Latest news with #AnthonyCleary
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Lenny Scott: Friend of alleged prison officer killer 'felt used'
A man accused of helping to murder a former prison officer wiped away tears in court as he claimed his friend of 15 years "confessed" to the shooting in a phone Scott, 33, was shot six times outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, at 19:35 GMT on 8 February 2024. Anthony Cleary, 29, admits dropping off a van containing an electric bike near the scene, but denied knowing his friend, 35-year-old Elias Morgan, would use them as "attack and getaway" vehicles in the shooting - which Mr Morgan denies any involvement in. Mr Cleary told Preston Crown Court the first he knew of the shooting was when Mr Morgan told him "I've done someone". HGV driver Mr Cleary, who denies murder and an alternative count of manslaughter, told the jury he had known Mr Morgan since he was around 13 years old. He said Mr Morgan called him on the afternoon of 7 February 2024 and offered him £150 to move a van to an address in Skelmersdale, a short distance from the gym on Peel Road, using a low-loader truck. He claimed he did not ask Mr Morgan why he needed the van moving and had no idea it was related to any criminal plan - despite accepting he knew Mr Morgan "did not have a nine-to-five" job and that he was a criminal capable of Cleary said the following night, at 23:05 GMT, he got a call from Mr Morgan on WhatsApp. Under questioning from his barrister, Tim Forte KC, Mr Cleary said: "He [Morgan] rang me to say he had done someone in Skem and I needed to get rid of me phone."He said he asked Mr Morgan whether it had anything to do with the van he left there the previous evening, and was told it Forte asked if he believed Mr Morgan at the time, and Mr Cleary said: "He's a bit of a joker, he's always messing around. "But he didn't sound like he was messing around."He said his fears were confirmed when he searched online and found news reports about a shooting in Skelmersdale. Asked how he felt towards his then close friend, Mr Cleary said: "I was fuming. "I don't know the word, like used."He accepted that he had remained in regular contact with Mr Morgan, telling the jury: "If I changed how I acted towards him, he would have changed how he acted towards me."It could have turned into some sort of violence."He told the jury the situation made him feel "trapped". In cross-examination Mr Morgan's barrister, Caroline Goodwin KC, suggested Mr Cleary was "simply gutless" and was attempting to "get yourself out of trouble" by blaming her client. She pointed out that minutes after a supposedly life-changing phone call which implicated him in a murder, Mr Cleary was exchanging Facebook messages with a woman about the purchase of a car. Mr Cleary said he "was not thinking straight" at the time and had simply been dealing with "another problem that I had". Ms Goodwin also highlighted that despite Mr Cleary allegedly being told to "get rid of his phone", he not only carried on using it but that Mr Morgan continued to contact him on that number. She said: "I'm going to suggest if there was a confession and you put two and two together and he said ditch your phone, you would have done. "But you didn't, did you?"Mr Cleary replied: "No."He was also cross-examined by Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, who questioned him about a screengrab of a Google map image he sent to Mr Morgan on the evening of 7 February. He said the map showed the gym on Peel Road, and not the estate where he had left the van. Mr Leach said: "It showed the location where just over 24 hours later, Mr Scott was shot."Mr Cleary said he could not recall why the map was sent. Mr Leach suggested one explanation was it was "just bad luck" that he sent a map of the murder scene to Mr Morgan, who would be accused of the shooting, having driven a van used by the gunman to the murder scene. Mr Cleary denied the alternative, which Mr Leach suggested was that he "knew exactly" what Mr Morgan was planning. The prosecution has alleged Mr Scott's murder was an "act of retaliation" four years after he seized a phone from the prison cell of Mr Morgan at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool. The jury heard data on the phone revealed Mr Morgan was in a sexual relationship with a female prison officer at Altcourse called Sarah Williams, who was later jailed. At the time Mr Scott reported to police and to prison authorities that he had been threatened by Mr Morgan, who the jury heard told the prison officer "I will get you" while making a gun sign. The trial continues. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
