Cold case cops hunt hitman hired by cheating husband to bludgeon wife to death

Cold case cops hunt hitman hired by cheating husband to bludgeon wife to death EXCLUSIVE: Detectives have urged anyone with information to come forward as they continue to search for a contract killer hired by cheating Allen Morgan to hack his wife, Carol, to death in 1981 Cold case detectives are hunting a hitman hired by a cheating husband to bludgeon his wife to death - exactly 45 years after the brutal murder. Allen Morgan enlisted a contract killer to hack his wife, Carol, 36, to death at the convenience store they owned so he could start a new life with his lover. The killer, who has never been caught, used an axe or machete to rain up to 15 blows on her body and skull. He then fled with cash and cigarettes following the attack in August 1981. The Mirror understands Morgan - who was handed a life sentence in 2024 - is planning to appeal against his conviction. But police say they are still desperate to give "answers" to Carol's family. In a statement released to mark the anniversary of Carol's murder, Det Chief Insp Richard Stott from Bedfordshire Police said: “No murder investigation is ever closed, and the case of Carol Morgan’s murder remains under review by cold case detectives for any potential further lines of enquiry. "Carol was brutally killed 45 years ago and sadly her family are still left without some answers as to what happened to her. We would always encourage anyone who knew Carol or who has any information at all about her death to come forward, as any information – no matter how small – could aid our investigation.” Carol was found murdered at the convenience store she ran with her husband, then aged 31, in Linslade, Bedfordshire, on August 13 1981. At the time of the victim’s death, there was not enough evidence to charge anyone in connection with the case and her husband was not considered a suspect, the Crown Prosecution Service said. The case was reopened by detectives in 2018 following a review by a cold case team. Morgan was tried alongside his current wife, teacher Margaret Morgan, then 75, who was also charged with conspiracy to murder but was acquitted by a jury, police said. Morgan's conspiracy to murder trial in 2023 was told he found Carol's body in the storeroom of Morgan’s Food Fare when he returned from the cinema in Luton, 14 miles away, with her two children Dean, 14, and Jane, 12. The prosecution at Luton Crown Court said the trip gave Morgan a “cast-iron” alibi and allowed a paid hitman to murder and rob Carol. Morgan, who walks with a stick, from Stanstead Crescent, Woodingdean, Brighton, was sentenced to life for conspiracy to murder by Justice Martin Spencer who told him: “In reality you will be spending the rest of your life in prison.” At the time of the killing, detectives believed Carol had been the victim of a burglary gone wrong. The cold case investigation uncovered a star witness who revealed that Morgan had wanted to find a hitman to kill Carol. Jane Bunting, 62, met the couple in the Dolphin pub in Linslade in the weeks before the murder. She told the jury she was aged 17 and was “appalled” and “horrified” when Morgan asked if her ex-boyfriend knew anyone who could kill. She said: “He'd say, 'I hate Carol', 'I don't want to be married to her', 'I wish she'd die', 'Wouldn’t an accident be nice?'" She told the jury Morgan said: “'You can always pay someone'. "He turned to me directly and addressed me and said, 'What about that Danny Mayhew you went out with? He's a bit of a criminal, wouldn't he know someone?'" She said she got up and left. Carol and Morgan met at a single parents’ group in Swindon called Gingerbread. They married in March 1977 and moved to the shop in December 1979. About a year before the murder, Morgan and mother-of-two Margaret Spooner, as she was then known, began an affair. Morgan visited Margaret at her home while her husband Michael was at work. Once a neighbour walked in as Margaret came down the stairs with no tights on, followed by Morgan. Margaret said Morgan had been trying on a Father Christmas outfit for the playgroup party. Carol’s first husband Richard Curtis, now 78, said the money to buy the shop came from Carol’s share of their matrimonial home in Covingham, Swindon. He paid maintenance for the children. By 1981 Morgan and Carol were living hand to mouth and had spiralling debts. She had made a will leaving her entire estate to Morgan. The shop had been purchased on an unsecured £6,000 loan that had a life insurance policy linked to it. Prosecutor Pavlos Panayi KC told the 2023 trial: “The two defendants wanted to be together, but could not be together while Allen remained married to Carol Morgan. He could not divorce his wife. These two individuals were involved in a passionate, but forbidden and adulterous love affair.” Carol, who had closed the shop at 6pm, was battered with an axe or machete. There was no sign of a break in at the shop and the family’s Labrador-Collie, that normally had the run of the premises, had been shut in one of the bedrooms in the flat above the shop. Mr Panayi said: “Blow after blow rained down on her causing the most awful of injuries The killer was determined to make sure the victim was dead before he left the premises - that is what the defendant paid him to do.” Around £400 cash was taken from a desk that had “a secret mechanism”. It would not open unless another, middle drawer, was moved into an exact position. £35 was also snatched from the till, along with 1,400 cigarettes. The prosecutor said: “The killer had some inside information before entering the premises. The obvious conclusion was that the killer was told by Allen Morgan where he would find the cash which may well have constituted part-payment for the murder.” Unexplained cash withdrawals had been made in the days leading up to the murder. On the day of the killing Morgan had told the police he was asleep when he was seen at a branch of Nationwide withdrawing £250.