A man has been jailed for life after he murdered his partner and neighbour, and tried to kill his son, in an unprovoked and “frenzied” attack after taking cocaine on Christmas Day.
Jazwell Brown, 49, fatally stabbed Joanne Pearson, 38, with a kitchen knife and beat her with a baseball bat in their flat in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, before doing the same to 18-year-old Jake Brown, who survived the incident, Luton Crown Court heard.
He then entered his neighbour’s flat where he stabbed Teohna Grant, 24, and tried to murder her boyfriend Bradley Latter, 29, by stabbing him multiple times.
Ms Pearson was stabbed 31 times in the attack, while Ms Grant suffered five sharp force injuries, including a deep stab wound to the neck, and Jake Brown was left with a life-threatening wound to his chest.
Mr Justice Kerr sentenced Brown to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 39 years on Tuesday.
He told the defendant: “The terrible crimes you committed that day have torn apart the lives of many people.”
The judge said he accepted a psychiatric report that “the use of illegal drugs was the immediate trigger of the attacks”, adding: “That intoxication was voluntary.”
He said that Brown’s assault on his son Jake was “a terrible betrayal of a son’s natural trust in his father”.
The court heard the defendant lived on the second floor of a communal housing block in Santa Cruz Avenue, Bletchley at the time of the events.
Jake Brown visited their flat on the evening of December 25 last year and Ms Pearson told him they had both been smoking crack cocaine.
Jake Brown describes his father as being “completely expressionless” as he attacked them, a court heard.
The teenage boy called the police as he hid in the bathroom before Brown breached the room, holding the baseball bat.
Jake 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 prosecutor said.
Brown then made his way across the communal landing to the flat next door, where Mr Latter and Ms Grant, who had left their door unlocked, were sitting in the living room enjoying a quiet Christmas day, the court heard.
The defendant then stabbed both victims multiple times with a “blank” face, Ms Heer said.
The prosecutor added: “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, the court heard.
The prosecutor said officers described the defendant as “spaced out” and he appeared to have blood on his hands as they were placed in handcuffs.
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.
Whilst in a cell following his arrest, Brown made the unsolicited comment: “Oh Jesus, what happened tonight What happened tonight, boy? Pure f****** madness. Pure madness.
“I’ve gone f****** 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”.
In a victim impact statement read in court, Mr Latter said: “We both thought of you as our neighbour and close friend for a number of years.
“The impact your crimes have had on me are never-ending. My whole world and future was heinously taken away by you.”
He added: “The world will now and forever go on without you here.”
Parris Grant, Teohna’s sister, said in her own statement that Teohna was “a pure and kind soul” and described her as “irreplaceable”.
She said she now found herself becoming anxious in public, and addressed the defendant as she added: “I have an irrational fear now that anyone I come across will be like you.
“I don’t see Christmas as Christmas anymore – I see it as the day you stole my sister.”
Susan Pearson, Joanne’s mother, said in her statement, read out by Ms Heer in court: “We can only imagine how horrific her final moments were at the hands of Jazwell Brown.
“Our own wellbeing has also been seriously compromised. Our faith in humanity has been seriously rocked. We don’t think we will ever understand.”
Brown pleaded guilty to two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal on April 15.
The court heard he had 10 previous convictions for 15 separate offences, including an offence of battery against a former partner for which he was convicted in 2009.
