UK
Builder Mark Brown found guilty of murdering Leah Ware and Alexandra Morgan and incinerating their bodies
A builder who described himself as a “psychopath with a conscience” has been found guilty of murdering two women.
Mark Brown killed Leah Ware and Alexandra Morgan on a remote farm near St Leonards in East Sussex in May and November last year after meeting them through a sex work website, a jury at Hove Crown Court was told.
After murdering 34-year-old Ms Morgan, Brown put her head-first into a home-made incinerator before dumping her remains at a building site.
The body of 33-year-old Ms Ware has never been found, but the prosecution believe he used a similar technique to dispose of her remains – as well as killing her dog, a Pomeranian called Lady.
The jury of 10 men and two women took just over 10 hours to convict Brown of both murder charges on Thursday.
Brown stared blankly ahead as the verdict was read out to gasps from the public gallery, made up of several of Ms Ware’s and Ms Morgan’s family members.
Mark Brown
The 41-year-old was described as having a “double life” and showed no signs of being violent before committing his crimes.
But an inspection of his phone revealed he had a taste for violent pornography and secretly used a website to meet up to ten escorts for sex.
Via this website, Brown eventually met Ms Ware and Ms Morgan.
Police do not believe he attacked any of the other women.
Brown met Ms Ware in 2018 when he hired her as an escort after which they developed an “on again, off again” relationship.
Alexandra Morgan was last seen filling up her car at a petrol station
He killed her on or around 7 May last year after tensions grew when she pressed him to leave his partner of 14 years, the court heard.
In the six months between killing Ms Ware and Ms Morgan, Brown messaged a friend calling himself a “psychopath with a conscience”, as he seemingly confessed to his crimes.
He said: “I’m going to be very careful how I word this – it happened again, not very long ago when disposing of something.
Brown was said to have made a homemade incinerator out of an oil drum
“It’s a very unpleasant thing to do – an old oil drum, five litres of diesel, and hey presto, there’s not very much left.
“It gets hot, very hot, it glows almost white.
“The things I have done weigh heavily on my heart, on my head and my soul. A psychopath with a conscience – it’s a joke really.”
The jury found this message referred to Brown disposing of Ms Ware’s remains.
Brown hired Ms Morgan for sex around a dozen times before offering her an escorting job worth £100,000 in October 2021.
But when the following month she visited Little Bridge Farm, the site he rented, he killed her and burned her body in a homemade incinerator.
He then dumped her remains in a skip at a building site where he was working in Sevenoaks, Kent.
Brown claimed Ms Morgan died accidentally after hitting her head when she slipped in his workshop at the farm, and he burned her body “in a panic”.
He told the jury he and Ms Ware broke up in early 2021 and, as far as he knows, she is still alive.
Little Bridge Farm in East Sussex, where the murders took place
Judge Justice Nicholas Hilliard adjourned sentencing until 13 January, saying the case is of the “utmost gravity” and thanking the jury for committing to the case for so long.
Libby Clark, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Brown has never accepted his actions; he claimed Alex’s death was an accident and created a web of lies to cover up the truth about Leah’s murder.
“Our thoughts remain with the families of Alex Morgan and Leah Ware. We hope, now Brown has been convicted, he will finally tell us what happened to Leah’s body, so her family can have closure.”