Man 'heard bragging about Swindon woman's murder' in pub

Allen Morgan lived in Swindon during the 1970s before moving to Bedfordshire with his partner Carol, who later became the victim of a brutal unsolved murder.

Allen, now 73, and his second wife Margaret, 75, of Stanstead Crescent, Woodingdean in Brighton, are on trial accused of conspiracy to murder.

This week, the person Allen allegedly hired to kill Carol is said to have bragged that his own wife, also named Carol, would give him an alibi if police came knocking at his door.

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

Allen and Carol Morgan on their wedding day (Image: Swindon Advertiser archive)

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

As the prosecution presented its final pieces of evidence, prosecutor Pavlos Panayi KC read the witness statement of Janet Wheatley, dated February 8, 1983.

Mrs Wheatley was a 40-year-old housewife, originally from Leighton Buzzard, who was living in Dunstable.

She claimed to have visited the Wagon and Horses pub in Dunstable at around 7pm in August or September 1981 with her then-husband Gary, where she heard two men talking in the saloon bar.

The first man was described as around 5ft 8in, with unkempt mousy brown hair and a stocky build. He was unshaven, with a round face and flared nostrils, wearing blue jeans.

The second man was described as 6ft tall, slim, aged 25 to 30, very dirty as if he'd come from a building site, with long unkempt dark brown hair.

The two men were talking, the first man allegedly said to the other he had "done a job in Leighton Buzzard". The other asked, "What did you get?" The man replied, "500 to 1,000 fags and £500."

The second man then said, "What will you do if you get questioned?" The first man allegedly responded, "It doesn't matter because Carol (his own wife) would tell police he had been home all night with her."

Mrs Wheatley said that as the two men were talking, she moved over to the jukebox where she could hear them more closely.

A person then came into the pub and said that a car's engine was still running outside.

The first man replied: "I have to leave it running because if I have to stop, I'll need to jump-start it."

Mrs Wheatley said this stuck in her mind, as she asked her husband what jump-start meant. She and her husband left the pub at around 9.30pm and outside, she saw a green estate car.

Mrs Wheatley said that she had previously met Carol Morgan in the summer of 1981 when she visited her shop in Linslade, and they had a friendly conversation.

Mrs Wheatley had a disabled daughter and she claimed Carol had invited her to bring her around and play with her own children, although the planned visit never took place.

At the time of the pub incident, Mrs Wheatley said she was aware a murder had occurred in Linslade, but she did not realise who the victim was.

She stated: "Since this occasion, I've seen this man twice, on both occasions with Allen Morgan."

Mrs Wheatley said she had seen the man with Allen Morgan once on Wing Road and on another occasion in Leighton Buzzard High Street.

Mrs Wheatley herself died on October 13, 1983, and her evidence could not be cross-examined.

However, Colin Aylott KC, defending Allen Morgan, presented the defence case that her narrative was a "fabrication".

He cited the interviewing officer PC May's "general scepticism" about her account and that her own family members had allegedly expressed doubts to the officer.

Mr Aylott cited that Mrs Wheatley had said the sighting took place in the Greyhound pub when she first contacted police on January 4, 1983, later changing the location to the Wagon & Horses when she gave a statement weeks later.

The defence said it was "implausible" Mrs Wheatley would have been unaware of the victim's identity at the time of the pub incident, due to the intense media coverage.

Mr Aylott described Mrs Wheatley's two further sightings of the man in question as "fortuitous". He added it was "unrealistic" for Allen Morgan to be seen with the murderer in Leighton Buzzard High Street in the aftermath of the killing.

He added: "It would have been suggested to the witness that all if the information she allegedly overheard was in the public domain and her account was fabricated using that information."

The case continues.