A former inmate has been found guilty of murdering a prison officer in a revenge killing, four years after saying “I promise I will get you.”
Elias Morgan, 35, planned and carried out the shooting of Lenny Scott, a former HMP Altcourse prison officer who had discovered Morgan’s illicit mobile phone hidden behind bars in his cell.
Scott was shot six times on 8 February 2024 in an “act of retaliation” after leaving a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, four years after the row with Morgan in March 2020 over the mobile phone, which exposed the inmate’s affair with a female prison guard.
Morgan offered Scott £1,500 to get rid of the phone and when that did not succeed, Preston crown court heard, he turned to threats, warning him: “I’ll bide my time but I promise I will get you.” Morgan also made a gun gesture with his fingers.
Four years later, he shot the father of three, who had since left the Prison Service, six times in his head and body before fleeing the scene on an electric bike.
Evidence presented by the prosecution showed that Morgan scouted out places he believed the victim could be in Merseyside, where they both lived, and in Lancashire as he planned the “cold-blooded” murder upon leaving prison after completing his sentence for drugs offences.
Morgan was due to stand trial for possessing the phone 11 days after the shooting.
In 2020, in the aftermath of the altercation over the phone, Scott had reported multiple threats from Morgan to the police.
Jurors were played a recording of a 101 call from the prison officer who said he was worried about his family when Morgan had described his home, his partner and his children “to a T”.
He told the operator: “He said he’s got lads everywhere, he’s described my vehicle and he’s described my house and what my girlfriend and twin boys look like.”
Scott said he had been threatened in the past but these threats were, as the operator suggested, “too close to home”.
Wendy Logan, the deputy head of the Crown Prosecution Service north west complex casework unit, said: “Lenny Scott was a devoted father who had bravely upheld his duty when working as a prison officer by reporting an illicit phone he found in Elias Morgan’s cell in 2020. He did so in the face of attempts at bribery and also threats and intimidation by Morgan, and his commitment to public service will not be forgotten.
“Morgan – driven by revenge and believing he was above the law – carried out a cold-blooded murder. We were determined to deliver justice and see Morgan brought to book for his evil crime, and our case set out in clear terms how he planned and carried out his callous act.
“Our thoughts remain with Lenny’s family – particularly his three young children – and all those who cared for him, as they deal with his loss.”
A second defendant, Anthony Cleary, was cleared of charges in relation to the murder.
Morgan will be sentenced on 2 September.
