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Kenneth Brown

Age: 56

Sex: male

Date: 26 Aug 1994

Place: Hunters Lodge, Barrow Upon Soar, Leicestershire

Kenneth Brown was shot dead at his farmhouse near Loughborough on the night of 25 August 1994.

He was discovered in a chicken coup at Hunter’s Lodge, Barrow upon Soar on Friday 26 August 1994 by a cleaner at 10am. He had a single gunshot wound to the chest. His post mortem showed that he had died from a single bullet fired into his body some 12 hours before he was found.

The police said that they knew that Kenneth Brown would normally go out to the outbuildings around the time it got dark to put his chickens and geese away for the night and observed that seeing as his body was found in the outbuildings that it was possible that he had confronted his killer between 8pm and 11pm on the Thursday evening.

The police said that he spoke to a person on the phone at 8pm on the Thursday evening and that everything had appeared normal at that time but that he failed to call a business associate later that night at 11pm as planned. The business associate said that he became worried after Kenneth Brown failed to call him and that at 12 midnight, he called Kenneth Brown's home but got no reply.

Kenneth Brown had been shot at point blank range by someone using a single solid slug fired from a shotgun. The cartridge had been rebuilt from a regular shot cartridge using components from an Eley LG cartridge, which themselves were rare, there being only 1,000 manufactured for use in the UK a year. It was said that it was a modified shotgun cartridge from which the lead pellets had been removed and then melted down to form a single slug, about the size of a ball-bearing, that was then repacked into the cartridge using components from the Eley LG cartridge.

The police said that the use of the Eley LG parts would mean something to people in the firearms fraternity and that they were keen to hear from anyone who used LG ammunition or anyone who modified ammunition using those parts.

It was thought that Kenneth Brown had been living in fear before his death and was described as living reclusively, although it was also heard that there were staff employed at his home. His home, which stood in nine-acre grounds, was described as having been worth about £750,000 at the time and he had installed elaborate security equipment there including remote-controlled iron gates at the entrance. The property was also surrounded by high-fencing and trees and had motion activated security lighting.

It was said that they only sign that people saw of him at his house was when he left by car or by his helicopter. A neighbour said, 'He was obviously a very private person. It is why we live out here in these isolated properties'.

Another neighbour said, 'We have lived here for 12 years and work from home. We had never seen Mr Brown until his picture appeared on the television after his murder. we are not frightened to death. We believe that it must have been someone who was after him and no-one else. He was a total mystery as far as we were concerned. Like everyone else we learned more about him when the police came to call than we had learned all the years he was our neighbour. We were not even on nodding terms. We simply never saw him, just a grey car in the drive or the helicopter going up, but some of the farmers have helicopters and they are not an unusual sight. There are often gun shots around here, too. There is a gun club down the lane and the crop scarers sound like guns when they go off. It is all so sad, I wonder who is feeding his animals. He had chickens and geese as far as we know'.

However, his business partner denied that Kenneth Brown was a recluse, saying, 'He was not a recluse. Just because he was not in the habit of having tea and biscuits with his neighbours, doesn't make him a recluse'.

Kenneth Brown co-owned a chain of pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and hotels and was described as wealthy millionaire. He had been in the hotel, pub and restaurant trade most of his working life. His businesses ranged over four counties, from Yorkshire down to London and most of Kenneth Brown's working days was spent on the road visiting them all. His businesses included Philmores in Saltburn, Cleveland.

However, it was said that it was thought that he might have made a number of enemies over the years. He was said to have started his business empire after buying the Durham Ox public house in 1976, although he sold that in 1990.

It was noted that Kenneth Brown rarely went out in the evenings, and that his regular routine was to feed his 'babies', as he called his animals, at about 8pm and that an hour later he would go back and lock them safely in the barn for the night.

The police said that they thought that the key to his murder could lie in Barrow. They also said that they thought that his murder was a contract killing arranged by a disgruntled business associate and that he had probably made enemies over the years as he built up his business empire.

They said that they had questioned his business associates, both past and present and that their enquiries had taken them all over the country and also abroad.

The police said that another possibility was that he had known his murderer. However, they said that the motive remained a mystery, but added that what seemed for certain was that someone wanted him dead and that it might have been a disgruntled business associate.

At the time several suspicious sightings were made, including a Mercedes car that was seen driving fast in the area for a few days beforehand, two men that had been seen near a lake nearby who claimed to be waiting for a friend before they went off fishing, and a 4x4 that was thought to have been seen outside Kenneth Brown's home at about 10pm on the night of the murder.

Kenneth Brown shared his house with a long-standing 31-year-old friend of his. They had become business partners in 1988.

On the morning of 15 August 1994 his business partner left Loughborough for a two week business trip abroad. The business partner said that he had known Kenneth Brown for around twelve years, and described Kenneth Brown as the best friend that he had ever had.

On Tuesday 23 August 1994 a woman said that she had been out shopping and had later been driving home at about midday. She said that as she was driving along Walton Lane where Kenneth Brown lived, that a light coloured Mercedes car came out of nowhere from behind her and overtook her at high-speed. It was noted that the Mercedes car was to be seen twice more over the next two days.

