A former Swindon man accused of arranging the brutal murder of his wife in their corner shop in 1981 was with his stepchildren at the cinema when the killing took place, a jury heard.

Allen Morgan, now 73, watched a double bill with Jane and Dean Morgan at the Odeon in Luton when the killer struck 15 miles away at their Morgan’s Food Fare shop in Linslade, Leighton Buzzard.

Carol Morgan, 36, was fatally attacked with a machete in the storeroom on the evening of August 13, 1981, while Allen had an alibi.

Allen took their son Dean Morgan, who was aged 14 at the time, and sister Jane - who was 12 - to the cinema. Dean said his mum was serving a customer and said: “Cheerio” when they left.

In his witness statement, Dean said they went to the Odeon, where they paid £4 to see Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and The Super Snooper.

Swindon Advertiser: Allen Morgan (right) is accused of conspiring to murder then-wife Carol (left) in 1981 with Margaret Spooner, who is now Margaret MorganAllen Morgan (right) is accused of conspiring to murder then-wife Carol (left) in 1981 with Margaret Spooner, who is now Margaret Morgan (Image: Newsquest)

Speaking via a video link, Dean said: “I remember seeing the Sinbad film. I don’t remember seeing the other film.”

The three left the cinema at about 10.10pm and arrived home between 10.30pm and 10.45pm.

The jury was told Dean and his sister lived in Covingham for the early part of their life. His mum Carol and dad Richard Curtis separated when he was about six.

Carol married Allen Morgan in early 1977 and, in December 1979, they moved to the shop in Linslade.

On the day his mother was killed, Dean got up at 4.50am and helped step-dad Allen get the newspapers ready for the delivery boys.

The prosecutor read the statement Dean made to a police officer the day after the killing. He said: “Dad told me to go upstairs and make a cup of coffee.

"He didn’t call out for mum.

“Jane went through the hall to get the keys to put her bicycle away in the shed in the rear garden.

“As I went into the kitchen, I heard our dog Simon whimpering in Jane’s bedroom.

“The door was closed and he couldn’t get out. Simon usually has the run of the flat and shop. I let Simon out. I made dad a cup of coffee.”

He said he heard his dad on the phone downstairs, then his dad came back upstairs where he rang a friend to come and collect him and Jane.

A few months after the killing, Allen’s lover Margaret Spooner left her husband and two sons and moved in with Allen and his two stepchildren.

Prosecutor Pavlov Panayi KC earlier told the jury Allen and Margaret had been in a year-long “passionate, but forbidden and adulterous love affair” and hatched a plan to murder Carol.

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

They are alleged to have paid a hitman, who has never been caught. An axe or machete was used to kill Carol before the murderer escaped with £435 cash and 1,400 cigarettes.

Allen, 73, who walks with a stick, and his second wife Margaret Morgan, now 75, of Stanstead Crescent, Woodingdean, Brighton, deny conspiracy to murder.

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

Mr Panayi said Carol had brought money into the marriage from her divorce, but they had spiralling debts and divorce was financially out of the question.

It was alleged that Margaret thought Allen would not be able to support them, but that the problem would be solved by the death of Carol.

The case continues.