Speaker 2: and the shared understanding that came from weathering the same storms.
Speaker 2: Love might have existed there once, perhaps it still did
Speaker 2: in some twisted, unrecognizable form, but it lived alongside anger, addiction,
Speaker 2: and a volatility that could ignite without warning. Joe's family
Speaker 2: saw something different when they looked at her. They saw
Speaker 2: the girl she'd been before drugs had rewritten her story.
Speaker 2: They saw moments of the woman she could still be,
Speaker 2: the woman who asked about your day and actually listened
Speaker 2: to the answer. Her family described her as somebody who
Speaker 2: fundamentally cared about others, and they weren't wrong. But caring
Speaker 2: about others can be complicated when you can't quite care
Speaker 2: for yourself, when your days are structured around a chemical
Speaker 2: dependency that overrides every other priority. This was the fragile
Speaker 2: ecosystem of Flat number eight on Santa Cruz Avenue. A
Speaker 2: middle aged couple with matching addictions and a history of violence.
Speaker 2: A teenage boy trying to maintain a connection with his
Speaker 2: father despite everything, a dog who loved unconditionally, and beneath
Speaker 2: it all, the invisible pressure building slow steady, inevitable, like
Speaker 2: a timer counting down to Christmas Day, it was called.
Speaker 2: On Christmas Day of twenty twenty four, all along Santa
Speaker 2: Cruz Avenue, the trappings of holiday tradition were on full display.
Speaker 2: Wreaths hung on doors, their pine scent mixing with the
Speaker 2: cold winter air. Strings of fairy lights trace the outlines
Speaker 2: of windows, casting colorful patterns on to frost touched glass.
Speaker 2: Inside those warm, glowing homes, families gathered around trees adorned
Speaker 2: with ornaments collected over lifetimes, and wrapping presents and posing
Speaker 2: for photographs that would be shared on social media. It
Speaker 2: was close to five p m. On Christmas Day when
Speaker 2: Jake Brawn made his way to his father and Joe's flat.
Speaker 2: He had presents tucked under one arm. The winter sun
Speaker 2: was already sinking below the horizon. Jake climbed the stairs
Speaker 2: to Flat number eight. He knocked on the door and
Speaker 2: his father answered and welcomed him. Inside, Joe was playing
Speaker 2: Christmas music and presents were exchanged amongst the three of them.
Speaker 2: But while other families across the country were settling on
Speaker 2: to sofas with full stomachs and remote controls, a different
Speaker 2: kind of evening was taking shape. In Flat eight, Joe
Speaker 2: and Jaswell Brawn moved to the kitchen. The Christmas music
Speaker 2: continued in the background, a jarring corn to point to
Speaker 2: what happened next, they began smoking crack cocaine. The drug
Speaker 2: quickly worked its black magic, filling their brains with dopamine,
Speaker 2: creating that brief euphoria that attic's chase, and for a
Speaker 2: while they felt good. But crack cocaine is a jealous drug.
Speaker 2: It demands everything and gives back nothing but the promise
Speaker 2: of the next high, and on that particular evening, it
Speaker 2: decided to extract the price that would shatter what remained
Speaker 2: of a broken family. At some point during their session,
Speaker 2: Joe refused to hand the crack pipe back to Braun.
Speaker 2: She said she didn't feel comfortable smoking around Jake. The
Speaker 2: atmosphere quickly changed. Braun's hand reached for the counter. He
Speaker 2: grabbed a screwdriver and then a kitchen knife. He then
Speaker 2: approached Joe. She asked him what he was doing and
Speaker 2: started to walk into the other room. Without saying a word,
Speaker 2: Braun lunged at Joe and stabbed her over over. She
Speaker 2: began screaming and frantically putting her hands up to try
Speaker 2: and protect herself. Jake sat frozen, his eyes, struggling to
Speaker 2: process what he was saying. But shock is a temporary paralysis,
Speaker 2: and survival instinct is powerful. Jake launched himself at his father,
Speaker 2: grabbing at him and trying to pull him off Joe.
