Browns Brasserie founder on trial for murdering 100-year-old mother
Jeremy Mogford, 79, and his sister face murder charges after allegedly giving their mother liquid morphine to hasten her death. The trial is under way at Oxford Crown Court.
Brighton restaurant chain founder accused of mother's murder at Oxford Crown Court
Jeremy Mogford, 79, the man who launched the Browns Brasserie restaurant chain in Brighton, is standing trial at Oxford Crown Court charged with murdering his 100-year-old mother, The Argus reports.
Mogford and his sister, Sarah Pickering, 72, are accused of administering liquid morphine to their mother, Pamela Mogford, in the early hours of 15 February 2022, with the intention of hastening her death. Both deny murder and say they gave their mother the medication to relieve her pain. They also face an alternative charge of attempted murder.
Mogford opened the first Browns Brasserie on Brighton's seafront in 1973, alongside business partner John Mayhew. He later sold the chain to Bass Brewery for £35 million. The Brighton branch closed in April 2025.
Morphine given after GP's visit
Prosecuting counsel Julian Christopher KC told the jury that Mrs Mogford's GP had visited her three times on 14 February 2022 — the day before she died — administering morphine injections during the second and third visits because he believed she might be dying. The GP initially recorded her cause of death as old age.
After the doctor left, prosecutors allege the siblings used an oral syringe to give their mother Oramorph, a liquid morphine preparation that had been prescribed to her. Mr Christopher told the court: "Using an oral syringe they gave her the equivalent of at least four times as much morphine the GP had given that evening by injection."
Mrs Mogford died at her home in Bledlow Ridge, Buckinghamshire, shortly after midnight. Jurors heard that on the previous evening she had refused to go to hospital after an ambulance was called, as it was thought she might have suffered a stroke. Prosecutors said she had not been attempting to take her own life and had not asked anyone to help her do so.
Messages discovered on brother-in-law's phone
The court heard that revealing messages came to light when police examined the mobile phone of Pickering's husband, Paul Pidgeon, during an investigation into an unconnected matter.
In a message sent to a friend on 14 February, Pickering wrote: "Think we might give her some morphine tonight, but don't tell anyone." Shortly before 10pm that same evening, she asked her brother whether she could administer more to their mother, saying it was distressing to listen to her. Mogford replied: "Yes, go ahead."
Pickering then told him she would wait a short while, as their mother was fast asleep — a detail prosecutors say indicates Mrs Mogford was not in pain at that point. In a later message to her husband, Pickering wrote: "I am actually killing her."
Post-mortem findings inconclusive
Mrs Mogford's body was exhumed on 1 June 2023 for a post-mortem examination. Morphine was detected, but jurors were told that the passage of time made it impossible to calculate precisely how much she had received before her death. Mr Christopher acknowledged that scientific evidence alone could not definitively establish whether she had been given a greater dose than that contained in the GP's injections. A pathologist subsequently recorded her cause of death as unascertained.
Both defendants have been released on bail. The trial continues.
Source: The Argus