A Manx charity working to raise awareness of domestic abuse was invited to Buckingham Palace to mark the United Nations Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The Joanna Simpson Foundation was set up in 2014 in memory of the 46-year-old, who was brought up in the Isle of Man, after she was ‘battered to death’ by her husband and buried in a pre-dug grave four years earlier.

British Airways pilot Robert Brown was convicted of manslaughter and given a 26-year sentence in May 2011.

Charity patron Diana Parkes, Joanna’s mother, was invited to the palace to mark the 16 days of activism focusing on the elimination of violence against women.

Mrs Parkes said she was ‘surprised’ but ‘delighted’ to have been invited and attended with her grandchildren (Joanna’s children).

They met with Queen consort Camilla Parker Bowles, who had made the invitation, after meeting Mrs Parkes previously and hearing her story.

‘We were taken into this private room and then Camilla, Queen consort, came in and she kissed me on both cheeks,’ Mrs Parkes said. ‘Camilla said to the grandchildren, “it’s because of your grandmother that I’m doing all this work”.

‘The children were absolutely delighted, of course.’

Mrs Parkes had met the Queen consort in her previous role as Duchess of Cornwall, when she was invited to talk about her experience along with five other families by Safelives, a UK charity dedicated to ending domestic abuse.

She said: ‘The Duchess of Cornwall, as she then was, came in and she listened and she started to cry when she heard our story.

‘The Duchess, as she recounts it, was really moved.

‘She went on Radio 5 Live with Emma Barnett and I just happened to be listening and she started talking about this terrible story of this mother who was battered to death with a claw hammer and she’d never forget it.

‘I just texted in and said “I am the mother that the Duchess of Cornwall is talking about” and after that, she said, “I’ve got goosebumps. I shall never forget it.”

‘She said, “yes, it was you, Diana, who made me want to get involved”. I think I’ve met the Duchess about five times now.’

Media interviews spiralled from there for the 83-year-old from Sulby as she was invited onto Emma Barnett’s show, did a short film with BBC Breakfast, a podcast with a previous Scotland Yard officer, and was interviewed on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour.

Robert Brown qualifies for parole after serving half of his sentence in January 2023, and will be on licence until the end of his sentence in 2036.

‘Who is going to monitor him for 13 years?

‘ There just isn’t the staff to do it,’ Mrs Parkes said.

‘This is why we’re having this huge campaign hearing at the moment to try to keep him in jail somehow.

‘We’re actually lobbying as well. Hettie, who is Jo’s best friend, she and I started the Joanne Simpson Foundation to help support and protect children who have suffered from domestic abuse situations and homicide.

‘When we started in 2014, there was absolutely nothing looking after these really vulnerable children.

‘I held a conference in the Villa Marina where I invited down a baron who started Safelives to talk to nurses, police, the Samaritans, teachers and many others in 2017.

‘From then, we discovered that there was a need for training on the Isle of Man, so we set up training days with Safelives and the Hospice, and then the following year, we had another Safelives training day.’

She added: ‘It’s like Camilla said, it’s to try to shed the shroud of secrecy over domestic violence.

‘When Jo was killed, nobody really talked about it in 2010. Everybody knew it’s happened. But the worst thing is that I think more and more is happening.

‘I think, since I’ve started doing this, the people that come up to me, and tell me how they’ve been in domestic abuse situations, it’s absolutely terrifying.

‘It really is alarming.

‘The one amazing thing is we were leaving the palace and this woman who’d worked for Safelives came up to me and said, “I think we have to thank for today”.

‘It was an amazing experience. I’ll never ever forget it. Just wonderful.’