Mark Brown, 41, of Squirrel Close in St Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex, is on trial for the murders of Alexandra Morgan, 34, and Leah Ware, 33, in 2013. He has entered a not guilty plea to both charges. Both women went missing in Hastings six months apart last year after working as escorts and being registered on an adult website. Brown, a father of one, was charged today at Hove Crown Court with murdering and torching both sex workers at a remote farm and buildings he rented near Hastings. Miss Morgan’s bone fragments and teeth were later discovered inside an old oil drum in a skip at a building site in Sevenoaks, Kent, where Brown had been working. Miss Ware was regularly padlocked inside the barn while living at the farm, according to the court. They also discovered an old oil drum at the farm that had been burned to dispose of something – though police have not been able to locate Miss Ware’s remains. Mr Justice Nicholas Hilliard swore in 12 jurors and two substitutes at Hove Crown Court today. Police have been unable to locate the remains of Leah Ware (pictured), 33, since she went missing on May 7, last year, but Brown has told various people that she was’sectioned,’ sent to a’mental hospital,’ or ‘killed herself.’ The couple met after he purchased her services on a sex work website and began dating. During his opening statement, prosecutor Duncan Atkinson KC laid out the Crown’s case. He read out a message allegedly sent by Brown to a friend in which he described himself as a “psychopath with a conscience” and hinted at the process he used to dispose of Miss Ware and Miss Morgan’s remains, according to the prosecution. ‘Now I’m going to be very careful how I word this – it happened again not long ago when disposing of something,’ said the message. ‘I try to laugh at these things, but it’s a difficult thing to do. An old oil drum, five litres of diesel, and there was nothing left. ‘But it gets hot, very hot, the oil drum glows almost white, you go through a lot of stages in a situation like that,’ says the author. ‘The things I’ve done weigh heavily on my heart, head, and soul,’ he added. It’s a joke, really, a psychopath with a conscience.’ Miss Morgan, a single mother of two from Sissinghurst, Kent, was reported missing by her mother in November 2021 after failing to return from a weekend away with a friend, as she had told her family. On November 14, she was last seen putting gas in her car at a garage in Cranbrook, Kent. Miss Morgan, Mr Atkinson told the court, was a sex worker who had arranged to meet Brown, a client, at a site he rented, Little Bridge Farm near Hastings, East Sussex. The keys to Miss Morgan’s car, a white Mini Cooper, were also discovered on the construction site. Brown has since admitted to disposing of Miss Morgan’s body ‘in a panic’ following what he claims was an accident at Little Bridge Farm. Miss Ware, a mother-of-three from Hastings, East Sussex, was last seen in the early hours of May 6, 2021, by a friend. The court was informed Miss Morgan was a sex worker who had set up a meeting with Brown, a client, at a location he had rented, Little Bridge Farm near Hastings. According to the court, Brown and Miss Ware developed a close relationship. Miss Ware, 33, of Hastings, was a mother of three who led a “chaotic” life. She lacked custody of her children and had a history of mental illness and substance abuse. According to the court, Brown and Miss Ware developed a close relationship and saw each other on a regular basis. He took out a lease on a flat and moved Miss Ware in, allegedly with rent paid directly to him from her benefits. By May 2019, she had moved to Little Bridge Farm, first in a static caravan and then in a converted shipping container inside a barn on the property, until she was killed on May 7, last year, according to the prosecution. In the months leading up to her disappearance, Miss Ware told friends and family that Brown had become more controlling of her actions and behaviours, and that he had sometimes locked her inside the shipping container. Mr Justice Nicholas Hilliard swore in 12 jurors and two substitutes at Hove Crown Court today. When a farrier arrived at Miss Ware’s farm to treat her horse, she informed him that she was a “voluntary prisoner.” ‘Mark locks me in,’ she told another friend, Tony Deeprose, and she described him as controlling to others. Brown, the jury was told, became increasingly interested in violent sex and bondage around this time. ‘It is a story of an increasingly controlling relationship in which Leah Ware was and was expected to be subservient, in which there were arguments and the use of restraints on Leah both physically and through the locking of doors,’ Mr Atkinson said. Against that backdrop, the question is whether the defendant would have allowed her to escape this servitude, and whether it is a coincidence that when she stopped being seen living at the farm, she was not seen living anywhere else.’ She expressed her dissatisfaction with her living situation and described her landlord as “creepy or weird.” He never saw her again after she drove him back to the caravan. ‘She had her demons,’ he said of his relationship with Miss Ware. She is now at peace. I’m not broken-hearted, but I’m a little bent. It’s too bad, sweetheart, but she’s at peace now.’ She will live on in my heart forever. She is now at peace.’ According to the court, she went missing on or around May 7, last year, and money continued to be withdrawn from her bank account. Brown also continued to pick up her doctor’s prescription for medication she used to treat her mental health. He also informed another person that Miss Ware had ‘died’ due to mental health issues. Duke was rehomed with Brown’s sister in the days following her death, according to the prosecution, but Lady has not been seen since. Alexandra Morgan’s car, a white Mini Cooper that she was last seen filling up with gas at a garage in Cranbrook, Kent, on November 14th. During a police search of Little Bridge Farm, however, the skeletal remains of a Pomeranian were discovered in a pond, at the end of a collar and lead tied to a weight. The prosecution claims that these are Lady’s skeletons. Brown insists she is still alive, despite telling friends in messages that she had been “sectioned,” “sent to a mental hospital,” or “killed herself” and was “at peace,” referring to her in the past tense. Brown registered with adultwork.com after her disappearance and began using sex workers for the first time in a long time. He told her he had an affair with Miss Ware and that she was his “soul mate” and “love of his life.” He told Miss Howard, a former schoolfriend, about burning things in an oil drum on over 700 Whatsapp pages. ‘It’s 4 a.m., so I won’t send this,’ he added. I adore you far too much. I’ve done monstrous things, but I couldn’t hurt you.’ The trial is still ongoing.
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