Speaker 2: His fingers clawed at his arms, and for a moment,
Speaker 2: he thought he could stop what was happening. This was
Speaker 2: his father, after all, and he thought that he would
Speaker 2: recognize him and regather his humanity. But Jake was tragically wrong.
Speaker 2: Brown then turned on his own teenage son. He stabbed
Speaker 2: him once in the chest. Jake stumbled backwards, his hands
Speaker 2: distinctively moving to protect himself from the next blow. The
Speaker 2: knife came down again, and Jake raised his hand to
Speaker 2: block it. Metal met flesh and bone, and suddenly one
Speaker 2: of his fingers was severed. Pain and adrenaline were surging
Speaker 2: through each other because he fought his own father for
Speaker 2: his life. He managed to push him away, grabbed his
Speaker 2: phone from the table, and ran into the bathroom. He
Speaker 2: slammed the door behind him and locked it. In the kitchen,
Speaker 2: he could hear Tilly barking frantically. She had watched her
Speaker 2: beloved owner fall and was trying to ward off danger
Speaker 2: she couldn't understand. And then the barking changed. It became wimpering.
Speaker 2: Braun had turned the knife on Tilly. I don't mean
Speaker 2: to get ahead of the story, but I want everybody
Speaker 2: to know that Tilly survived. Jake desperately called nine niney
Speaker 2: nine from the safety of the bathroom. He told the
Speaker 2: operator what had happened, pleading for police and paramedics to
Speaker 2: be sent immediately. In the background of that call, Joke
Speaker 2: could be heard wimpering, Jazz, No, you're killing me. Tell
Speaker 2: my children I love them. The screaming men fell silent,
Speaker 2: but the silence didn't last for long. Braun's footsteps approached
Speaker 2: the bathroom door. Jake heard the sound of his father
Speaker 2: retrieving something from elsewhere in the flat. He then heard
Speaker 2: the distinct sound of wood against wood. Braun had grabbed
Speaker 2: a baseball bat and was hitting it with full force
Speaker 2: against the bathroom door. He begged for his father to stop,
Speaker 2: but it fell on deaf ears. Jake backed up against
Speaker 2: the far wall, still on the phone to the nine
Speaker 2: nine nine operator. The door finally gave way. Wood splintering inwards,
Speaker 2: Braun filled the doorway like something from a nightmare. He
Speaker 2: then began beating his own son, Jake, with the baseball
Speaker 2: bat until he collapsed to the tile floor, and then,
Speaker 2: as suddenly as it had started, the attack stopped, but
Speaker 2: only for Joe, Tilly and Jake. Number seven, twenty four
Speaker 2: year old Tiona Grant was experiencing the kind of Christmas
Speaker 2: she'd always imagined for herself. Three years earlier, Tiona had
Speaker 2: made the move from Nuneaton to Bletchley. It's not a
Speaker 2: vast distance geographically, but emotionally it represented independence, adulthood, the
Speaker 2: beginning of building her own life. Tiona had found work
Speaker 2: and found love with her fiance, twenty nine year old
Speaker 2: Bradley Ladder, and found a place that felt like home.
Speaker 2: But Nanton was never far from her heart. This is
Speaker 2: where she'd grown up, and she remained deeply connected to
Speaker 2: her parents, Petra and Reginald, and her two sisters, Jade
Speaker 2: and Paris. The bond between them was the kind that
Speaker 2: required maintenance, regular phone calls, visits scheduled, and kept holiday
Speaker 2: spent together when possible. Family wasn't just something that Tiona had,
Speaker 2: it was something she actively nurtured. Tionah's family said that
Speaker 2: she was the kindest, sweetest, most caring daughter that any
Speaker 2: mother could have wished for. And on Christmas evening, Tiona
Speaker 2: and Bradley had enjoyed exchanging gifts and eating their Christmas
Speaker 2: dinner together. The walls of the flats were thin, so
Speaker 2: when the chaos erupted in Flat number eight, Toony and
Speaker 2: Bradley had heard it all Before they even had a
Speaker 2: chance to figure out whether they should check on their
Speaker 2: neighbors or call police. Their front door flung open. Standing
Speaker 2: in the doorway was Josuell Braun. He was covered in blood.
