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Noel Brown

Age: 69

Sex: male

Date: 4 Dec 2017

Place: New Butt Lane, Deptford, Southeast London

Noel Brown and his daughter Marie Brown were found dead at Noel Brown's flat in New Butt Lane, Deptford on 2 December 2017.

A suspect in their murders was later found dead in a locked electricals cupboard at a block of flats in Peckham Grove, south-east London having died from a drug overdose.

Noel Brown was found strangled and dismembered in his bath. It was thought that he had been strangled with a surgical sock that he had been wearing around the time which was found on the floor of the flat.

It was thought that Marie Brown was strangled after she had arrived at the flat to find the murderer there. She was found dead in the living room. She had lived in Peckham.

There had been no sign of a forced entry into the flat.

Noel Brown was last seen in a Paddy Power betting shop on Deptford High Street on 30 November 2017.

It was not at first known who the murderer was, but a man was later suspected after he died from a drug overdose and DNA that was found at the scene of the murders partially matched his father's DNA. Noel Brown was a registered sex offender and it was thought the man had been a victim of his and had killed him in revenge and then killed Marie Brown when she arrived at the flat. It was suggested that the man might have then later committed suicide in remorse over the murders, it being noted that Marie Brown was a single mother of two.

The police said that CCTV footage was recovered from around Deptford that showed a man that they thought was the main suspect with a rucksack in the area on a number of occasions around the time of the murder. They also said that they had matched the timings from electronic key fobs that were used to access the flat where Noel Brown and Marie Brown lived. Although the times on the key fobs were found to be off, the correct times were later determined and the data from the key fob was found to match the times that the man with the rucksack was seen in the area. However, it was noted that the key fob had not belonged to Noel Brown, but his neighbour, although he had been using it. The police said that they finally determined that the man had been to the flat four times with his rucksack over the days before the bodies were discovered although it was not known exactly how he had got into the flat each time. They said that they thought that he might have initially entered the flats by pretending to be a gas man or by following another person in.

The police said that although they had identified the man in the CCTV footage as a suspect, they had not known ho he was.

The man was found dead in a locked electricals cupboard at a block of flats in Peckham Grove on New Year’s Eve 2017 following a drug overdose. The police said that his death was not suspicious.

DNA that was found at the scene was found to be a match for DNA that the police had on file from a burglary in 2011, but it was still not known whose DNA it was. When the police later carried out familial checks on the DNA they found a match for a woman that lived in Birmingham who said that her father had lived in Deptford and it was determined that the father was also the father of the man that committed suicide. However, the police said that DNA analysis proved that the woman's father was not the murderer, but they suspected that the man was either the father's father or his son. When the father was traced, he asked the police whether their enquiries were about his son and it was determined that the father's son was the man that was found dead in the electrical cupboard.

The police said that during the initial stages of their murder investigation, the man had been on a list of over 500 'nominals' that they had drawn up but that he was not considered a priority as he didn't have a criminal record.

The police said that the man was 'linked' to the murders of Noel Brown and Marie Brown and that if he were still alive that the Crown Prosecution Service would have pressed charges. However, they noted that it still needed to be shown that the man had acted alone, although they noted that they had no evidence to indicate that he didn't. It was also noted that it was not known why the man would have waited until 2017 to murder Noel Brown if he had done so.

Noel Brown had been convicted on 33 charges in 1999 including rape, sexual assault and burglary and imprisoned, being later released in 2004 and put on the sex offenders register. However, it was noted that following his release he had committed no offences and it was noted by the probation authorities that he was a low risk.

It was noted that although the man's phone was found, the police had not been able to unlock it or access its contents and as such had been unable to determine whether it contained anything that might assist in their enquiries.


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