THE mother of a York woman who was bludgeoned to death with a claw hammer has blamed the Crown Prosecution Service after her daughter’s estranged husband was acquitted of murder.

British Airways pilot Robert Brown was sentenced to 26 years in prison for manslaughter after claiming the stress from the divorce gave him diminished responsibility.

He killed 46-year-old millionairess Joanna Brown and buried her body in a prepared grave last October following divorce proceedings.

Joanna’s mother, Diana Parkes, said she was putting in a complaint to the CPS and hoped they would conduct a review.

Mrs Parkes, 72, said the CPS did not present the stress caused to Joanna from the divorce proceedings, calling it “trivia”, although the stress caused to Robert Brown was the basis of the defence case.

She said the jury were not shown the large knife he attacked her with in 2007, which had been seized by the police as evidence, but which Graham Reeds, the lead prosecutor, dismissed as “unimportant”.

She also complained Mr Reeds told her he was going to “have a large gin and forget all about your trial”, which was hurtful and made it clear they were working on behalf of the crown and not the victim’s family.

The CPS said they respected the jury’s decision, but would discuss the case with Mrs Parkes.

They said they would provide a personal response after looking into Mr Reeds’ conduct.