Brighton couple accused of arranging the murder of husband's then wife

Defendants Allen and Margaret Morgan, who are now married, had been in a “passionate, but forbidden and adulterous love affair” and hatched a plan to murder Morgan’s wife Carol, a jury was told.

The now 73 and 75-year-old, who live in Brighton, are alleged to have paid an unknown killer, who used an axe or heavy knife or machete to hack into the 36-year-old’s body and skull in the corner shop she ran with Allen Morgan.

The pair deny conspiring to murder Carol Morgan.

Pavlos Panayi KC, opening the prosecution case at Luton Crown Court on Wednesday, told jurors that the case was “about a brutal murder that happened in 1981 and has remained unsolved in all that time”.

Allen Morgan, who has grey hair and glasses, and Margaret Morgan, who was aided by a hearing loop, listened from the dock as the prosecutor outlined the murder.

He said that on August 13, 1981, Carol Morgan was attacked and killed at the couple’s shop, Morgan’s Food Fare, in Linslade near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.

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The barrister said the killer, who remains unidentified, “used an axe or heavy knife or machete to hack into her body and skull causing horrifying injuries from which she died”.

He said the murder was “no random attack” and was planned and paid for “by the two defendants in the dock”.

“In the summer of 1981 the first defendant, Allen Morgan, who was married to the deceased Carol Morgan, was having an affair,” said Mr Panayi.

Carol Morgan (Image: PA)

“His lover was the second defendant, who is now called Margaret Morgan.”

He said that at the time, the affair had been going on for more than a year but that Allen Morgan “couldn’t divorce his wife”.

“Carol Morgan had brought the money into the marriage and as a result of that fact and because of spiralling debts, a divorce was financially out of the question,” said Mr Panayi.

He said that after Carol Morgan’s death, Margaret Morgan, who was then called Margaret Spooner, left her husband and moved in with Allen Morgan.

Allen Morgan at the time of Carol's death (Image: PA)

“In due course they married – they have been together ever since,” said Mr Panayi.

He said that the defendants, of Stanstead Crescent, are “alleged to have arranged and paid for” the killing.

The prosecutor described the defendants as having been “engaged in a passionate but forbidden and adulterous love affair”.

He said that Allen and Carol Morgan had both been married before when they met in the late 1970s, with Carol Morgan having sole custody of two children who lived with them in a flat above their corner shop.

Allen Morgan’s children lived full-time with his ex-wife, Mr Panayi said.

He said that the corner shop was bought in 1979 with Carol Morgan’s half of the sale of her previous marital home.

The prosecutor said that on the day Carol Morgan was killed, Allen Morgan took her two children to the cinema in Luton to see a double bill.

He said they were not due back until almost 11pm, leaving Carol Morgan alone in the shop.

The barrister said Allen Morgan “didn’t have a strong relationship with his step-children”, adding: “He had never before taken them out without their mother.”

Margaret Morgan (Image: Bedfordshire Police)

One witness, who is now dead, said Carol had told her the children had not wanted to go to the cinema and that Allen Morgan had not asked Carol to join them.

“Given the widely-known fact of his affair, it suited his purpose to have a cast-iron alibi," said Mr Panayi.

The family’s dog normally had the run of the premises, but on the night of the killing he had been shut in one of the bedroom’s of the couple’s flat above the shop, the jury was told.

He said that after Carol Morgan closed the shop that day “an attacker or attackers entered the premises and struck”.

The barrister said it was thought to have happened at around 7pm and Carol Morgan was killed inside the storeroom.

Mr Panayi said that Allen Morgan told police in a witness statement that he was “shocked by this discovery and said he had played no part in the murder and said cash and a large quantity of cigarettes had been stolen and were missing from the shop”.

The barrister said police found “no sign of any forced entry” and the family’s dog, who would “ordinarily… have the run of the premises”, had been shut in one of the bedrooms.

An efit issued in an appeal for information into the murder of Carol Morgan (Image: Bedfordshire Police)

The prosecutor said Carol Morgan was “hardly likely to resist a man wielding a machete or axe”, adding: “The prosecution say the motivation of this crime was never just cigarettes or cash – this was a planned murder.”

Mr Panayi said that a woman called Jane Bunting, who was 17 at the time and is now 60 years old, came forward to police in March 2021 after she heard police were reopening their investigation.

He said that Ms Bunting, now known as Jane Robinson, had a boyfriend at the time who was a known criminal called Danny Mayhew.

The barrister said that Margaret Morgan had brought Ms Bunting to a pub in the months before Carol Morgan’s death, and Allen Morgan was there.

He said Allen Morgan had speculated whether Ms Bunting knew anyone who could help him kill his wife, and Ms Bunting was “shocked and appalled and she left the pub”.

The barrister said Ms Bunting “kept silent about what she heard that night” until 2021.

“The prosecution suggest her evidence does provide an additional support for the prosecution case that the defendants together wanted Carol Morgan dead and had begun to plan for the recruitment of a man to kill her,” said Mr Panayi.

“We do not know who they eventually found to commit the murder and that man may never be brought to justice.”

The trial continues.