The jury in the case of a man and woman accused of plotting the murder of his first wife in a Bedfordshire shop in 1981 were shown video footage of the site on Wednesday, May 1, 2024.
Carol Morgan, 36, was struck in the head with an axe or a machete at her corner shop in Finch Crescent, Linslade, on August 13, 1981.
Her husband Allen Morgan Morgan, 73, and his second wife Margaret, 74, who now live in Brighton, are alleged to have orchestrated the killing by hiring a hitman.
Luton Crown Court was shown a video tour of the Finch Crescent premises contrasted with photographs from 1981, before hearing evidence from two detectives who attended the crime scene at around 10.55pm on the evening of August 13.
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Former Detective Constable John Millgate said he entered the residential part of the building from a side door on Finch Crescent. Inside, he found Allen Morgan, who had previously lived with Carol in Swindon, sitting near the top of the stairs in a state of severe distress.
When he asked him why he had contacted the police, Mr Millgate said Morgan pointed to the stockroom door.
Millgate’s colleague, former Detective Constable Alan Howell, stepped into the stockroom.
Mr Howell said: “There, I saw the body of a lady on the floor, severely injured.”
Mr Howell told the court there was blood on the floor and on a nearby fridge, with further spatter on the ceiling and a bloody footprint near the body.
He requested two ambulance crew parked outside the store to check for signs of life. They confirmed she was deceased and that some of the blood near her body was in fact brain matter.
Prosecutor Pavlos Panayi KC asked him: “Did you know you were being called out to a fatality?”
Mr Howell replied: “No.”
He added: “I went up the stairs and conversed with Mr Morgan, but he wasn’t making much sense. There were other things I needed to do.”
The officers inspected the premises and DC Millgate noticed a blood splash on the light switch of the office, around the corner of the stockroom. They then transported Allen Morgan to Leighton Buzzard police station.
The hearing continues.
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