Couple hired killer after 'passionate' affair - trial

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

A couple arranged the murder of the man's first wife 42 years ago following a "passionate" affair, a court has heard.

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

Allen and Margaret Morgan, who had been in a “passionate, but forbidden and adulterous love affair”, hatched a plan to murder her, their Luton Crown Court trial heard.

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

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

Prosecutor Pavlos Panayi KC told the jury the couple, who had been having a year-long affair, made a plan with an unknown killer.

He said: “The murder of Carol Morgan was no random attack. It was planned and paid for by the two defendants in the dock.

"Had she not been murdered and had she lived these past 43 years, she would be 80 years old.

“She was killed on the evening of 13 August 1981 in a brutal attack by someone who has never been identified.

“That someone used an axe or heavy knife or machete to hack into her body and skull, causing horrifying injuries from which she died.”

'Passionate, but forbidden' love affair

The prosecutor said that at the time of the killing, Mr Morgan, who had married Carol in 1977, had been having a year-long affair with married Margaret Spooner, as she was then known.

He told police he would deliver groceries to his now-wife’s home and would have sex with her three times a week while her husband was at work.

Mr Panayi said a divorce was financially out of the question as the couple had debts.

Soon after the alleged murder, Mrs Morgan left her husband and moved in with Mr Morgan and they have been together ever since.

Mr Panayi said: “The prosecution say these two individuals were involved in a passionate, but forbidden and adulterous love affair which was the background to a plan which they both hatched together in secret to arrange and pay for the murder of Allen’s wife Carol Morgan.”

Allen and Margaret Morgan have appeared at Luton Crown Court

The prosecution told the court that that on the night of the killing, Mr Morgan took the victim's two children from her previous marriage to see a double bill at the Odeon cinema in Dunstable Road, Luton.

The court heard this was unusual as he did not have a “strong relationship with the children” and had never taken them out without their mother previously.

A dog owned by the couple had been shut in another room.

“During their absence Carol was alone in the shop. She closed the shop at 6pm. After she closed, an attacker or attackers entered the premises and struck.”

The prosecutor said the killing took place in the store room where a number of blows were inflicted.

Mr Morgan returned home and told the police he had been shocked by the discovery, saying he had played no part in what happened.

He said £400 cash had been taken from a desk, £35 from the till, along with 1,400 cigarettes.

The widower was quickly ruled out as the murderer because of his alibi.

Killer 'may never be brought to justice'

The prosecution is to call a woman called Jane Bunting, who was 17 at the time of the killing.

Now 60, she came forward as a witness in March 2021 when she learned police had reopened the unsolved murder case.

Mr Panayi alleged Ms Bunting met Mr Morgan and Margaret in The Dolphin pub in Linslade a few months before the murder.

The court was told Ms Bunting had a boyfriend called Danny Mayhew, a known criminal.

“Allen speculated whether Jane Bunting knew anyone who could help him kill his wife," he said.

Ms Bunting was shocked and appalled and left the pub, he said.

“The prosecution say they wanted Carol Morgan dead and had begun to plan the recruitment," Mr Panayi said.

"We do not know who they eventually found. That man may never be brought to justice."

The trial continues.