Ipswich’s William Kenneth James Brown in court for ‘vile’ stalker letters to ex-partner from jail

A southeast Queensland stalker sent a woman vile love letters from jail, containing repeated threats to kill her and graphic sexual messages – which a court heard included a “traced penis”.

A southeast Queensland stalker sent a woman vile love letters from jail, containing repeated threats to kill her and graphic sexual messages – which a court heard included a “traced penis”. Generic photo: Brett Wortman

A southeast Queensland inmate has returned to court for sending graphic and threatening letters to his ex – who was also in custody at the time.

Toowoomba man William Kenneth James Brown, 37, pleaded guilty on May 1 to one count of unlawful stalking, intimidation, harassing or abuse (threatening violence, DV).

The Ipswich District Court heard Brown had sent his ex-partner three letters last August while in custody at Wolston Correctional Centre.

The court heard the woman had been in custody at Southern Queensland Correctional Centre at the time.

She and Brown had been in a relationship six years ago, and the two had had limited contact since then.

The court heard Brown had reached out to the woman again after discovering she was in a new relationship.

In the first letter, he had threatened to “shoot him [the new partner] first”, then the woman, and then shoot himself.

Judge Alexander Horneman-Wren said the letters included “vile sexual comments”, and repeated threats to kill the woman – but also suggestions he wanted to get back together.

Crown prosecutor Lauren Knobel said Brown’s final letter was “graphic” and included references to owning the woman and threats to flog her.

“A lot of it, I concede, is immature – in terms of the tracing of the penis and some of the things he references within,” Ms Knobel said.

She read out Brown’s words from an earlier letter in court.

“Frightened to see me? You f--king better be,” Ms Knobel quoted.

“If you don’t get back to me I’m going to come find you one way or another.”

Ms Knobel said Brown had a lengthy criminal history including domestic violence against multiple previous partners.

She said the history showed a “concerning pattern that speaks to an ongoing risk to the community”.

“It’s not an out of character offence; it’s a continuance of pervasive domestic violence against former partners.”

Defence barrister Chris O’Neill said his client had been diagnosed with PTSD after a traumatic childhood.

Brown was currently on an opiate treatment program to assist him with drug addiction issues, Mr O’Neill said.

He noted his client had also entered a relationship with a new partner, who was currently pregnant.

“He is confident that this is behind him now,” Mr O’Neill said.

But Judge Horneman-Wren said Brown’s threats to his ex-partner about her new relationship, contrasted by him now wanting to move on, spoke to Brown’s “level of entitlement”.

He said the fact Brown was in a new relationship gave him “no confidence whatsoever” that Brown would not reoffend.

The new relationship was formed after Brown’s release from custody last September, the court heard.

But Brown had also committed further acts of domestic violence against a different former partner last October.

The court heard the stalking charge had originally been set for sentence alongside those October offences in Toowoomba Magistrates’ Court earlier this year.

But the court had determined the stalking was too serious to be dealt with in the Magistrates’ Court.

Brown had been sentenced to one year and nine months in jail for the other offences at that time.

Judge Horneman-Wren decided an appropriate sentence for the stalking, combined with the Magistrates’ Court offences, was two-and-a-half-years jail.

He sentenced Brown to an additional eight months for the stalking – totalling a cumulative two years and five months.

He said he had ameliorated the total sentence to take into account time that Brown had spent in presentence custody, which he could not formally declare time-served.

Parole release was set for August 24, 2024, after Brown has served 10 months of the cumulative sentence.