Speaker 2: In one hand, he gripped a bloody kitchen knife and
Speaker 2: in the other a baseball bat. Tooni and Bradley knew Braun.
Speaker 2: He was their neighbor. They passed him in the hallway
Speaker 2: often and often exchanged pleasantries. Braun immediately lunged at Tiona
Speaker 2: and began stabbing her over and over. Bradley's body reacted
Speaker 2: before his mind fully comprehended what was happening. He grabbed
Speaker 2: Braun and tried to pull him off Tiona, but Braun
Speaker 2: overpowered him, and then he turned. He had zero expression
Speaker 2: on his face as he turned the knife on Bradley.
Speaker 2: Bradley tried to defend himself and shouted, why are you
Speaker 2: doing this? What have I done? Braun never responded. They
Speaker 2: struggled over the weapon, giving Tiona a second to try
Speaker 2: and get help. She managed to pull herself off the
Speaker 2: ground and stumbled towards the door. She made it outside
Speaker 2: into the cold December air. Her fingers gripped the balcony
Speaker 2: rail and she screamed, I can't breathe. Back inside Flat
Speaker 2: number seven, Bradley was still fighting with Braun until suddenly
Speaker 2: he stopped. Braun pulled away, turned and walked out of
Speaker 2: the flat. Bradley managed to pull himself off the ground.
Speaker 2: His legs barely supported his weight, but he moved forward.
Speaker 2: He stumbled towards the door. Outside, he saw Joe Pearson.
Speaker 2: She was lying faced on on the landing, a pull
Speaker 2: of blood spreading beneath her body. On the balcony t
Speaker 2: on a lay faced on in a puddle of her
Speaker 2: own blood. Bradley grabbed his phone from his pocket and
Speaker 2: called nine ninety nine. It was the second call the
Speaker 2: emergency services that Christmas evening, another play for help that
Speaker 2: would arrive too late for some barely in time for others.
Speaker 2: While Bradley was discovering the bodies on the landing and balcony,
Speaker 2: Jake Brawn emerged from Flat number eight. His chest was punctured,
Speaker 2: his hand was missing a finger, and he had been
Speaker 2: brutally beaten and stabbed by his own father. He should
Speaker 2: have been unconscious, really, but trauma does strange things to
Speaker 2: the body. Jake ran down the street screaming for help.
Speaker 2: He spotted a neighbor outside. His voice was hoarse, but
Speaker 2: he managed to shout, you need to help me. He's
Speaker 2: going to kill me. Then Jaswell Braun emerged on the street.
Speaker 2: Witnesses said that he looked eerily calm. He walked briskly
Speaker 2: towards Jake and the neighbor till he was on her
Speaker 2: leash being dragged beside Braun. Her white fur was stained
Speaker 2: with blood. The neighbor saw Braun approaching, he grabbed Jake
Speaker 2: and ran for his own home nearby. They made it
Speaker 2: inside and slammed and locked the door behind them. The
Speaker 2: neighbor later recollected. I went into survival mode and got
Speaker 2: my sister in law into the house and locked the
Speaker 2: door to protect our family. The festive lights quickly gave
Speaker 2: way to flashing police and paramedics lights as they swarmed
Speaker 2: the scene. Police cars formed a barrier at both ends
Speaker 2: of the strait. Ambulances positioned themselves as close to the
Speaker 2: flats as possible, Their rear doors flung open as paramedics
Speaker 2: jumped out. Officers spilled out onto the pavement. Among the
Speaker 2: chaos of arriving emergency services and frightened neighbors spilling out
Speaker 2: of their homes, officers found Tilly, the white Staffordshire bull terrier,
Speaker 2: was wandering in a daze, her leash still attached and
Speaker 2: dragging behind her on the pavement. Her coat was matted
Speaker 2: with blood that had saped from wounds to her chest
Speaker 2: and neck. She moved slowly, operating on instinct alone because
Speaker 2: her body was in profound shock. An officer approached her carefully,
Speaker 2: despite everything she'd been through, till east Hail gave a
Speaker 2: weak wag, because that's what dogs do, even when they're dying,
Speaker 2: even when they've been stabbed by somebody who should have
Speaker 2: protected them, they still try to be good. Tilly was
Speaker 2: rushed to an emergency vet. Her blood pressure was dangerously
Speaker 2: low from blood loss, but the knife had missed her
Speaker 2: vital organs. Tilly would survive. Jake Brown would survive too,
Speaker 2: though the injuries he sustained would mark him for life.
