Alleged murder victim 'knew about husband's affair'

Allen and Margaret Morgan deny conspiracy to murder

A woman allegedly murdered by a hitman hired by her husband and his lover knew the couple were having an affair, a court heard.

The body of 36-year-old Carol Morgan was found in her shop, Morgan's Store, in Linslade, Bedfordshire, on 13 August 1981.

Two weeks earlier, she had called her cousin to say she knew her husband Allen was having an affair with his now-wife Margaret, Luton Crown Court heard.

Mr Morgan, 73, and Mrs Morgan, 75, of Stanstead Crescent, Woodingdean, Brighton, deny conspiracy to murder.

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

The prosecution alleges the couple had a “ a passionate, but forbidden and adulterous love affair” and hatched a murder plot.

The killer, who has never been caught, used an axe or machete to attack Carol Morgan in the storeroom of Morgan's Store in Finch Crescent, Linslade, near Leighton Buzzard, on the evening of 13 August 1981.

In a statement read to the jury, her cousin Pamela Smith recalled the phone conversation about the affair.

“She [Carol] couldn’t believe it. She said it had been going on for a long time," she said.

“I had been watching the Royal Wedding when she rang. They [Allen and Carol] had only been married for four years. I was not aware of any worries.“

Ms Smith, 83, said Carol had met Mr Morgan at a Gingerbread group for single parents in Swindon after her first husband left her.

She told the court she thought it strange when the couple moved from Swindon to Linslade and Mr Morgan asked her to pay the removal men.

“Allen did not have any money. I thought it was strange, but I did pay them,” she said.

She described her cousin as “a lovely, very pretty girl”.

She went on: “Carol was a really good mother - her children came first.”

Carol Morgan was found at Morgan's Store, now The Corner Shop, on Finch Crescent

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

The jury heard a statement from Ms Smith's father and Carol's uncle George Wilkins, who died in February 2000, aged 84.

He said Carol had phoned him three weeks before she was murdered, saying her marriage was not going well but that her husband wanted to give the affair up.

“She said Allen wanted to make a go of things [with Carol]. She said since they discussed the matter, things had got better."

His statement recalled that she had been to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau and arranged to see a marriage guidance counsellor.

She hoped her husband would attend later.

But in a second statement on 20 August 1981, six days later, Mr Wilkins said Carol felt she was “fighting a losing battle.”

He said: “She said Allen was never in the shop and was always making excuses for being out at night.”

Allen and Margaret Morgan are appearing at Luton Crown Court

Earlier, prosecutor Pavlos Panayi said a witness would tell the jury she overheard a man in a pub in Dunstable brag about how he got £500 and between 500 and 1,000 cigarettes “for a job in Leighton Buzzard.”

The woman is alleged to have seen Mr Morgan talking to him twice in Leighton Buzzard.

The case continues.