Man accused of prison officer murder 'used' friend

A man accused of helping to murder a former prison officer wiped away tears in court as he claimed his friend of 15 years "confessed" to the shooting in a phone call.

Lenny Scott, 33, was shot six times outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, at 19:35 GMT on 8 February 2024.

Anthony Cleary, 29, admits dropping off a van containing an electric bike near the scene, but denied knowing his friend, 35-year-old Elias Morgan, would use them as "attack and getaway" vehicles in the shooting - which Mr Morgan denies any involvement in.

Mr Cleary told Preston Crown Court the first he knew of the shooting was when Mr Morgan told him "I've done someone".

HGV driver Mr Cleary, who denies murder and an alternative count of manslaughter, told the jury he had known Mr Morgan since he was around 13 years old.

He said Mr Morgan called him on the afternoon of 7 February 2024 and offered him £150 to move a van to an address in Skelmersdale, a short distance from the gym on Peel Road, using a low-loader truck.

He claimed he did not ask Mr Morgan why he needed the van moving and had no idea it was related to any criminal plan - despite accepting he knew Mr Morgan "did not have a nine-to-five" job and that he was a criminal capable of violence.

Mr Cleary said the following night, at 23:05 GMT, he got a call from Mr Morgan on WhatsApp.

Anthony Cleary (left) said he felt "used" by his former friend and alleged gunman Elias Morgan (right)

Under questioning from his barrister, Tim Forte KC, Mr Cleary said: "He [Morgan] rang me to say he had done someone in Skem and I needed to get rid of me phone."

He said he asked Mr Morgan whether it had anything to do with the van he left there the previous evening, and was told it was.

Mr Forte asked if he believed Mr Morgan at the time, and Mr Cleary said: "He's a bit of a joker, he's always messing around.

"But he didn't sound like he was messing around."

He said his fears were confirmed when he searched online and found news reports about a shooting in Skelmersdale.

Asked how he felt towards his then close friend, Mr Cleary said: "I was fuming.

"I don't know the word, like used."

He accepted that he had remained in regular contact with Mr Morgan, telling the jury: "If I changed how I acted towards him, he would have changed how he acted towards me.

"It could have turned into some sort of violence."

He told the jury the situation made him feel "trapped".

In cross-examination Mr Morgan's barrister, Caroline Goodwin KC, suggested Mr Cleary was "simply gutless" and was attempting to "get yourself out of trouble" by blaming her client.

She pointed out that minutes after a supposedly life-changing phone call which implicated him in a murder, Mr Cleary was exchanging Facebook messages with a woman about the purchase of a car.

Mr Cleary said he "was not thinking straight" at the time and had simply been dealing with "another problem that I had".

Elias Morgan (right) has been accused by his co-defendant Anthony Cleary (left) of "confessing" to shooting someone

Ms Goodwin also highlighted that despite Mr Cleary allegedly being told to "get rid of his phone", he not only carried on using it but that Mr Morgan continued to contact him on that number.

She said: "I'm going to suggest if there was a confession and you put two and two together and he said ditch your phone, you would have done.

"But you didn't, did you?"

Mr Cleary replied: "No."

He was also cross-examined by Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, who questioned him about a screengrab of a Google map image he sent to Mr Morgan on the evening of 7 February.

He said the map showed the gym on Peel Road, and not the estate where he had left the van.

Mr Leach said: "It showed the location where just over 24 hours later, Mr Scott was shot."

Mr Cleary said he could not recall why the map was sent.

Lenny Scott had left the prison service three years before he was murdered

Mr Leach suggested one explanation was it was "just bad luck" that he sent a map of the murder scene to Mr Morgan, who would be accused of the shooting, having driven a van used by the gunman to the murder scene.

Mr Cleary denied the alternative, which Mr Leach suggested was that he "knew exactly" what Mr Morgan was planning.

The prosecution has alleged Mr Scott's murder was an "act of retaliation" four years after he seized a phone from the prison cell of Mr Morgan at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool.

The jury heard data on the phone revealed Mr Morgan was in a sexual relationship with a female prison officer at Altcourse called Sarah Williams, who was later jailed.

At the time Mr Scott reported to police and to prison authorities that he had been threatened by Mr Morgan, who the jury heard told the prison officer "I will get you" while making a gun sign.

The trial continues.