Fast car killer faces 32 years behind bars

A Ferrari driving killer who murdered his wealthy heiress lover faces legal action to claw back £300,000 he took from her estate.

Donald Graham, 60, killed besotted Janet Brown so he could steal her savings and fuel his love of fast sports cars.

Janet, 45, whose family owned a farm, “disappeared off the face of the Earth” nine years ago. Graham, 60, consoled her ailing parents in Lowgate, Northumberland then stole their assets after they died too. He admitted fraud but denied killing their daughter and hiding her body.

He now faces a Proceeds of Crime action to get back the thousands he took.

The murdering fraudster’s despicable behaviour saw him dubbed the “Prince of Darkness”.

Last night a police source close to the case said: “He’s the lowest of the low. He played on Janet’s affections so he could drive around in flashy motors.”

Ms Brown, who had previously worked as a TV extra and a mystery shopper, had known Graham since the early 1980s, when she was seeing his friend, Michael Robson. The couple would spend nights out with Graham and his wife Denise, now 66, but later started an affair.

During his trial at Newcastle Crown court, the jury heard Ms Brown, who lived with her dog Katie in Hexham, Northumberland, had been besotted with “greedy liar” Graham.

He had even promised to leave his wife lying that she had cancer.

Tragic Miss Brown was impressed by former JCB digger driver Graham, who was always dripping in gold and had a Ferrari 360 Modena sports car, a Porsche, a Land Rover and a high-powered Subaru Impreza.

But controlling bully Graham who had two other mistresses murdered Ms Brown on the eve of a planned holiday to France.

The court heard she simply “disappeared off the face of the earth”. And for nine years, he spun a cruel web of lies, giving Miss Brown’s family hope she was still alive.

Her parents, Olive and Eric Brown, thought their daughter was working in a bank in Switzerland after Graham sent fake postcards and letters. They died in 2007 and 2008, respectively, not knowing their daughter had been murdered.

Graham sold her horses and her Porsche which has personalised “JAN” number plates. By this point he had already started milking her parents’ bank accounts, posing as Mr Brown and taking £285,000.

But that would lead to his eventual capture. He was caught out by a Skipton Building Society clerk who spotted a signature which did not match that of her father. Police were called in, and what started as a fraud investigation in 2009 turned into a murder hunt.

On Friday, Graham was sentenced for murder and for perverting justice for his “audacious” frauds.

The judge, Mr Justice Openshaw said: “The defendant has been convicted of a terrible offence, and must now pay the price.”

The cold-blooded killer, of Sparty Lea, Northumberland, will serve a minimum 32 years behind bars.

Last night police confirmed they are launching a probe to get back all he had taken from the woman who loved him.

A spokesman for Northumbria Police said: “An investigation will be carried out under the Proceeds of Crime Act into Donald Graham’s finances.”