At about 10pm on the Wednesday evening, 24 August 1994, two women that were driving close to Walton Lane, saw a white Mercedes car waiting to pull out of a farm track. One of the women described the car as a white L-reg 4-door saloon Mercedes, L-reg being the new registration for 1994. As the car pulled out and was driving behind them she said that the car started to flash its lights as though the driver wanted them to stop, but they didn't as it was a country lane and thought if they wanted something they could deal with it when they reached the village. However, she said that the Mercedes car then overtook them at about 70 to 80mph.

That same Wednesday night Kenneth Brown's business partner phoned Kenneth Brown from his hotel and they spoke about business for about an hour, noting that he would call Kenneth Brown most evenings.

The following day, about ten miles away, in the early hours of Thursday 25 August 1994, about 4.30am, a water bailiff said that he had been patrolling at Murphy's Lake at Thursdon on the lookout for poachers. He said that he saw two men wearing combat clothing with a car looking at a map on the bonnet of their blue Astra style car. He said that he asked them what they were doing, saying that they were not allowed there as it was members only and would have to leave, and said that they told him that they were waiting for a friend to go night fishing with him.

The water bailiff said that the thing that made him suspicious was that they had a bonfire and that they had not been fishing and that they shouldn't have been there, adding that if they were not fishing that they must have been up to something. He said that he told them that they had to go and that they eventually agreed. He said that one of them men then asked him whether he knew the area and asked whether there was any night fishing around Barro-on-Soar at a place called Proctors Pleasure Park. The water bailiff said that that place was known as Barrow Deeps and pointed it out on the map and said that as he was doing so that he noticed a part on the map that was ringed in blue biro which was later noted to be a stretch of land close to where Kenneth Brown lived.

He said that they had had an Astra car and that he tried to get a look at the car's registration number, but could only see the first part of it, A832, because the rest of it was covered with a poncho.

The two men were described as:

Man A:

  • 6ft Tall.
  • London accent.
  • Close cropped ginger hair.
  • Very stocky build.

Man B:

  • Smaller than Man A.
  • North East accent.
  • Wearing a black baseball cap with a Nike motif on it.

It was noted that they had had some very good quality army equipment with them.

Kenneth Brown was thought to have arrived home after work later that Thursday evening, 25 August 1994, at about 5pm.

About three hours later, shortly after 8pm, the woman that had seen the white Mercedes car on 23 August 1994, said that she saw the car again, saying that it came speeding out of a side road, without looking in either direction, and that she very nearly hit him. She noted that she knew that it was the same car because of its size and the way it was driven. It was noted that the lane that it came out of went back to the rear of Kenneth Brown's premises and which overlooked the premises.

At about the same time, 8pm, Kenneth Brown had been on the phone to his business partner's mother. It was thought that if he had followed his normal habit that night that he would have gone out to settle his animals at about 9pm.

A man that lived at the end of a narrow lane a few hundred yards from Kenneth Brown's house said that as he was driving down Burton Bandalls Lane, near Burton Bandalls's Farm, at about 9.30pm, that his headlights swung across the field and he saw two people, one of whom he saw the face of. He noted that he had only ever seen farm workers walking through that part and that it was very unusual. It was noted that Burton Bundles Lane was about 800 yards from Kenneth Brown's home, across the fields. He said that when he got out of his car that the men were not visible as they had ducked into the trees. He added that the sighting startled him, but that he assumed they were up to some form of mischief and walked into his house.

Another man said that he saw a land cruiser type of 4-wheel drive vehicle parked up outside Kenneth Brown's house at about 10pm.

It was noted that Kenneth Brown didn't make the call that he was expected to make at 11pm, which was said to have been unusual as he had been a man of regular habits.

It was shortly after that, at about 12pm that Kenneth Brown's business partner tried to call Kenneth Brown, but got no answer.

Kenneth Brown's body was found the following morning at 10am by a cleaner.

Shortly after his murder the police brought two men in for questioning, but they were released without charge.

A witness later came forward in October 1994 to say that they had seen a shadowy figure, wearing drab clothing and with his head bowed, close to Kenneth Brown's home on the night he was murdered.

She said that she had been driving along the Cotes Road towards Walton Lane at about 7.30pm on Thursday 25 August 1994 when she saw a small shiny red car driving behind her very slowly. She said that as she stopped at the junction opposite Kenneth Brown's house that a man, who might have come out of the red car walked along the near side of her vehicle with his head bowed.

She described him as:

  • White.
  • About 5ft 10in tall.
  • About 30-years-old.
  • Medium build.
  • Short, light brown hair.
  • Wearing drab clothing, either grey or beige.

The police said that the woman's evidence was very significant, noting that they knew that Kenneth Brown made a phone call at 8pm and failed to make one at 11pm, and that the man had obviously been hanging about in the area at the vital time and said that they wanted to speak to him.

Kenneth Brown had three brothers, one said to live in Leicestershire and the other two in Falkirk, Scotland.


*map pointers are rough estimates based on known location details as per Place field above.

see www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk

see Total Crime

see BBC

see YouTube

see Loughborough Echo - Friday 07 October 1994

see Loughborough Echo - Friday 09 September 1994

see Aberdeen Press and Journal - Wednesday 31 August 1994

see Aberdeen Evening Express - Tuesday 30 August 1994

see Newcastle Journal - Tuesday 30 August 1994

see Loughborough Echo - Friday 02 September 1994

see Sandwell Evening Mail - Friday 02 September 1994