At fifty-one, Janet Brown was the model of educated rural success. Her three children, Zara, Benedict and Roxanne, were either living away from home, away at university, or as in the case of the youngest, Roxanne, studying for A-levels and a place at university. Her husband, Grahaem Brown, was a doctor who worked for pharmaceutical companies. His work took him away from home a great deal, and at the time in question, Dr Brown was in Switzerland, while Janet herself worked as a research nurse at Oxford University.