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A man accused of killing a woman and burning her in an oil barrel has denied he told his boss he was “going down” for “double murder”, a court has heard.
Mark Brown is on trial for the alleged murders of Alexandra Morgan, 34, from Sissinghurst, and Leah Ware, 33, from Hastings, who he met through the same adult service website. He denies both charges.
Ms Morgan, a mum-of-two, was last seen at a petrol station in Cranbrook on Remembrance Day last year.
After a large-scale search her charred remains as well as cosmetics, hair straighteners and jewellery belonging to her, were later found inside an oil drum at a building site in Sevenoaks where Brown worked.
They also found the key to her Mini Cooper she drove to Little Bridge Farm wrapped in a cheese and onion McCoys crisp packet and dumped in a digger.
The trial at Hove Crown Court continued on Thursday with Brown, 41, concluding the evidence in his defence.
Prosecuting counsel Duncan Atkinson KC, cross-examined the defendant and asked him about his activities following Ms Morgan's death.
Brown went to work at a building site in Sevenoaks on November 24, 10 days after Ms Morgan died and the day after he was questioned by police in relation to her disappearance.
The court heard he had a conversation with his ex-boss, Alan Downs, warning him the police might come to arrest him.
Mr Atkinson said: “You said you were expecting to be arrested and you told Alan Downs, when he asked you what for, you told him ‘murder’ and said ‘double’.”
But Brown denied use of the second word, replying: “No. I said I’m going away for 25 to life. I don’t know where he got ‘double’ from, I said I would be arrested for one murder, I didn’t say double.”
He said that he was speaking under stress, adding: “The conversation was to let him know at any time I was going to be arrested.”
"I presumed police would find traces of blood in my workshop and I knew I was going to be arrested.”
Mr Atkinson said: “When asked ‘who have you killed’ the answer should have been ‘no-one’.”
Brown replied: “It should have been, yes, but that’s not what I thought was going to happen, I can’t prove I didn’t kill Alex and I didn’t think anyone would believe me. That’s why I did what I did.”
The prosecution say Brown killed Ms Morgan and burned her body in an incinerator in November 2021 – the same way he is alleged to have disposed of another sex worker, Ms Ware, six months prior, on or around May 7, 2021.
Continuing his line of questioning, Mr Atkinson asked: “What did you think they would find in the barn? Was it Leah or evidence of Leah you thought they might find?”
Brown replied: "No."
Mr Atkinson asked: "You had sought to get rid of both of them hadn’t you?
To which Brown again replied "No."
CCTV was again displayed to jurors showing Brown had bought six litres of diesel hours after Ms Morgan had died, and previously bought six litres of petrol the same day the prosecution say he killed Ms Ware on May 7.
Mr Atkinson said: “You had used fuel to burn Alexandra Morgan’s body in a barrel, and you used fuel to burn Leah Ware’s body in a barrel, didn’t you?”
Brown replied: “No.”
Mr Atkinson referred to a WhatsApp message Brown had sent to a friend in the weeks after Ms Ware’s disappearance, saying: “It was the killing of Leah Ware that weighed heavily on your heart, in your head and in your soul, wasn’t it? A psychopath with little conscience?
“There had been an unguarded moment in the middle of the night, talking to someone you thought you could trust, where you gave the game away, didn’t you?
“For whatever reason you had murdered Leah Ware and disposed of her body in a barrel, then six months later you did it again.”
Brown repeated “no” in response to each statement.
Earlier, Brown, claimed Ms Morgan slipped and fell on a socket in his workshop before hitting her head on an angle iron.
When CPR failed he searched for a pulse before he realised she was dead, he told the court.
Brown told the court he was not “thinking straight” and cleaned the blood up before wrapping up Ms Morgan’s body in a sleeping bag and later burning her in an incinerator he fashioned from an oil drum.
When quizzed on his reasons for discarding the body, he said: “I had a dead escort. How would that look?
Read more from this case:
Murder accused Mark Brown described himself as 'psychopath with a conscience'
Convicted drug dealer denies killing Leah Ware
Murder accused’s type was ‘drop dead girls with mental health issues’
Leah Ware’s phone off network when shut in shipping container, murder trial told
Murder-accused shacked up with missing Leah Ware inside derelict Bingo Hall
Mark Brown offered Alexandra Morgan 'web cam work'
Man accused of double murder said workshop 'looked like a murder scene'
Brown, of Squirrel Close, St Leonard’s on Sea, East Sussex, denies two counts of murder.
The trial continues.
