Image source, Bedfordshire Police
As a man begins serving a prison sentence for planning his wife’s murder more than 40 years ago, the police detective who led the initial investigation recalls that Allen Morgan was always the prime suspect.
For four decades, the murder of Carol Morgan has haunted Detective Brian Prickett.
He and his team suspected her husband but were never able to prove Allen Morgan’s involvement, and the case remained a “thorn in his side” until Morgan was convicted of conspiracy to murder his wife.
On 13 August 1981, Superintendent Prickett entered a convenience store on a council estate in Linslade, near Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, and saw the body of Carol Morgan.
- Author, Laura Foster
- Role, BBC Investigations, Bedfordshire
“It’s the worst attack I’ve seen on a human being, without a doubt,” the retired officer said.
Morgan, 73, was convicted in June of conspiracy to murder his wife after a cold case team uncovered a key new witness.
Image source, Bedfordshire Police
“Horrible scene”
On the day of his wife’s murder, Morgan called police, claiming to have discovered her body after returning from a movie theater with his two children.
At his trial, prosecutors said the trip was his way of building an “ironclad” alibi while he paid a hitman to kill Carol, 36, and make it look like a robbery at their convenience store.
The scene in the store that the police encountered remains vivid in Mr Prickett’s memory.
“I walked into the store and saw Carol Morgan’s body, and it was a horrible scene,” he said.
“It’s as clear in my mind as it was forty years ago.”
He said it was clear from the outset that it was a “deliberate killing” and that “the number of injuries she suffered was horrific”.
Morgan immediately became a person of interest. Police determined that he was a “womanizer, arrogant and bossy.”
Mr Prickett, now 82, said Morgan showed none of the concern expected of a man who had just lost his wife in a horrific murder.
According to a witness, a man carrying a bag left the scene and then got into a passenger car. Officers attempted to identify him.
“But we received a lot of circumstantial evidence very early on about Allen Morgan: the store was in financial difficulty,” Mr. Prickett said.
“He had indicated that he was not going to succeed in his marriage.”
As police continued their hunt for the mysterious killer, circumstantial evidence continued to mount against Morgan.
“I don’t think Allen Morgan knew how much we suspected him at the time,” Mr. Prickett said.
“I spent many hours talking to him formally and informally, and his character was clear, he was a tyrant, he was arrogant, pretentious.
“I thought if we had arrested him and presented him with the brief circumstantial evidence, he would have said, ‘You know, I couldn’t have committed the murder and proven it.'”
“That would have exposed our game and prevented him from cooperating with us.”
Instead, Morgan was encouraged to give press interviews “and hopefully make mistakes.”
Image source, Laura Foster/BBC
After the case was reopened in 2018, a cold case review team re-interviewed witness Jane Bunting, who was 17 at the time of the murder, and she provided key evidence at Morgan’s trial.
Ms Bunting told the trial that when she was in the former Dolphin pub in Leighton Buzzard, Morgan asked her if an ex-boyfriend knew anyone who could kill Carol.
She did not notify the police at the time because she felt she owed Morgan’s wife and lover, known at the time as Margaret Spooner.
Mr Prickett said he had “immense respect” for Ms Bunting for coming forward, and believed her evidence was “crucial” to securing a conviction.
Image source, Bedfordshire Police
“A thorn in the side”
For more than two years during the initial investigation, Mr Prickett and his team “gave 100 per cent” but were frustrated by the lack of convictions.
“When you have a case that is ongoing and you can’t detect it, it’s a thorn in the side because it hasn’t come to anything.
“It’s always a thorn in the side: we try to get justice for the relatives of the victim.”
Looking back on the investigation, he doesn’t think they could have done anything differently.
Watching Allen Morgan again at the trial, Mr Prickett said: “I could see him as he was 40 years ago.”
But of course, it takes more than one person to conspire, and Mrs. Morgan’s killer has never been found or brought to justice.
Police hope Morgan will give them the details they need to help them identify the killer.
“I just hope now that even at this late stage we can identify the person who committed the murder,” Mr Prickett said.
“This person is still at large. We may have suspicions, but it may merit further investigation.”
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