Police renew appeal to solve murder of mum killed in her own home on 30th anniversary
Janet Brown was killed at her home in Radnage near Chinnor, in 1995
Last updated 11th Apr 2025
Thames Valley Police is appealing for information today (10 April), thirty years on from the murder of Janet Brown in Radnage, near Chinnor, in 1995.
Mrs Brown, who was a research nurse with Oxford University’s Public Health and Primary Care department, was murdered at her home in Sprigs Holly Lane, Buckinghamshire.
The 51-year-old had been gagged, handcuffed and had been repeatedly struck to her head.
A post mortem revealed that Mrs Brown died of head injuries.
Police believe Janet was killed sometime between 8.15pm and 10.15pm on Monday 10 April.
Her body was found the following day (11/4/95) by a builder and his son who were due to carry out work at Mrs Brown’s home.
There was no evidence that a sexual offence had taken place and nothing appeared to have been taken from the property.
Mrs Brown's oldest daughter, Zara Harden, said it was "baffling" why anyone would target their home and her 5ft 4in mother, who was alone and "defenceless" that night.
She said: "Ultimately her killer, or killers, have so far gotten away with it.
"We want to see them prosecuted, and not to have somebody who is extremely dangerous still be out there on the loose, who could commit other crimes and against other women or other people.
"We just want to stop it happening again."
Head of Thames Valley Police’s Major Crime Investigation Review Team, Peter Beirne said: “I still believe there are people who have information or suspicions about this vicious murder.
"I would urge anyone with names of people they think could be linked to Janet’s murder or anyone with information to make contact with the police or Crimestoppers.
"Do you have a friend or loved one who acts strangely when this case is mentioned in the news, or someone who is obsessed with this investigation?
"Any information whatsoever could help my team to finally solve this murder for Janet’s family.
"We have a DNA profile that was left at the scene.
"It does not belong to the family, and we believe it could be a vital piece of evidence linking the killer to the scene.
"More than one thousand people have already been seen and eliminated as being the source of this DNA.
"The people that we have eliminated from our investigation are either on the national DNA database or we visited them to take a DNA swab from them.
"With the DNA evidence we have we can easily implicate or eliminate people from our investigation.
"Therefore, if you have any suspicions about individuals please contact us and give us their names.
"If you have suspicions, it is very easy for our team to trace and request a DNA sample from the person you suspect, or a relative of theirs if they have perhaps passed away or have emigrated."
You can contact Thames Valley Police online, at a police station or by calling 101, quoting reference 695 (8/4).
You can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.
A reward up to £20,000 has been offered by Crimestoppers for information given directly to the charity which leads directly to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Janet’s murder.”