Eric James Brown

Background

The Brown family lived in Rayleigh in Essex, at London Hill, Rayleigh, in the “Summerfield” area, and at “Hockley Road” at another point in the material. Eric James Brown was a 19-year-old bank clerk who lived in the family home and was bullied by his father. His father, 47-year-old Archibald Brown, had been involved in a motorcycle accident when he was 24, leaving him with a creeping paralysis that confined him to a wheelchair.

Archibald Brown bullied his wife, Doris Lucy Brown, and two sons and completely dominated the family. His wheelchair was kept in an air-raid shelter in the garden. The material described that Archibald Brown’s will power was undiminished and that he ruled his wife and elder son with a “rod of iron.” The material also stated that Doris Brown was not allowed to visit her mother in nearby Rochford, and that Archibald Brown would constantly ring a bell to get his wife’s attention, even if he perceived that a single flower was out of place in a vase.

The material described Eric Brown as constantly beaten and humiliated in what it characterised as child abuse. Doris Brown stated that her husband increasingly appeared to take a dislike to her. Eric Brown had taken a liking to a new nurse and their walks together. The material stated there was no suggestion of impropriety or jealousy, and that Doris Brown did not suggest jealousy or impropriety.

The material stated that Eric Brown had mood swings and that his relationship with his family was such that he was moved from his school at Rayleigh to a boarding school near Walthamstow. From 1940 to 1942, Eric Brown worked at Barclays Bank in Rochford until a period of bizarre behaviour caused the manager to seek his resignation. On 1st October 1942, he was called up for the army and posted to Spilsby in Lincolnshire, where his unit had a store of about 200 Hawkins Grenades, with at least 144 of them operational. The Hawkins grenade was described in the material as about 7" x 4" and looking rather like a large cycle lamp. The material also stated that Eric Brown had been trained in the use of the Hawkins Grenade designed for use by infantrymen to blow the tracks from tanks.

The offence

On Thursday 23 July 1943, nurse Doris Irene Mitchell went to the air-raid shelter where Brown’s bath chair was kept. She found the shelter door locked from the inside. The material stated that upon returning with Mrs Brown, she met Eric Brown, then aged 19, coming out. Eric Brown was described as irritated and evasive. The two women collected the wheelchair and helped Archibald Brown to get in.

Archibald Brown was made comfortable in the wheelchair. The material stated that the pair went down the road and had gone about a mile from the house when Archibald Brown wanted to smoke a cigarette. After Archibald Brown lit the cigarette and they started again, the massive explosion occurred. In the separate narrative portion, the material stated that after walking about a mile, Archibald Brown shifted his weight while feeling for a cigarette in his pocket. Nurse Mitchell stopped to light the cigarette, returned to the back of the chair, and pushed it forward. Within half a dozen paces there was a violent explosion that destroyed the chair.

Nurse Mitchell was thrown to the ground and escaped with cuts and bruises and later recovered but was left with a limp and permanent injury to her arm. The material stated that Archibald Brown was blown to pieces.

The investigation revealed that the wheelchair had been destroyed by a Hawkins 75 landmine or Hawkins grenade, described in the material as being detonated when an acid filled glass ampoules is broken. The device had been placed under the bath chair’s cushion.

Investigation

Enemy action was soon ruled out as the cause of the explosion. Experts were called and discounted the possibility of a bomb. The material stated that a formal murder investigation was begun.

The police found portions of the body at the side of the road and in nearby trees and gardens. The material described that forensic examination showed the wheelchair was destroyed by a Hawkins 75 landmine.

Doris Lucy Brown was interviewed at Rayleigh Police Station. The material stated that she was interviewed “at length” and described the history of Archibald Brown’s treatment of her and Eric Brown, including the bell for attention and the restriction on visiting her mother in Rochford.

Before Eric Brown was interviewed, the police held a conference at Headquarters. Tests were carried out on similar chairs. It was decided that it was reasonable to assume that a pressure plate had been adapted to lessen the weight required to explode the mine, and that there was considerable difference between pressure from a tank and that of a human body.

The material listed the investigative leadership: Assistant Chief Constable Crockford passed the investigation to Chief Inspector Draper, who passed it to Superintendent George H. Totterdell, head of Essex C.I.D., after his return from leave. Nurse Mitchell was interviewed after she had recovered, and the material stated it was “miraculous” she was not killed, as she was a few feet from the explosion and heard the sound of her employer’s body parts falling around her.

Arrest

Eric Brown was arrested after his confession. The material stated that he had brought the grenade home from the army and put it under his father’s seat, having adjusted the top plate. The material also stated that he was arrested and charged with murder, which was then a capital offence.

It stated that on 21 September 1943 he was committed to trial at Essex Assizes. It also stated that Eric Brown appeared before Judge Atkinson at Chelmsford on 4 November 1943 and pleaded “not guilty.”

Trial

Eric Brown was tried in November 1943 at Chelmsford, Essex Assizes. The material described that the trial began at Shire Hall, Chelmsford, and that he was declared insane.

At his trial, the material described that a suggestion was made to Detective Inspector Barkway that Chief Inspector Draper had intimated that “if Brown did not confess, things could be worse could be worse for his mother.” This was strenuously denied.

The material stated that Barkway gave evidence of previous family background and behaviour. One defence doctor diagnosed Eric as “schizophrenic.” The prison doctor gave an opinion that Brown was sane, but reported that, whilst in custody, he had attempted to cut his own throat. The jury found him “guilty - but insane.”

The trial involved statements written down from Eric Brown’s confession by Detective Inspector Jack “Trapper” Barkway. The material included a verbatim statement attributed to Eric Brown:

“I decided that the only real way in which my mother could lead a normal life and my father to be released from his sufferings was for him to die mercifully.”

The material also indicated that in his confession he blamed his actions on Archibald Brown’s abusive attitude to both him and his mother.

Sentencing

Eric Brown was sentenced to be detained during “His Majesty's pleasure.” His sentencing date was recorded as 4 November 1943, and the material also stated “on November 4, 1943.”

Appeals

No appeal information was provided in the supplied material.

Outcome

Eric Brown was released in 1975, after 32 years in the asylum. The material stated that he still only was 51 years old at the time of release.

Aftermath

The material stated that “Trapper” Barkway later became the head of Essex CID. The subsequent life of Mrs Brown was not known in the supplied material. The material stated that nurse Doris Irene Mitchell had partially recovered after the explosion, but was left with a limp and permanent injury to her arm.