The Sun
03-07-2025
- The Sun
Chilling moment gunman in high-vis jacket shoots dead dad-of-3 outside gym ‘in revenge for exposing illicit jail affair'
THIS is the chilling moment a gunman wearing a high-vis jacket shoots dead a dad-of-three. A jury was shown CCTV footage revealing Lenny Scott's last moments before he was killed outside a Lancashire gym on February 8 last year. 8 8 8 The haunting clip shows the 33-year-old leaving the building, in Skelmersdale, at around 7.30pm. He walks out with four others, who make their way to a car parked outside. Ex-prison guard Lenny stays behind for a few moments chatting to his pal, as a man wearing a high-vis jacket advances in the back ground. The attacker briefly hangs back behind a car before approaching Lenny and calmly raising his gun. As the CCTV cuts off, six shots can be heard, and the gunman flees on an electric bike to a getaway van nearby. Prosecutors allege Elias Morgan, 35, of Edge Hill in Liverpool, was the shooter. They also argue Anthony Cleary, 29, was the getaway driver inside the white Vauxhall Combo - previously registered to a cleaning company run by Morgan's brother Ezra Morgan. The pair are both on trial for murder, which the prosecution argue was fuelled by revenge after Lenny exposed his affair with a female prison guard. Lenny had confiscated a phone which contained evidence of the lag's relationship with prison officer Sarah Williams. Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, told the jury evidence "presented a powerful image". "One in which Elias Morgan, driven by a desire for revenge and reliant on Anthony Cleary for his assistance, planned and executed the murder of Lenny Scott," he said. The court heard how before the horror, Mr Morgan had allegedly driven to Darfield estate, a site not too far from the murder scene. 8 8 8 He travelled there in a Mercedes GLC car which had previously been insured in his mother's name, the court heard. Mr Leach told the jury the car arrived at 5.48pm. CCTV revealed a figure walking from Darfield to nearby Daybrook estate, where the van had been parked about 40 minutes earlier. The jury heard at 6.06pm, footage showed the bike doing a "dry run" to the gym and back to the estate. The gunman returned to the car park at 6.48pm, where he waited for Lenny to exit the gym. The trial continues. 8
BBC News
03-07-2025
- BBC News
Jury shown CCTV of gunman shooting dead ex-prison officer
A jury has seen CCTV footage of the last moments of former prison officer Lenny Scott before he was shot six times. The 33-year-old was killed outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on 8 February allege the murder was motivated by revenge because, four years earlier, Mr Scott seized a HMP Liverpool prisoner's phone which contained evidence of the inmate's sexual relationship with a female guard. CCTV of the ambush was played at Preston Crown Court earlier where the former prisoner, Elias Morgan, 35, of Edge Hill in Liverpool, is on trial accused of being the gunman. The killer, wearing an orange high-visibility jacket, waited in the car park of the gym in Peel Road for 53 minutes before Mr Scott emerged at 19:34 footage showed the gunman walk towards Mr Scott, who was standing by his car chatting to another Scott was shot in the head and body before the gunman fled on an electric bike to a getaway van parked on a nearby estate. The prosecution claim the van, a white Vauxhall Combo, had been parked there with the electic bike in the back, by 29-year-old Anthony Cleary who is also on trial and denies murder. The jury has been told the van was also previously registered to a cleaning company, EDM Cleaning Ltd, run by Morgan's brother Ezra Morgan. Alex Leach KC, prosecuting, had earlier told the jury the evidence they would hear "presented a powerful image"."One in which Elias Morgan, driven by a desire for revenge and reliant on Anthony Cleary for his assistance, planned and executed the murder of Lenny Scott," he jury heard before the shooting Mr Morgan had allegedly driven to the Darfield estate, a short distance away from the complex containing the gym, in a Mercedes GLC car previously insured in his mother's Leach said the car had arrived at 17:48, and a few minutes later CCTV showed a figure walking from Darfield to the nearby Daybrook estate, where the van had been parked about 40 minutes earlier. The jury heard at 18:06 CCTV showed the bike doing a "dry run" to the gym and back to the estate. The gunman returned to the car-park at 18:48, where he waited until Mr Scott emerged from the building. The trial continues. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