Speaker 2: When paramedics reached him, he was in severe distress. The
Speaker 2: twelve centimeter stab wound to his chest had punctured his
Speaker 2: diaphragm and injured his liver. Blood and air had leaked
Speaker 2: into his chest cavity. His right hand was a mass
Speaker 2: of blood and explosed tissue where the tip of his
Speaker 2: finger had been severed completely. They loaded him into an ambulance,
Speaker 2: started ivy lines, administered pain medication, and raced towards the hospital,
Speaker 2: while calling ahead to prepare the traumaty. In the back
Speaker 2: of the ambulance, Jake tried to explain what had happened
Speaker 2: to the attending paramedic. He described it as like watching
Speaker 2: a horror film. Bradley latter had survived as well. He
Speaker 2: sustained sharp force injuries to his scalp, back, neck, and ear,
Speaker 2: defensive wounds on his right hand from where he'd grabbed
Speaker 2: the knife, yet blunt force trauma as well. Bradley kept
Speaker 2: asking about Tiona. Where was she?
Speaker 1: Was she ka?
Speaker 2: Could he see her? The paramedics exchanged glances but said nothing.
Speaker 2: There would be a time for those conversations later. For now,
Speaker 2: their job was to keep Bradley alive and stable. But Joe,
Speaker 2: Piers and in Tiona Grant weren't so lucky. Joe lay
Speaker 2: dead on the hallway outside the flat. She had sustained
Speaker 2: thirty one stab wounds to the face, neck, chest, abdomen,
Speaker 2: and arms. She was dead. She had even sustained scratches
Speaker 2: after death. Joe had been killed by the stab wounds
Speaker 2: to her neck, which damaged her jugular vein and airway,
Speaker 2: and the stab wound to her chest, which entered her
Speaker 2: left lung. She had also sustained blunt force trauma and
Speaker 2: defensive wounds to her arms and hands. On the balcony,
Speaker 2: Toona lay faced on in a pull of her own blood.
Speaker 2: She had sustained five stab wounds. One of those wounds
Speaker 2: had struck her neck, severing her carroded artery and damaging
Speaker 2: her jugular vein. What paramedics and police were securing the scene,
Speaker 2: documenting evidence, treating the injured, and covering the dead, Jaswell
Speaker 2: Braun had fled. He made it to his car and
Speaker 2: had driven off at high speed into the night. He
Speaker 2: drove radically weaving through traffic with his headlights off. He
Speaker 2: ignored red lights. Police gave chase while others positioned themselves
Speaker 2: ahead of his root. Armed police forced the vehicle to stop.
Speaker 2: They grabbed him.
Speaker 3: From the vehicle, Start resisting, stop resisting.
Speaker 2: Braun's hands were stained with blood. Next to the driver's
Speaker 2: seat lay a kitchen knife covered in blood. As Brine
Speaker 2: was arrested, he didn't say a word, but after he
Speaker 2: was placed in the back of the patrol vehicle, he
Speaker 2: started mumbling to himself. He said that he was crazy.
Speaker 2: At the police station, he continued talking. He said, I
Speaker 2: lost my cool tonight, and then started talking about what happened.
Speaker 2: He said that what he had done wasn't self defense,
Speaker 2: it was plain murder.
Speaker 4: Not such a fence playing mind.
Speaker 2: Brown's finger printed and had his mugshot taken and was
Speaker 2: then escorted to his cell. Once the cracker came began
Speaker 2: to wear off, his head seemingly became clear. He stood
Speaker 2: in his cell and mumbled, oh Jesus, what happened tonight?
Speaker 2: What happened tonight?
