An Old Etonian who attempted to murder his ex-lover after threatening to throw her down a well at his family’s country estate, faces a lengthy prison sentence for his “sadistic method to bring about the death of somebody”. Douglas Clifton Brown had a bitter argument with Camilla Welby in a car after drinks at a friend’s house, before violently attacking her in August 2023.
The 56-year-old, who was driving, changed routes and instead of heading to her home as planned, drove to High House Estate near Congham, Norfolk, where he had filled the well with water preparing to drown her in. The estate, now a wedding venue, has been in his family for generations. Edward Renvoize, prosecuting, told a sentencing hearing at Norwich Crown Court: “The case is unusual and the court isn’t often presented with a case where the mechanism of death was as intended.”
He described throwing a person down a well as a “sadistic method to bring about the death of somebody.”
Mr Renvoize said Clifton Brown had “filled the well with water from a large commercial water butt”.
He said there was a “history of violence or abuse by the defendant towards Ms Welby”.
Ms Welby, reading her victim impact statement from behind a screen said she was “gaslighted” during their 15-year relationship.
“Seeing Mr Clifton Brown in court left me so terrified I ran from the court,” she said.
Ms Welby said she now suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), adding: “When Mr Clifton Brown is released I will always look over my shoulder – I will never feel safe.”
Stan Reiz KC, mitigating, said the incident “was an escalation of his (Clifton Brown’s) anger”.
“It was him in a fit of rage lashing out at his partner,” he said.
The barrister said Clifton Brown’s “depression led him to take the irrational view that he would take his own life as well”.
He said the offence was “committed in a domestic abuse context” but the defendant “has his own narrative of how that relationship went”.
Clifton Brown was found guilty of attempted murder after an earlier trial, and had previously admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent and making a threat to kill.
Judge Alice Robinson said she needed further time to consider submissions by the barristers and adjourned the case until April 2.
“I’m not going to be in a position to sentence Mr Clifton Brown this afternoon,” she said, adding that Clifton Brown faces a “long custodial sentence”.
Ms Welby had believed “everything was fine until I got into the car” after leaving the friend’s house at about 10.30pm.
She told the trial how Brown called her a “liar” and got “more and more angry before he started hitting her”.
She said: “He said I’m driving to Congham to High House. He was hitting me all the way there. He started saying that since he had hit me he had nothing to live for and it didn’t really matter what happened so he was going to take me to the disused well and throw me in it, then himself.”
The couple’s fight continued as he drove to the well until she took her scarf and wrapped it around his neck.
She said that he eventually slumped beside the car and was “horrified of what he had done”. She climbed behind the wheel and drove herself to an accident and emergency department at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn, where staff believed she had been involved in a road accident due to her bloodied and swollen face.
On the morning of his attack Brown had filled the well up with water, with police estimating that the water in the well was just 12ft below the top.
Brown had denied attempted murder but was found guilty by a unanimous verdict after less than a day of deliberations by the jury at Norwich Crown Court. He had previously admitted to causing grievous bodily harm with intent and making a threat to kill.