The title compound, C 14 H 12 Br 2 O 2 S, crystallizes as the meso isomer of a diastereoisomeric pair. This structure determination was key to determining that the 1,3 elimination of bromine by tri-phenyl-phosphine occurs with inversion of the configuration at each of the two chiral carbon atoms. In the crystal, the molecules are linked by weak C-H⋯O and C-H⋯Br hydrogen bonds.