Yahoo
02-07-2025
- Yahoo
Men accused of murder plot pictured at Glastonbury
Two men accused of murdering a prison officer in a "revenge plot" were pictured together at Glastonbury festival, a court has heard. Lenny Scott, 33, was shot six times with a handgun in the car park of a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on 8 February 2024. Elias Morgan, 35, and co-defendant Anthony Cleary, 29, who are both from the Edge Hill area of Liverpool, have denied Mr Scott's murder, while Mr Cleary also denies an alternative count of manslaughter. The prosecution allege his murder was an "act of retaliation" after Mr Scott seized a mobile phone from Mr Morgan's cell at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool in March 2020. Jurors at Preston Crown Court have heard a gunman, wearing a high-visibility jacket, approached Mr Scott outside the gym on Peel Road and shot him once in the head and five times in the body. The prosecution claim Mr Morgan, of Highgate Street, was the gunman and that he was supported by co-accused Mr Cleary, of Smithdown Lane, who allegedly left a van and electric bike for Mr Morgan near the scene. The jury has heard during the police investigation, officers found a number of pieces of evidence which shows the connection between the two men. One was a photograph recovered from Mr Cleary's mobile phone of the pair together at the Glastonbury festival together in June 2023. The photograph showed the pair among throngs of festivalgoers, Mr Morgan pictured with his arm around Mr Cleary. Later that year, on the 11 December, mobile phones used by Mr Morgan and Mr Cleary were using cell sites in southern Spain, the court heard. Also recorded in Spain on the same day was a Mercedes vehicle which was used by Mr Morgan, the court heard. The vehicle was driven back through Europe and into the UK, arriving back on 13 December by Mr Cleary, the court has heard. Mr Morgan flew back to the UK, taking a flight first to Ireland and then on into the UK, jurors were told. The trial continues. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230. HM Courts & Tribunal Service Murder-accused 'described prison officer's family' Tears as jury shown CCTV of prison officer's killing Prison officer shot in 'revenge plot', jury told
BBC News
02-07-2025
- BBC News
Lenny Scott: Men accused of prison officer's murder pictured at Glastonbury
Two men accused of murdering a prison officer in a "revenge plot" were pictured together at Glastonbury festival, a court has Scott, 33, was shot six times with a handgun in the car park of a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on 8 February Morgan, 35, and co-defendant Anthony Cleary, 29, who are both from the Edge Hill area of Liverpool, have denied Mr Scott's murder, while Mr Cleary also denies an alternative count of prosecution allege his murder was an "act of retaliation" after Mr Scott seized a mobile phone from Mr Morgan's cell at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool in March 2020. Jurors at Preston Crown Court have heard a gunman, wearing a high-visibility jacket, approached Mr Scott outside the gym on Peel Road and shot him once in the head and five times in the body. The prosecution claim Mr Morgan, of Highgate Street, was the gunman and that he was supported by co-accused Mr Cleary, of Smithdown Lane, who allegedly left a van and electric bike for Mr Morgan near the jury has heard during the police investigation, officers found a number of pieces of evidence which shows the connection between the two men. One was a photograph recovered from Mr Cleary's mobile phone of the pair together at the Glastonbury festival together in June photograph showed the pair among throngs of festivalgoers, Mr Morgan pictured with his arm around Mr that year, on the 11 December, mobile phones used by Mr Morgan and Mr Cleary were using cell sites in southern Spain, the court heard. Also recorded in Spain on the same day was a Mercedes vehicle which was used by Mr Morgan, the court vehicle was driven back through Europe and into the UK, arriving back on 13 December by Mr Cleary, the court has Morgan flew back to the UK, taking a flight first to Ireland and then on into the UK, jurors were trial continues. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230.
