'I knew he'd killed her, I just knew'

For Diana Parkes, her daughter Joanna was "just perfect" but in October 2010 she heard the devastating news that she had been killed at her home in Ascot.

Diana has spoken to the BBC about the events that changed the course of her life.

Joanna Simpson was attacked by her estranged husband Robert Brown in the midst of an acrimonious divorce. He admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility and was given a 26-year jail sentence.

Brown faced a hearing in April 2026 to determine whether he could be released on parole. On 11 May, the panel ruled that he was not fit for release.

"Jo was born in May 1964. She was the most beautiful, well-behaved gorgeous baby anyone could have," she said.

"We lived in York and she went to playgroup and I ran a kid's club there. Jo seemed to just throw herself into everything. "

The family moved to the Isle of Man in 1974 and Joanna and her brother went to school on the island.

She later developed a love of motorsport and rally driving and was a keen navigator in races.

Jo went on to graduate from the University of Bath with a degree in business management. She worked for Dell and ICL and got married but her first marriage did not last.

"After that, a friend who worked for British Airways took her to South Africa for a break, which was lovely, and then that's tragically where she met Robert Brown.

"He was flying the plane," said Diana. "That was where the story began."

In October 2010, 11 years after Jo and Brown got married, Diana and her husband had been getting their vaccinations ahead of a holiday.

When they returned home they saw one of Jo's friends was trying to get in touch as she had been unable to contact Jo all day.

"I called her mobile phone and landline and I find I'm shouting down the phone but of course nobody's answering.

"I knew he'd killed her, I just knew," she said.

Diana and her husband got the next flight from the Isle of Man to Gatwick and were met by victim liaison officers.

They were taken to see Joanna's two children, who were nine and 10 at the time, and waited to hear where Robert Brown had buried Jo.

"I had only been speaking to her that morning, amazingly, about fish pie and what we'd put in our fish pies," she said.

It transpired that Robert Brown had brought the children home and killed Jo while they were in the house.

He buried her body in a pre-dug grave in Windsor Great Park before confessing to the police the following day.

Diana recalled her granddaughter sitting on her lap and saying that she could hear the "bang, bang, bang on her mummy".

Diana said: "She was so, so brave."

They were eventually allowed back in the house.

"I got into Jo's bed, where she had just been sleeping, there was paracetamol by the bed and the water glass she'd been using.

"It was strange but comforting to be in the sheets she'd slept in and, of course, incredibly sad."

Diana and her son had to identify Jo's body, which she described as a" truly harrowing moment".

"We've gone through so much, something you never ever get over, losing a daughter, anybody losing a child, it's so horrendous, and the children losing their mother.

"I just have loved them and brought them up as my own."

Since her daughter's death, Diana has worked to raise awareness of violence against women and has been supported by Queen Camilla, who she first met in 2016 as the then Duchess of Cornwall, who has also championed the issue.

"When I met her she said, 'It's your story that has made me want to do this', which has been absolutely amazing."

Diana set up The Joanna Simpson Foundation charity to support children who have been bereaved by domestic homicide, who she described as the "forgotten people".

"Joanna adored children so it was in in her memory that we did it," she said.

Diana, who was appointed a CBE in 2024 for her campaigning work, said she was particularly pleased about new restriction zones, which she had urged the government to introduce.

Diana said: "We tried to make the best of our lives for the children, they had the whole of their lives to live and we just wanted it to be as good as we could make it."

Both of Joanna's children went to university and work in professional jobs.

"She would be so proud of them," Diana said. "They are the most lovely people."

Diana said she thought about her daughter every day.

"She was just perfect. I know every mother would say that but she was a truly wonderful woman and I miss her every single day."