Tears as jury shown CCTV of prison officer's killing

The family of a former prison officer shot dead in an "act of retaliation" wiped away tears in court as a video of the moment he was ambushed was played to a jury.

Lenny Scott, 33, was targeted outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on 8 February 2024 - four years after seizing a phone from the cell of then prisoner Elias Morgan at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool.

The phone contained evidence of a sexual relationship between Mr Morgan and prison officer Sarah Williams, and jurors heard the prisoner had made "serious" threats to Mr Scott after he refused £1,500 to "lose it".

Mr Morgan, 35, and his co-accused Anthony Cleary, 29, who is said to have helped arrange the shooting, both deny murder.

Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, continued opening the case at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday, telling the jury the evidence revealed 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," he said.

He played a CCTV clip showing Mr Scott emerging at 19:42 GMT from the gym, in an industrial estate on Peel Road, where he stood by his car chatting to another man.

The killer, wearing an orange high-visibility vest, could be seen walking up to the two men and pointing a handgun at Mr Scott, before six loud bangs rang out.

Mr Scott tried to run but collapsed just out of frame as other witnesses ran for cover and the gunman fled on an electric bike.

A woman in the public gallery wiped her eyes as the footage was played.

The jury heard before the shooting Mr Morgan had allegedly driven to the Darfield estate, a short distance away from the complex containing the gym, in a Mercedes GLC car previously insured in his mother's name.

Mr Leach said the car had arrived at 17:48, and a few minutes later CCTV showed a figure walking from Darfield to the nearby Daybrook estate.

The jury had heard there was a white Vauxhall Combo van, which had been dropped off on that estate about 40 minutes earlier on the back of a low-loader truck.

Mr Leach said in the back of that van was a black Sur Ron electric bike, and the prosecution case was that it had been taken to the area by Mr Cleary.

He said at 18:06 CCTV showed the bike doing a "dry run" to the gym and back to the estate using ginnels and alleyways.

Mr Leach said the man suspected to be Mr Morgan then walked back to the Mercedes and drove it to nearby Denholme street, from where he allegedly collected it a few days after the shooting.

At 18:45, the bike returned to the car park of the gym where the gunman waited for Mr Scott to finish his gym session.

Mr Leach said after killing Mr Scott, the gunman rode the bike back onto the Daybrook estate and loaded it into the van, which he then drove out of Skelmersdale.

The jury also heard the van was later found to have been registered to a cleaning company called EDM Cleaning Ltd, run by Mr Morgan's brother Ezra Morgan.

At 23:05 that evening, a WhatsApp call from a phone linked to Mr Morgan was made to Mr Cleary - who had been captured on CCTV in the Birmingham area at the time of the shooting, ruling him out as the gunman.

Mr Leach said when Mr Cleary's phone was analysed by police experts, they found Google searches had been made for "Skem news now" a few minutes after that call.

At 23:26, Mr Cleary also accessed a Tweet posted by an account called SkemPolice. It described how officers were investigating a reported "firearms discharge" in the Peel Road area.

Mr Leach said the Mercedes had eventually been recovered by police on 17 February 2024 on Ivydale Road in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, fitted with false number plates.

The jury heard Mr Morgan's finger prints had been on those number plates, and his DNA had been found inside the car.

After Mr Morgan was arrested in June 2024, searches were carried out at his family home in Highgate Street, Edge Hill and his flat in Irwell Chambers, Liverpool city centre.

Police found a charger and paperwork for a Sur Ron bike in the properties, and the key for the Mercedes in a communal area outside the flat.

Mr Cleary, of Smithdown Lane in Edge Hill, also denies an alternative count of manslaughter.

The trial continues.

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