Lenny Scott with his children. (Image: Liverpool Echo.)
A court has heard that a prison officer told his partner ‘I’ve made it worse… he runs the wing’ before he was tragically shot dead. Lenny Scott was targeted after he reported a threat made against him within the prison. The 33 year old father of three was shot six times by a gunman clad in a hi-vis jacket outside a gym.
Elias Morgan is currently on trial, accused of orchestrating the murder. Prosecutors allege that he executed the act as “act of retaliation” after Mr Scott revealed an illicit affair involving Morgan and a female officer at HMP Altcourse, according to court proceedings. Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, informed the jury that Mr Scott had declined a £1,500 bribe to withhold a phone containing evidence of the relationship.
Subsequently, Morgan allegedly threatened him: “I’ll bide my time, but I promise I will get you” accompanied by a gun gesture. As reported by Manchester Evening News, Lenny was murdered on Peel Road in Skelmersdale, near Wigan, on February 8, 2024, reports the Daily Record.
Anthony Cleary is accused of aiding Morgan in the “revenge plot” by “delivering the van and bike” to the killer. Both men plead not guilty to murder, with Cleary also refuting a second charge of manslaughter. Lucy Griffiths, Mr Scott’s ex-partner and mother to his twin sons, testified yesterday. She recounted to the court that he was “scared” following a threat received in March 2020 and had confided in her that an inmate, whose name she did not know, had mentioned “something about them doing something to the house”.
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Lenny Scott. (Image: Lancashire Police.)
She revealed that the prisoner had said “he was going to bide his time”. In a pre-recorded interview played in court, Ms Griffiths told the detective: “He said he was coming home. I remember being terrified. He said he didn’t want to scare me. He said ‘I feel like he has it in for me’. He mentioned something about a phone.
“He discovered something in the cell… I believe (the inmate) made a threat along the lines of I’m going to get you and I’ll bide my time. I recall him being frightened. I was asking questions, and he was responding, ‘Just leave it; I don’t want to discuss it’. I was absolutely panicking.”
Ms Griffiths stated that Mr Scott returned to work and the inmate was relocated.
However, she couldn’t recall whether it was a different prison or another wing. She added: “He felt slightly better but said ‘I’ve made it worse because he won’t appreciate that, he runs the wing’. I think things calmed down somewhat after that, but I know he detested it then. That really frightened him with the boys.”
Earlier, the court heard from Mr Scott’s mother Paula, who claimed that the threat altered her son’s perception of the Prison Service, according to The Echo. She stated: “He was second guessing things, he was making light of situations but it wasn’t funny. It changed things for him from then on. He said ‘you don’t understand what it’s like working there, you don’t comprehend how little they value my life’.
“He didn’t feel supported by it. Before then he felt like nothing could get to him but after he started thinking he had children. It just rattled him. However, he still got on with work and went everyday and tried his best.”
Mr Scott’s family revealed that he would disclose to them instances of “corruption” at the prison and particularly mentioned a “female officer called Sarah”.
Mrs Scott testified that her son faced suspension from his position as a prison officer following an altercation where he struck an inmate in an unrelated situation. She recalled him saying: “The last year I have had to deal with corrupt prison officers and they have now turned on me”.
Preston Crown Court. (Image: Getty Images)
He was eventually sacked because of this incident. Additionally, the court learnt that Mr Scott declined to testify in court “in relation to the threat and the corrupt prison officer” to avoid endangering his family. Mrs Scott noted: “He would have been a witness and done anything if he was still at the prison,” but felt unsupported after his termination.
Following the revelation of her son’s passing, Mrs Scott immediately associated his demise with the prison environment: she stated, “straight away that prison came to light”. She explained that while receiving threats was part and parcel of prison work, they were usually not serious, mentioning comments such as ‘I know where you park your car’, which he typically disregarded.