Speaker 3: Boy?
Speaker 2: Pure fucking madness. I've gone fucking crazy. Guys just gone crazy.
Speaker 2: He then added it turned into a bloody disaster because
Speaker 2: I was hanging out with him for too long. It
Speaker 2: rubbed off on me, just hanging out with the Lunds.
Speaker 2: It rubbed off on me. He paced back and forth,
Speaker 2: and in a moment of clarity, he said, I've gone
Speaker 2: bloody looney, not self defense murder. It's plain murder, not
Speaker 2: self defense murder. The next day, Jaswell Brown was interviewed
Speaker 2: by tam Valley Police. He suggested that he blacked out
Speaker 2: at some point, but other than that he refused to speak.
Speaker 2: How may what happened from conors?
Speaker 3: Do you know anything about anyone being stabbed?
Speaker 4: Jested?
Speaker 2: On the twenty fifth December, Jaswell Brown was subsequently charged
Speaker 2: with two counts of murder, two coinds of attempted murder,
Speaker 2: and one kind of possession of a knife. He was
Speaker 2: also charged with causing unnecessary suffering to a protect an animal.
Speaker 2: After the charges were handed down, Detective Chief Inspector SHIRP.
Speaker 2: Brangwyn publicly announced, firstly, I would like to extend my
Speaker 2: deepest condolences to the families of the women who have
Speaker 2: tragically died in this shocking incident. We've launched a double
Speaker 2: murder investigation which may be concerning to the wider public, however,
Speaker 2: we have made in the rest and we're not looking
Speaker 2: for anyone else in connection with this incident, and the
Speaker 2: parties are known to each other. But for residents of
Speaker 2: Santa Cruz Avenue, the distinct unction provided little comfort. Knowing
Speaker 2: the victims and the perpetrator were connected didn't erase the
Speaker 2: fact that the murder had arrived on their doorstep. On
Speaker 2: Christmas Day, the apartments were transformed into crime scenes and
Speaker 2: cordoned off with yellow tape. Police officers stood guard while
Speaker 2: forensic experts began their work inside, photographing the scene collecting evidence.
Speaker 2: Outside the official perimeter, a makeshift memorial started to grow.
Speaker 2: People left on flowers, cards, and trinkets. Neighbors gathered outside
Speaker 2: in small clusters and spoke to the reporters that had descended.
Speaker 2: An unidentified neighbor recalled saying, Braun leave the flat in
Speaker 2: the immediate aftermath, and his description captured something chilling about
Speaker 2: the man's demeanor. Braun looked super chilled, he said, not
Speaker 2: panicked or distressed or even aware that he just committed
Speaker 2: unspeakable acts of violence. The neighbor recalled, we heard banging
Speaker 2: on a door next to us, and there was a
Speaker 2: lad covered in blood and shouting I've been stabbed. He
Speaker 2: had a chest wound and a head wound. We looked
Speaker 2: out on the balcony of one of the flat and
Speaker 2: there was a woman in distress saying I can't breathe.
Speaker 2: There was a dog which is a bit like a staff.
Speaker 2: He running around the estate for an hour and a
Speaker 2: half covered in blood. It went to my friend's porch
Speaker 2: and there was a pull of blood. After Bradley Ladder
Speaker 2: was released from hospital, he faced a difficult decision. Where
Speaker 2: do you go when home has become the place where
Speaker 2: everything ended. He did eventually return to the flat where
Speaker 2: Tiona lost her life and where he almost lost his.
Speaker 2: Bradley told the bbcay that nightmares had become his new normal.
Speaker 2: Slave brought no relief, only endless replays of the attack,
Speaker 2: Brawn's blank face, the knife rising and falling, Tiona's voice
Speaker 2: saying she couldn't breathe. His conscious eyes weren't much better.
Speaker 2: His mind obsessively re round and replayed those moments, searching
Speaker 2: for different choices he could have made, different outcomes that
Speaker 2: might have saved her. He said, nothing I can do
Speaker 2: can bring Tionna back. But I have to live for her.
