Ex-prisoner found guilty of murdering guard who exposed affair with female officer

A former inmate at a Liverpool jail has been found guilty of murdering an ex-prison officer after he exposed an affair between the convict and a female guard.

Elias Morgan shot father-of-three Lenny Scott six times at close range outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, in February 2024.

The 33-year-old later died in hospital.

Anthony Cleary, 29, a friend of Morgan's who had been accused of helping to plan the shooting, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter at Preston Crown Court today.

The revenge killing took place four years after Scott, who was working as a prison officer at HMP Altcourse at the time, had revealed an affair between Morgan, a convict in the jail, and a female prison guard, the jury was told.

Scott had found a phone in Morgan's cell, which revealed details of the relationship.

Morgan, 35, initially tried to bribe Scott to not report the affair, and later began threatening the prison officer when he refused, a jury was told.

A recording of a 101 call made by Scott just days after he found the phone in 2020 reveals he was scared for the safety of his family after the threats.

In the recording, Scott says: "Hi, I'm an officer at HMP Altcourse, I've just been informed that there's been a car sat outside my house all weekend, by a prisoner."

After the operator asked Scott who was threatening him, he replied: "Elias Morgan, he's described my family and me to a tee. Described my house... Just in fear for my family's life, that's all."

CCTV footage has captured the moment Scott was gunned down four years later, while Morgan was on bail for having the phone in his cell.

Morgan, from Edge Hill in Liverpool, handed himself in at a police station two weeks after the shooting.

He was found guilty of murder on Friday after a trial which began on 24 June.

Scott wanted to 'make a difference'

Detectives said shortly after the shooting that the suspect fled the scene on a bike, possibly an e-bike or scrambler bike, and was thought to have been wearing black clothes and an orange high-vis jacket.

Scott's father, Neil, and his mother, Paula, spoke ahead of the verdict.

Paul said: "While he was a prison officer, he wasn't worried about what they were in prison for, he was doing a job and he wanted to make a difference.

"I think that he most probably felt that he was making that difference.

"Once he got those threats, it brought it back into real life for him - that actually this could affect his family and did affect his family."

Detective Chief Inspector Lee Wilson from Lancashire Police said: "To kill a man, to take a man's life - a man who clearly had the utmost standards of integrity.

"(Scott was) doing his job, simply doing his job to keep people safe in the community.

"To wait that length of time and then act upon that and take Lenny's life in that cold, calculating and callous way, discharging a firearm regardless of who else was around at the time, beggars belief actually."

Morgan is due to be sentenced on Tuesday.

(c) Sky News 2025: Ex-prisoner found guilty of murdering guard who exposed affair with female officer