Man questioned for 1981 murder 'knew nothing'

Allen and Margaret Morgan deny conspiracy to murder

A man questioned about the murder of a shopkeeper over 40 years ago told a jury he was arrested after he and a friend had fled an Indian restaurant without paying.

Danny Mayhew said he was “very surprised” when police arrested him for the murder of Carol Morgan, who was killed in her corner shop in Linslade, Bedfordshire on 13 August 1981.

Mr Mayhew was giving evidence at the trial of pensioner couple Allen Morgan, 73, and Margaret Morgan, 75, who are accused of plotting to murder Mr Morgan's then wife, Carol.

The prosecution at Luton Crown Court have alleged the now married couple had been in a year-long “passionate, but forbidden and adulterous, love affair” and hatched a plan to murder the 36-year-old mother-of-two.

Prosecutors have said the killer had “inside knowledge” about where money was kept in the couple's shop

Mr Mayhew, who was cleared by police, told Luton Crown Court: “They questioned me. I said I didn't know nothing.”

The defendants are alleged to have paid an unknown killer who used an axe or heavy knife or machete to hack Ms Morgan to death before stealing cash.

Five weeks later, on 25 September, Mr Mayhew and a friend were picked up by officers for not paying their restaurant bill.

He said he told the officers he had been watching televison with 17-year-old Jane Bunting and her dad at their home that night.

He told the jury he did not know Carol or Allen Morgan, or Margaret Spooner.

Earlier Ms Bunting, now 60, told the jury that she went for a drink in a local pub where the accused asked her: “What about Danny Mayhew you went out with? He’s a bit of a criminal.”

She said Mr Morgan went on: “Well, he might know someone who could kill someone for me.”

Ms Bunting said she would not ask him or anyone else and refused to pass on his phone number.

Allen and Margaret Morgan are appearing at Luton Crown Court

Mr Mayhew said before coming to Leighton Buzzard to stay with his sister in the summer of 1981 he had been living with his mum on a council estate in Hornsey, London.

Asked about any involvement with the police he said: “No real involvement apart from mucking about on the estate.

"The police would chase you about for making a noise or being in the wrong place. Sitting on the wrong walls. It went on all the time.”

Carol Morgan was found at her shop in Linslade, Bedfordshire, in 1981

The defendants, who live in Stanstead Crescent, Woodingdean, Brighton, East Sussex, deny conspiracy to murder and the trial continues.