Speaker 2: The months between the arrest and court appearances stretched like
Speaker 2: a wound that wouldn't close. For the families of Joe
Speaker 2: and Tiona, for Jake and Bradley, for everyone touched by
Speaker 2: the violence of Christmas Day. Time moved in strange ways,
Speaker 2: simultaneously too fast and agonizingly slow. They wanted justice, but
Speaker 2: justice required process, and process takes time. Finally, on the
Speaker 2: fifteenth of April, Jaswell Braun appeared in Luton Croncourt. He
Speaker 2: pleaded guilty to two coinds of murder and two coinds
Speaker 2: of attempted murder. He also admitted possession of a knife
Speaker 2: in a public place and causing unnecessary suffering to protect
Speaker 2: an animal. According to the prosecution, they had a very
Speaker 2: strong case. It included witnesses, CCTV and forensic evidence, and
Speaker 2: it really gave Braun little choice but to plead guilty.
Speaker 2: There were the survivors who were going to testify. The
Speaker 2: murder Webon was found in Brown's car. His fingerprints were
Speaker 2: on the blood on the handle. Spots of Joe and
Speaker 2: Tiona's blood were also on his trainers. During the court hearing,
Speaker 2: his defense attorney Charles Miskin said that his client was
Speaker 2: remorseful and profoundly sorry for what he'd done. He was
Speaker 2: ordered to return to court to be sentenced to a
Speaker 2: later date. Outside of court, Detective Chief Inspector Sturt Brangwyn stated,
Speaker 2: Braun is a dangerous man and I'm glad he's pleaded
Speaker 2: it guilty, accepting responsibility for his actions that day, But
Speaker 2: the deaths of Joe and Tiona cannot be undone. This
Speaker 2: was a brutal attack on his own partner and neighbor
Speaker 2: in their respective homes where they should have been able
Speaker 2: to feel safe and secure. Despite Braun's guilty play, despite
Speaker 2: the evidence and the confessions and the clear pathway from
Speaker 2: crime to conviction, one question lingered in the courtroom and
Speaker 2: in the public consciousness. Why Why had a dispute over
Speaker 2: a crack pipe escalated to double murder? Why had Braun
Speaker 2: turned on his own son. Why had he broken India
Speaker 2: his neighbor's flat and killed a young woman who'd done
Speaker 2: nothing to him. Why had he stabbed the dog. Celia
Speaker 2: Morden of the Crime Prosecution Service said, while we may
Speaker 2: never know why Braun committed such mindless violence, we must
Speaker 2: remember the two lives that were needlessly lost. Our thoughts
Speaker 2: remained with the loved ones of Joanna and Tiona, and
Speaker 2: we hope today's result provides them with some closure. Jaswell
Speaker 2: Brun returned to court on the seventeenth of June. Prosecutor
Speaker 2: Diana here Ksey read aloud some facts of the case.
Speaker 2: She described the attack on Joe, telling the courtroom Jake
Speaker 2: Bron tried to pull his father away from her, only
Speaker 2: for the defendant to turn on him and stab him
Speaker 2: in the chest. Victim impact statements were presented. Bradley stood
Speaker 2: in front of Braun and said, we both thought of
Speaker 2: you as our neighbor and close friend for a number
Speaker 2: of years. He said, the impact of what happened was
Speaker 2: never ending. He said that his entire world and future
Speaker 2: was taken away from him by Braun. He stated, the
Speaker 2: world will now and forever go on without you.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 2: Bradley said that he had lost his job because of
Speaker 2: the injuries that Braun had inflicted on him. He said
Speaker 2: that he and Teona had been nothing but kind to him.
Speaker 2: He then tearfully said, for you to take a beautiful,
Speaker 2: harmless woman, I wished to take my life each day
Speaker 2: to be with her. Tiona's sister Paris provided a victim
Speaker 2: impact statement as well. She described her sister as a
Speaker 2: pure and kind soul and said that she was irreplacible.
Speaker 2: She said that she found herself becoming anxious in public.