But for Mr Scott, these experiences became an accepted aspect of the job. “The minute after I found out about this, the first thing that came to my mind was that threat. There was nothing else that came close.” Mrs Scott recounted during the tragic period following her son’s demise. At the time of his passing, he was thriving in his role at Gousto and “was in the best place really”. She had previously informed the court of her son’s former career as an RAF firefighter.
Before his tenure with the Prison Service, he held various positions. His mother described him as a “homebody” with a “passion for animals”. Earlier in the week, Mr Leach opened the proceedings, revealing to Preston Crown Court that Mr Scott discovered the phone in Morgan’s cell on 26 March 2020. The court understood that owning the phone was illegal and “Morgan knew there was evidence on it”.
This evidence pointed to a clandestine sexual relationship between Morgan and a female prison officer. The prosecution suggested Morgan issued several threats towards Mr Scott, including one involving a car parked outside his family residence. John Davies, Mr Scott’s supervisor at the prison, expressed in a statement that “the way Lenny reacted is something I have never heard or seen before”.
Upon inspection, the iPhone “revealed Elias Morgan was engaged in a sexual relationship with another prison officer, Sarah Williams”, as heard by the court. Mr Leach further disclosed: “It was clear that she had provided Elias Morgan with details about other prisoners. The court heard Mr Scott gave a witness statement and Morgan was arrested and interviewed under caution.Morgan, who had been moved away from Mr Scott’s wing 10 days after the ” The court was also told that Mr Scott had given a witness statement, leading to Morgan’s arrest and subsequent interview under caution.
Morgan, who had been relocated from Mr Scott’s wing just 10 days after the alleged “threats”, was held in custody between July 2021 and October 2022. He was later charged in April 2023 with unauthorised possession of a mobile phone. Williams confessed to three counts of misconduct in public office and one count of computer misuse.
Altcourse Prision in Fazakerley (Image: Dave Shirwin/ Liverpool Echo)
Despite the charges, Morgan maintained his innocence, with his case postponed until February 19 – a mere 11 days after Mr Scott’s tragic demise. Mr Leach recounted: “On the 8th of February 2024, nearly four years on, Lenny Scott was leaving his gym at Peel House in Skelmersdale when he was confronted by a man donned in a high-visibility jacket and brandishing a handgun.
“The assailant shot him six times, targeting his head and body. Lenny Scott succumbed to his injuries. The shooter made his escape from the scene on an electric motorbike, which he swiftly loaded onto the back of a van parked nearby, before driving back towards Liverpool. The prosecution asserts that the murder was an act of retaliation.”
In a gripping opening statement, the prosecution painted Elias Morgan as the mastermind behind Lenny Scott’s murder, with Anthony Cleary playing a crucial role in the execution of the crime.
The prosecutor asserted: “The prosecution says that once you’ve heard the evidence, you will be sure that, at the very least, Elias Morgan orchestrated Lenny Scott’s murder, recruiting Anthony Cleary to assist him in doing so. That alone would make him guilty of murder on count one. Moreover, the prosecution say, when you’ve examined the fine detail of the evidence, you will be sure not only that Elias Morgan is guilty of murder by organising the killing of Lenny Scott, you will be sure that it was he who pulled the trigger himself.”
Detailing Cleary’s involvement, the prosecutor continued: “For his part, Anthony Cleary, the second defendant, played a supporting role. Acting on instructions, he delivered the van, containing the electric motorbike used by the gunman, to a housing estate close to the gym. Moreover, he knew that he was delivering the van and bike so that they could be used by a gunman who intended to kill Lenny Scott, or at least to cause him really serious harm.”
Mr Leach then told the jury: “The evidence you are about to hear, when examined in detail, reveals a powerful image, one in which Elias Morgan, driven by a desire for revenge and reliant on Anthony Cleary for his assistance, planned and executed the murder of Lenny Scott. Both men, the prosecution says, are guilty of his murder.”
The trial against Morgan, aged 35 from Highgate Street, Edge Hill, and Cleary, aged 29 from Smithdown Lane, is set to continue as both defendants plead not guilty to the charges laid before them.