The stepchild of a man accused of arranging the murder of his wife says it was a “real shock” when he was arrested.

Dean Morgan said his step-father Allen Morgan was a “good stepdad” but “could be blunt” and “said things how he sees them”.

Morgan, now 73, is accused alongside his wife Margaret, who at the time was his mistress, of arranging the brutal killing of Carol Morgan. They deny the charges.

Giving evidence today at Luton Crown Court, Dean, who was 14 at the time of the killing, said: “He told me it was all a mix-up and I told him I had no idea about what happened.

“The argument became heated and he put the phone down on me. We have not spoken since.

“My memories of Allen were of him being a good stepdad. He ran a football team in Swindon which I played for.

“Allen cared about Jane [Dean’s sister] and me. We always called him dad.

“Allen could be a bit blunt. He said things how he sees them.”

MOST READ:

​To have access to all of our best stories subscribe to The Argus here

A jury heard how Allen Morgan, who now lives in Woodingdean, was at the cinema with Jane and Dean when Carol Morgan was fatally attacked with a machete in the couple’s corner shop.

The court also heard that Dean found their family dog whimpering in the corner of their flat when they returned shortly after 10pm on August 13, 1981.

Dean and sister Jane, who was 12, were taken by Allen to the cinema. Dean had said his mum was serving a customer and said: “Cheerio” when they left.

In his witness statement Dean said they went to the Odeon in Dunstable Road, Luton, where they paid £4 to go to Screen 3 to see Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger and The Super Snooper, which was about a policeman with special powers.

Speaking via a video link, Dean said: “I remember seeing the Sinbad film. I don’t remember seeing the other film.”

The three left the cinema at about ten past ten, arriving home between half past ten and a quarter to eleven.

The prosecutor read the statement Dean made to a woman police officer the day after the killing. He said: “Dad told me to go upstairs and make a cup of coffee.

"He didn’t call out for mum.

“Jane went through the hall to get the keys to put her bicycle away in the shed in the rear garden.

“As I went into kitchen I heard our dog Simon whimpering in Jane’s bedroom.

“The door was closed and he couldn’t get out. Simon usually has the run of the flat and shop. I let Simon out. I made dad a cup of coffee.”

He said he heard his dad on the phone downstairs. He said his dad came back upstairs where he rang a friend to come and collect him and Jane.

A few months after the killing, before Christmas 1981, Allen’s lover Margaret Spooner left her husband and two sons and moved in with him and his two step-children.

Prosecutor Pavlov Panayi KC earlier told the jury Allen and Margaret had been in a year-long “passionate, but forbidden and adulterous love affair” and hatched a plan to murder Carol.

He said: “The murder of Carol Morgan was no random attack. It was planned and paid for by the two defendants in the dock.”

They are alleged to have paid a hitman, who has never been caught. An axe or machete was used to hack into Carol’s body and skull before the killer escaped with £435 cash, along with 1,400 cigarettes.

Allen Morgan, 73, who walks with a stick, and his second wife Margaret Morgan, now 75, of Stanstead Crescent, Woodingdean, Brighton, deny conspiracy to murder.

Margaret worked in Brighton as a teacher while Allen worked as a caretaker at a block of flats.

The prosecutor said that at the time of the killing, Allen Morgan, who had married Carol in 1977, had been having a year-long affair with married Margaret Spooner, as she was then known.

Mr Panayi said: “The two defendants wanted to be together, but could not be together while Allen remained married to Carol Morgan. He could not divorce his wife.”

He said Carol had brought money into the marriage from her divorce, but they had spiralling debts and a divorce was financially out of the question.

It was alleged that Margaret thought Allen would not be able to support them, but that the problem would be solved by the death of Carol.

The trial continues.