Witness admits hating man accused of murdering wife

Allen and Margaret Morgan, now in their 70s, deny conspiracy to murder

A trial witness has described a man accused of plotting to murder his wife as "horrible" and that she has "been terrified" of him for years.

The body of 36-year-old Carol Morgan was found in her shop in Linslade, Bedfordshire, in August 1981.

Allen Morgan, 73, and his now-wife Margaret, 75, who prosecutors say were having an affair at the time, are on trial accused of conspiracy to murder.

Jane Bunting told Luton Crown Court "I hate him".

“Yes, I hate him. I hate Allen Morgan. I hate Allen Morgan now," she told the court.

She said she thought he was guilty having heard him discuss the idea of killing Carol with insulin or in a car accident while at the former Dolphin pub in Leighton Buzzard that summer.

Lawyers for both defendants said the conversation may never have happened but Ms Bunting said: "It did happen and it’s haunted me all my life.

“I’m not a person who would invent something if somebody didn’t do anything wrong, no matter how much I dislike them.”

Carol Morgan was 36 when she was bludgeoned to death

Jurors have been told Ms Bunting tutored Margaret after she was expelled from school and she described her in court as a "very moral woman".

"The more disadvantaged somebody was, the more inclined she was to help them," she explained.

She added that she did not think Margaret was "easily fooled" but did think someone could have "played on her sympathies because she was kind".

No one has ever been charged with carrying out Carol’s murder.

Jurors have been told a hitman allegedly hired had "inside knowledge" of where cash was kept in Carol's shop.

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