Speaker 2: She told Braun, I haven't a rational fear now that
Speaker 2: any one I come across will be like you. I
Speaker 2: don't see Christmas is Christmas any more. I say it
Speaker 2: is the day you stole my sister. Jonas's father, Reginald,
Speaker 2: then stood before the court. He became emotional as he
Speaker 2: said to explain my feelings is impossible. Part of my
Speaker 2: heart has been ripped out. No more cuddles, no more
Speaker 2: chuckles or I love you dad. Joe's mother, Susan, said
Speaker 2: the family could only imagine how horrific her final moments
Speaker 2: on earth were. She stated, our own well being has
Speaker 2: also been seriously compromised. Our faith in humanity has been
Speaker 2: seriously rocked. We don't think we'll ever understand. As the
Speaker 2: victim impact statements were read aloud, Braun looked on with
Speaker 2: his head in his hand. The only time he showed
Speaker 2: any emotion was when his son Jack stood before him.
Speaker 2: Jake said that the trust he had in his father
Speaker 2: had been completely betrayed that day. He said, watching people
Speaker 2: you love being stabbed is heartbreaking. I heard Joe screaming
Speaker 2: for her life, begging him to stop. Every night I
Speaker 2: hear Joe screaming for her life and see Joe being stabbed.
Speaker 2: Defense attorney Charles Miskin then addressed the court. He offered
Speaker 2: mitigation before the judge handed down his sentence. He said
Speaker 2: that Braun's history was that of a man who had
Speaker 2: a fairly ordinary life, but that he had a paranoid
Speaker 2: view of the world. He stated Braun concurs with the
Speaker 2: prosecution that drug intoxication underlies the offending. He said his
Speaker 2: client was very sorry about what had happened and that
Speaker 2: he couldn't forgive himself for his actions. He stated, it's
Speaker 2: very difficult for him to prove remorse. He cannot understand
Speaker 2: why he did it, but he did it. Mister Justice
Speaker 2: care then addressed Braun.
Speaker 4: Last Christmas Day, after taking cocaine without warning or provocation,
Speaker 4: you stabbed and beat your partner, Joanne Pierson to death.
Speaker 4: You tried to kill your teenage son, Jake Brown, stabbing
Speaker 4: and assaulting him. You went to a neighbor's flat and there,
Speaker 4: stabbed a young woman, Tiana Grant, to death, and you
Speaker 4: tried to kill her partner, Brandy Bradley, latter stabbing him
Speaker 4: several times. You stabbed her partner's dog and drove from
Speaker 4: the scene dangerously at high speed until he was stopped
Speaker 4: by police and arrested. You had blood on your hands, literally,
Speaker 4: and a bloodstained knife was on the front passenger seat
Speaker 4: with your fingerprint on it.
Speaker 2: He continued steering the terrible crime you committed on that day.
Speaker 2: The terrible crimes you committed on that day have torn
Speaker 2: apart the lives of many people. I have seen and
Speaker 2: heard the moving statements by your many living victims. Joanne's mother,
Speaker 2: Suzanne Kierson, has lost her loving daughter, her sister Samanthe
Speaker 2: is also devastated. Juan was thirty eight when you murdered her.
Speaker 2: She'll never see her parents, sister, and large extended family again.
Speaker 2: Christmas will be a time of dread, stress, grief, and
Speaker 2: mourning for the family. They are haunted by the suffering
Speaker 2: Juan must have endured in her final minutes. He then
Speaker 2: sentenced Joswell Brown to life in prison, with a minimum
Speaker 2: term of thirty nine years for each of the murders
Speaker 2: they were to run. Concurrently, he also handed down a
Speaker 2: twenty one year sentence and an eighteen year sentence for
Speaker 2: the attempted murders of Jake and Bradley, an eighteen month
Speaker 2: sentence for possession of a knife in a public place,
Speaker 2: and a nine month sentence for causing unnecessary suffering to Tilly.
Speaker 2: After the sentence was imposed, Joe and Tuna's family released statements.
Speaker 2: Joe's tribute read her life was needlessly and crilly cut
Speaker 2: short in her endous circumstances on Christmas Day in her
Speaker 2: own home with the hands of her partner. We will
Speaker 2: never be able to understand why. Joe experienced many good
Speaker 2: and happy times and achieved lots in her short life.
