Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson supported his wife Carrie at an event in Westminster last night.
The Johnsons were together at a campaign launch yesterday evening for killer BA pilot Robert Brown to be kept behind bars.
Speaking to the audience, Carrie said allowing the release of the former BA pilot just 13 years into his 26-year-sentence would be ‘a real failure in our system’.
Robert Brown, 59, battered estranged wife Joanna Simpson to death with a claw hammer in 2010 after she filed for divorce following years of abuse. He is due for automatic release in November.
Mrs Johnson was joined by politicians including former Home Secretary Priti Patel and former Justice Secretary Robert Buckland, who called on ministers to block Brown’s release. And Boris was there to support her and the cause too.
It is the first time the former Tory leader has been seen in public following the leak of 100,000 WhatsApp messages between government ministers and public health advisors during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mrs Johnson said she had learned about Brown’s proposed release after meeting Mrs Parkes and Joanna’s friend Hetti Barkworth-Nanton at an event at Buckingham Palace last year, organised by the Queen Consort.
Ms Simpson’s mother Diana Parkes fears Brown still poses a risk to her family and to the public, and has called on Dominic Raab to block his release.
Mr Raab this week agreed to meet personally with Ms Parkes about the case.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Probation, Justin Russell, said this month that staff shortages were ‘severely’ affecting the service’s ability to manage offenders, including ‘those who pose a serious threat to the public’.
She today met with former Home Secretary Priti Patel alongside Mrs Johnson and friend and chair of of trustees at domestic violence charity Refuge, Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, as part of her push to keep the killer in prison.
Mrs Parkes, 84, fears former British Airways pilot Brown could threaten her family, and that he may pose a continued danger to women if he is released.
Read More: Boris Johnson supports wife Carrie at public event to prevent release of killer BA pilot