A husband and his lover “arranged and paid for” the murder of the man’s then-wife in 1981 so that they could be together, a trial heard.
Defendants Allen Morgan, 73, and 75-year-old Margaret Morgan, who are now married, deny conspiring to murder Carol Morgan who prosecutors say was hacked to death in the corner shop she ran with her then-husband.
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, over 40 years ago, and has remained unsolved in all that time”.
He said that on August 13 1981, Carol Morgan, then aged 36, was attacked and killed at the convenience store she ran with her husband Allen Morgan, then aged 31, in Linslade near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire.
The barrister said that 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”.
“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.
“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.
“In due course they married – they have been together ever since,” said Mr Panayi.
He said that the defendants, of Stanstead Crescent, Brighton, 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, in Finch Crescent in Linslade, 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.”
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 store room.
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.
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.
