A 40-Year Secret Was Exposed When a Husband's Chilling Plot Came to Light — But One Dark Mystery Remains

Mar. 15, 2025

Carol and Allen Morgan.Photo:Bedfordshire Police

Bedfordshire Police

For more than four decades, the brutal murder of a 36-year-old mother of two has baffled authorities.

On Aug. 13, 1981, Carol Morgan was foundbludgeonedinside the Bedfordshire, England, shop she ran with her husband, Allen Morgan, according to a statement from the Crown Prosecution Service. Carol was initially believed to be the victim of a burglary gone wrong, theBBCreports, citing authorities.

According to theBBC, Allen told authorities he had taken Carol’s two children to a movie theater before he found his wife’s body in the storeroom of the shop.

The shop where Carol Morgan was murdered.Bedfordshire Police

In 2018, a police cold case team re-examined the unsolved murder. With crucial help from a witness, authorities soon learned Allen was closer to the case than they initially believed.

The witness, Jane Bunting, said that when she was a teenager, around the time of the killing, Allen had asked her if she knew anyone he could hire to kill his wife, per the statement. Allen was later taken into custody on allegations that he conspired to kill his wife and paid a hitman to carry out the murder.

Prosecutors argued at trial that Allen, who was having an extramarital affair at the time of Carol’s killing, would not only be free to start a new life with his lover if Carol died, but he would also benefit financially from her death, per the statement.

“[Mr Morgan would] say, ‘I hate Carol’, ‘I don’t want to be married to her’, ‘I wish she’d die’, ‘Wouldn’t an accident be nice?,’” Bunting said in court, per theBBC.

In July 2024, Allen, now 74, was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 22 years after being convicted of conspiracy to murder in Luton Crown Court.

However, despite Allen’s conviction, one piece of the puzzle remained missing. Who carried out the killing of Carol? That’s what authorities are still trying to figure out.

Justice Martin Spencer said at Allen’s sentencing that Allen himself is the only person who knows who killed Carol, calling him a “wicked person,” the BBC reports.

Allen Morgan.Bedfordshire Police

“That is the secret you have harboured for the last 40 years,” Spencer said, per the outlet. “The law has now caught up with you but the murderer remains at large, if indeed he is still alive.”

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Stott added, “No murder case is ever left undetected, and we will pursue any leads – no matter how seemingly small – to ensure that Carol’s killer is apprehended.”

Anyone with information on the case is asked to contact the Bedfordshire police’sMajor Incident Public Portal (MIPP).

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go tothehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

source: people.com