A prison officer was brutally shot dead outside a gym after uncovering explosive evidence of a convicted criminal’s affair with a female guard, a court has heard.
Lenny Scott, 33, was gunned down in a calculated ambush in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on February 8, 2024. The devoted father-of-three suffered six gunshot wounds in the attack.
Two men, Elias Morgan and Anthony Cleary, are currently on trial at Preston Crown Court charged with Scott’s murder. Both men deny the charges.
Seized mobile phone
Jurors were told how Scott had previously seized a mobile phone from Morgan’s prison cell at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool on March 26, 2020. That phone contained explicit evidence revealing that Morgan was having sex with disgraced prison officer Sarah Williams.
It is alleged that Morgan later issued “serious” threats to Scott after the officer refused a £1,500 bribe to cover up the scandal by disposing of the incriminating device.
Prosecutor Alex Leach KC told the court that Morgan had been “driven by a desire for revenge” and had relied on Anthony Cleary to help execute the bloody assassination.
Footage played
Chilling CCTV footage played to the jury captured the moment Lenny Scott left a gym at 7.42pm on an industrial estate on Peel Road. He was seen chatting to another man by his car when the gunman, wearing an orange high-visibility vest, walked calmly up to them, raised a handgun, and opened fire.
Six deafening shots rang out as Scott was struck in the head and body. He attempted to flee but collapsed just outside the camera’s frame. Terrified witnesses ran for cover as the gunman escaped on an electric bike.
The jury was told that Morgan allegedly drove to the nearby Darfield estate in a Mercedes GLC, previously insured in his mother’s name. Minutes later, a figure was seen on CCTV walking to the Daybrook estate, where a white Vauxhall Combo van had earlier been dropped off—40 minutes before the killing—on the back of a low-loader truck.
Dry run
Inside the van was a black Sur Ron electric bike, which the prosecution claims had been transported to the scene by Cleary.
At 6.06pm, CCTV captured the bike performing a “dry run” to the gym and back through narrow ginnels and alleyways.
KC Leach told the court that the man, believed to be Morgan, returned to the Mercedes and drove it to Denholme Street, where he allegedly retrieved it days after the fatal shooting.
By 6.45pm, the bike was back in the gym’s car park, with the gunman lying in wait for Scott to finish his workout. After the execution-style killing, the gunman rode the electric bike back to Daybrook estate, loaded it into the van, and drove out of Skelmersdale.
Police examined the phone
The van, the court heard, was registered to a cleaning company operated by Morgan’s brother, Ezra. At 11.05pm, Morgan phoned Cleary, who had been spotted on CCTV in the Birmingham area at the time of the murder, effectively ruling him out as the shooter.
When police later examined Cleary’s phone, they discovered Google searches for “Skem news now” made shortly after the call, along with visits to the Twitter account of local police around 20 minutes later.
The jury was told how on February 17, 2024, police recovered the Mercedes in Mossley Hill, fitted with false number plates and Morgan’s fingerprints were found on the plates and his DNA was discovered inside the vehicle.
Morgan was arrested in June 2024. A search of his properties and family home uncovered a charger and paperwork for a Sur Ron bike, along with the key to the Mercedes.
Arrests made
Morgan was arrested in June 2024 and his properties and family home was searched. Police found a charger and paperwork for a Sur Ron buke and the key for the Mercedes.
Earlier in the trial, the court heard how Scott had faced intimidation after seizing the phone. He confided in his father, Neil Scott, about a terrifying warning. Neil told the court: “Lenny had told him that Elias Morgan had said words to the effect of: ‘I’ll bide my time, but I promise I will get you’,” followed by a gun gesture.
Mr Leach said Scott appeared “visibly frightened” and had even warned his ex-partner Lucy Carnill, the mother of his child, about Morgan’s threats. He allegedly told her his home would be blown up with his family inside, and to make the threat more sinister, Morgan had named his children.