R -v- Vincent Morgan
Leeds Crown Court
4 December 2024
Before:
HHJ Kearl KC
Between:
R
-v-
Vincent Morgan
Sentencing remarks
Lisa Welford was aged 48 when she was killed by you, Vincent Morgan. She was a mother and a daughter and a sister. She had many friends and acquaintances in Malton, where she was well known. That is not to say that her life was untroubled, however, those who knew her speak of someone who was kind and gentle, caring, thoughtful and loved.
I have listened to the contents of the Personal Statements of Joy Oxley and Rita Welford describing the hurt and mental stress that has been caused to them, the loss that they have suffered having observed the damage that you did to her whilst she was alive and the affect that her death has had upon their family.
For some years, you were her partner, someone who ought to have cared for her and looked after her. However, over the past 2 decades you have shown yourself to be a person who is violent particularly when intoxicated with alcohol or illegal drugs. Your record of convictions indicates that you were prepared to use violence against others including the police and including your partners. You were violent towards Samantha Houfe on many occasions during your relationship with her, resulting in a conviction in 2007. The jury have convicted you of assaults upon Lisa Welford on two occasions during 2024 before you killed her. I am satisfied on the evidence that I have heard that you were regularly and frequently violent towards Lisa Welford over the course of the last few years and during your relationship with her. When in drink you are brutal and callous, unable to control your desire for violence towards your partners
At the time of her death you were the subject of a domestic violence protection order, intended to prevent you from seeing her as a result of your violent conduct towards her. This was the third such order granted by the Magistrates who was seeking to protect Lisa Welford from you. You ignored that order as you had many other court orders in the past.
Your record of convictions and disobedience to court orders aggravates your position when it comes to sentence. I will treat your convictions on counts 2 and 3 as an aggravating factor when setting the minimum term under schedule 21 of the Sentencing Act 2020.
You are now aged 45 years.
The facts are as follows.
On 24th April 2024 you spent the day in the company of Lisa Welford in breach of a domestic violence protection order. It is no mitigation to say that she had contacted you. That order was in place to protect Lisa Welford, someone who was plainly unable to protect herself, from you. That is precisely the point of the order in the first place – to protect someone who is unable to protect themselves.
You were no stranger to breaching DVPOs or indeed court orders.
It appears from the timeline that you and she spent the day together in York, consuming alcohol before getting the bus back to Malton arriving at about 8.30pm. Upon your return, the 2 of you walked to the riverside where you each consumed further alcohol.
Lisa Welford was last seen just before 9pm, moving along the path by the side of the river.
The 2 of you were then out of sight for about 2 ½ hours. Neither of you moved far from the point on the river identified as ‘Hide One’. Had you done so, you would have been picked up by the CCTV footage in the area. During that time, Lisa Welford sustained a fracture to her right femur. Such a fracture would require the use of very considerable force equivalent to that sustained during a vehicle collision.
I reject the notion that the fracture was caused accidentally during the course of a fall. Having heard the evidence, in particular of the pathologist, Dr Hoggard, and bearing in mind your character and violent tendencies towards Lisa Welford and others, I am sure that you inflicted that injury. You did not provide an explanation as to how it might have been caused, whether by a fall or otherwise. I accept the evidence of Dr Hoggard that if the fracture was caused by a fall, the knee would need to be locked in place in order to cause a fracture to the femur. Even then one might expect a spiral fracture as opposed to an oblique displaced fracture. Furthermore, it seems to me, again based upon the evidence of Dr Hoggard, that had Lisa Welford caught her foot in some vegetation and then tripped, this would have caused a sprain to the ankle and a fracture to the ankle or tibia or fibula as opposed to a fracture to the femur, a far stronger bone. This fracture was caused by blunt force trauma from you whilst the 2 of you were alone on the riverbank and during which she was vulnerable and highly intoxicated.
The last time that Lisa Welford was seen alive, was by Amy Simpson, shortly before 11:30 PM, as she walked home from her work along the towpath. It was almost pitch black and complete darkness.