Speaker 2: These shouldn't be overshadowed by the difficulty she experienced. Joe
Speaker 2: sometimes did not make the best decisions, but who of
Speaker 2: us can say we don't get things wrong from time
Speaker 2: to time. Joe always cared for everyone around her, which
Speaker 2: was evident even in the last moments of her life.
Speaker 2: She was inseparable from her dog Tilly, who she told
Speaker 2: us was her rock. We are sure Joe will be
Speaker 2: remembered with love and affection by all of those who
Speaker 2: knew her. There will certainly always be a huge Joe
Speaker 2: shaped hole in our lives. Tiona's read. Tiona had a
Speaker 2: huge heart full of love and kindness. She was such
Speaker 2: a kind and caring daughter and sister. Tiona is irreplaceable,
Speaker 2: and she's left a huge void in our lives and
Speaker 2: our hearts. As a family were heartbroken to have lost her.
Speaker 2: The heartbreak is intensified by the realization that we lost
Speaker 2: our due to the senseless, cruel actions of someone else.
Speaker 2: Our world is emptier, full of sadness, and holds a
Speaker 2: lot less laughter now she's gone. Tiona deserved more time
Speaker 2: to live and deserve the chance to experience the good
Speaker 2: things that life still had to offer her. The world
Speaker 2: is a darker place without Tuna's beautiful smile. We desperately
Speaker 2: wish that we could have made many more happy memories
Speaker 2: with Tuna, but all we can do now is cherish
Speaker 2: the past twenty four years of treasured memories we made
Speaker 2: with Tuna when she was alive, which nobody can take
Speaker 2: for us. Jake spoke outside of.
Speaker 1: Court, well, I remember jo Anne getting stabbed at and
Speaker 1: losing a life, and I remember looking myself in the bathroom,
Speaker 1: fighting for my life, I was fighting for survival. Really,
Speaker 1: what he got today is what he deserved.
Speaker 3: Bradley also spoke, although it's going to take a very
Speaker 3: long time, and best believe it's going to be multiple
Speaker 3: years before any form of healing can start. But I
Speaker 3: do at least feel happy now knowing that he will
Speaker 3: never see the light of day and that the likelihood
Speaker 3: is that he's going to die in prison.
Speaker 2: The machinery of justice had done what it could. Brian
Speaker 2: would likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Speaker 2: But justice, even when served, can't resurrect the debt. It
Speaker 2: can't erase trauma or restore what was destroyed. It can
Speaker 2: only acknowledge harm and impose consequences. Both Joe Piers and
Speaker 2: in Tiina Grant would remain dead. Jack Braun would carry
Speaker 2: the physical and psychological scores of his father's violence for
Speaker 2: the rest of his life. Bradley latter would continue having nightmares,
Speaker 2: would continue living in a world without the woman he loved.
Speaker 2: Tilly would live out the remaining years with whatever trauma
Speaker 2: dogs carry from violence they can't comprehend. And every Christmas
Speaker 2: when lights went up and Carol's played and families gathered,
Speaker 2: there would still be empty chairs at tables. Well that
Speaker 2: is it for this episode of Morbidology. As always, thank
Speaker 2: you so much for listening, and i'd like to say
Speaker 2: a massive thank you to my new supporters up on Patreon,
Speaker 2: Ryan and Ashley. The link to patron is in the
Speaker 2: show notes if you'd like to join, Morbidology Plus is
Speaker 2: also available on Apple subscriptions. I'd also like to say
Speaker 2: happy holidays to everybody and thank you all for your
Speaker 2: support this year. It's been a very different year for
Speaker 2: me after welcoming my baby girl last December. People that
Speaker 2: say time flies after you have a baby seriously aren't lying.
Speaker 2: So whatever you may be doing this festive season, I
Speaker 2: hope you're happy and healthy. Remember to check us out
Speaker 2: at morbidology dot com for more information about this episode
Speaker 2: and to read some true crime articles. Until next time,
Speaker 2: take care of yourselves, stay safe, and have an amazing week.