Elias Morgan and Anthony Cleary have gone on trial accused of the murder of 33-year-old former prison officer Lenny Scott, who was shot dead outside a gym in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire
A former prison guard was shot dead in “an act of retaliation” after exposing a relationship between a convict and a female officer, a court has heard.
Lenny Scott, 33, was fatally injured when he was shot outside a gym in Skelmersdale, West Lancashire on February 8 last year by a gunman waring a hi-vis jacket. Elias Morgan and Anthony Cleary, have gone on trial at Preston Crown Court accused of the murder of Mr Scott. Opening the case in front of 13 jurors made up of nine men and four women, Alex Leach KC told the court that Mr Scott was working as a prison officer at HMP Altcourse when he searched Morgan’s cell and found the phone on March 26, 2020.
The court heard that in addition to the possession of the phone being a criminal offence, Morgan “knew there was evidence on it which would lead to the discovery of a sexual relationship between him and a female prison officer”.
Mr Leach told the jury that Morgan asked Mr Scott to “balls up the paperwork”, and even offered him £1,500 not to report it. But the prison officer submitted the paperwork, and afterwards Elias Morgan allegedly told Lenny Scott that “he would get him, he said he would bide his time, but that he would get him”.
Moving on to the events of the day Lenny was shot, the prosecution said: “On the 8th February 2024, almost four years later, Lenny Scott was coming out of his gym at Peel House in Skelmersdale when he was approached by a man wearing a high-visibility jacket and carrying a handgun.
“The man shot him, six times, to the head and body. Lenny Scott died of his injuries. The man travelled to and escaped from the scene on an electric motorbike, which he loaded onto the back of a van, a short distance away, before driving back towards Liverpool. The murder was, the prosecution says, an act of retaliation.
“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.
“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.”
The court heard that Mr Scott was threatened in the days after he found the phone, and at one stage called the police and told a call handler “I’m in fear for my family’s life”.
The jury heard he also reported the “threats” to the Prison Service, alleging that Morgan had asked him “how much to get that nicking squashed and lose the phone?” and that his family would be hurt if he did not “drop the nicking”. The iPhone was examined and “revealed Elias Morgan was engaged in a sexual relationship with another prison officer, Sarah Williams”, the court heard.
Mr Leach added: “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 was remanded back into custody between July 2021 and October 2022, and in April 2023 was charged with unauthorised possession of the mobile phone Mr Scott had seized.
Williams admitted three offences of misconduct in a public office and a computer misuse offence. Morgan pleaded not guilty, and his case was adjourned until February 19, a whole 11 days after Mr Scott was killed. The court heard Mr Scott was dismissed from the Prison Service in April 2021 after he punched a prisoner in the face in an unrelated incident.
The court heard Morgan and Cleary were pictured together at Glastonbury Festival in June 2023. Later the same year, phones used by the two men were both using cell sites in southern Spain, the jury heard. Morgan flew back to Europe on December 23 of that year, before he returned back to the UK on January 3 2024.
Mr Leach said the prosecution’s case was on that day Morgan used as a “day of reconnaissance”, with either his car or phone flagging on systems at three locations linked to Mr Scott – the Mecca Gym in Speke, Mr Scott’s home address in Prescot and a gym at Peel House in Skelmersdale, outside where he was shot dead in February 2024. Mr Leach said: “The prosecution say that the combination of locations that Elias Morgan and his associates visited that day is telling. Taken alone, each of those locations had an obvious connection to Lenny Scott.
“However, taken in combination, Elias Morgan’s visit to Lenny Scott’s former gym, to the area of Lenny Scott’s home and then to the location of Lenny Scott’s current gym – the location at which we now know he was to be shot, provides a clear picture, the prosecution say, of Elias Morgan using the third of January as a day of reconnaissance, a day of planning, for the murder that was to follow.”
Morgan and Cleary both deny murder. Cleary also denies a second count of manslaughter. The trial before Mr Justice Goose continues.