She saw and recognised you and, upon discovering that you were drunk, offered to take you to Lisa’s home. You informed her that Lisa was by the riverbank. The danger was obvious to Amy Simpson but not to you. Lisa Welford was lying prone by the side of the river, with a broken leg. She was unable to move herself and Amy informed you that you needed to do so in order to protect her. You returned to the side of the river whilst Amy telephoned her ex partner you having asked her not to call the police.
At that point you will have been aware that Lisa Welford was injured and I am satisfied so that I am sure that you then placed her into the river and drowned her.
Although Robert Scaife arrived within a matter of 3 or 4 minutes, when he got to the side of the river he saw you holding the waist and legs of Lisa Welford causing her head to be underneath the water to a depth of approximately 1 foot. By this time she was dead and despite the efforts of Mr Scaife, the police and the paramedics, she could not be saved.
You were arrested.
Subsequently, you were interviewed by the police, you made no comment in answer to their questions and failed to give evidence at your trial.
I move to the sentencing process:
The sentence for murder is fixed by law. That means that there is only one sentence that I can pass namely a sentence of life imprisonment.
I must decide the minimum term that you must serve before you are first considered for release on licence.
In order to do so I have considered the seriousness of the offences and had regard to the general principles set out in schedule 21 of the Sentencing Act 2020 as amended.
Your case falls within paragraph 5 and accordingly I consider the appropriate starting point is one of 15 years.
I have gone on to consider any aggravating and mitigating factors.
In doing so I have taken the charge of murder as the lead offence. I have then taken into account the jury’s verdicts on counts 2 and 3 as an aggravating factor when setting the minimum term. Your offending in relation to counts 2 and 3 falls into culpability A as a result of the vulnerability of Lisa Welford and Harm B. This provides a starting point of 18 months imprisonment for each offence and a range of up to 2 ½ years.
Your position is aggravated by your record of other convictions for violence, including that for the use of violence upon Samanatha Houfe and also by your disregard of court orders, in particular the Domestic Violence Protection Orders.
Moreover I take account of the fact that your offending was committed in the context of domestic abuse. I have referred myself to the domestic abuse overarching guideline. There was an expectation of mutual trust and security since, whilst you may not have been living together at the time, you had been in a relationship with Lisa Welford for some considerable time. Against the better judgement of the Magistrates court, Lisa Welford trusted you. On this night, she was vulnerable, as an intoxicated, single, slight woman, alone with you. The domestic context of your offending feeds into the seriousness of this case.
I take account also of the fact that this attack took place after you had consumed a large amount of alcohol which was something which you knew, from previous experience with this very woman, would render you likely to inflict serious violence upon her.
I have considered the medical evidence and concluded that the fact that you held her under the water, unable to breathe, for a significant period of time, indicates to me that you intended to kill her. Whilst that is not an aggravating factor, you cannot receive the benefit of a mitigating factor that you did not intend to kill her.
I turn to the mitigating factors.
I accept that this was not a premeditated offence.
You too had struggled with your alcohol and drugs addiction.
Bearing in mind the aggravating and mitigating factors, I set the minimum term as one of 21 years imprisonment.
This will be reduced by the number of days that you have spent on remand in custody, namely, 220 days:
The minimum term to be served will therefore be 20 years 145 days.
It is important that everyone understands that that is not the end of your sentence. After you have served the minimum term the parole board will then decide whether you can leave custody at that stage, and if so on what terms.
If you are refused parole at that time, you will remain in custody, subject to regular reviews by the parole board.
If and when you are released, you will be on licence for the rest of your life. If you break the terms of your licence you will be liable to return to custody.
For the two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, category A2 offences, there will be a concurrent sentence of 2 ½ years imprisonment on each count. That sentence has already been taken into account in setting the minimum term for the offence of murder.
The Victim surcharge applies and will be calculated and collected administratively.
HHJ Kearl KC
Leeds Crown Court
4 December 2024