4 days ago
Dad left chilling note for kids to find after strangling their mum in next room
The family of Kelly Morgan, who was strangled to death by her husband George just hours after the couple watched their children in a school assembly, have opened up to Killer Britain with Demot Murgnahan about a murder which shook Britain
It was a regular morning for Kelly Worgan and her husband George, who had been sitting with other parents in a school assembly. No one could have imagined that just hours later, she would be dead, strangled to death by the man who had been sitting next to her as they watched one of their children perform.
Teachers only began to suspect something was wrong after they failed to pick up their kids from school later that day, and didn't answer their phones. At 4.43pm the school called the police, who managed to get a key from their landlord to gain access to their house.
As soon as they opened the door, they saw a chilling note left in the middle of the stairs: 'Please don't let the little ones go into the front room.' The note continued: 'No more suffering. I'm sorry, got pushed too far this time. Daddy loves you.'
In the living room, detectives found Kelly slumped on the floor with the back of her head resting on the armchair, and ligature marks clearly visible on her neck. She had been strangled to death.
The horrifying murder in Avonmouth, just outside Bristol, in November 2018 is being retold in Sunday's episode of hit true crime series Killer Britain with Dermot Murnaghan on the Crime+Investigation channel. Detectives knew prime suspect George Morgan had to be caught quickly - but unbeknownst to them, police 300 miles away in Cumbria were already pursuing him, thinking his only crime was petrol theft and dangerous driving.
A BMW was driving dangerously on the northbound carriageway of the M6 after reportedly failing to pay for petrol. The driver had failed to pull over when a police vehicle approached.
Officers got ahead of him and deployed a stinger, puncturing his tyres. When police arrested him and put his name in the national computer, they discovered he was wanted for murder.
Speaking to the programme, Kelly's dad Paul, who is partially-sighted, remembers the moment he found out their son-in-law was suspected of strangling their daughter. 'After that telephone call, my wife was very upset and went upstairs crying, and my legs collapsed, and I fell on the floor crying like a baby. My guide dog came in and cuddled me. That's how bad it hit us. I'll always remember that,' he said.
Kelly's parents were given full custody of her two children. 'The landlord phoned us up to make arrangements for us to go down to get some of the children's belongings,' he remembers. 'What can you do? You're actually where your daughter took her last breath. I just sat there and cried.'
Charged with Kelly's murder, as well as dangerous driving, Worgan maintained his innocence, claiming he hadn't killed her and that he couldn't remember what had happened on that day. But as the investigation progressed, it became clear that behind the facade of a happy family, Kelly had been trapped in a violent and controlling relationship.
Kelly had met George in 2011 when he got a job as a bus driver in the Bristol company where she worked. Eight months into the relationship, he asked her father for his daughter's hand in marriage.
The family were delighted, but soon began to notice some worrying red flags. Kelly's sister Hannah remembers: 'They seemed to get on fine like a happy couple. But it was weird. She's very motherly, independent, her own person. But with George she was a completely different sister."
Within two years, Kelly was expecting their second child. Hannah remembers: 'When he was at our place, it was like a show, he would be more involved with the children, changing their nappies and playing with them, or feeding them their bottles. But when it was at his own place, it was like Kelly was doing everything, the cooking, cleaning, looking after the new-born children. When she got to our place it felt like she was just tired all the time.'
Dad Paul recalls: 'When George went to work on the buses, Kelly used to be alone in the flat, so we used to invite her up so she wouldn't be on her own. But Kelly always made up excuses.'
She also discouraged her family from visiting her. Sister Hannah says: 'My mum was like, 'Why don't you go down keep your sister company?'. And when I tried to ask you she was like, 'Oh I'll have to ask George'. And I'm like, But I'm asking you, you're my sister, and I'm not asking him when thats nothing to do with him. It was a bit weird. It got to a point where it felt uncomfortable for me, like I was invading their privacy.'
Tragically, only after her death would they find out the truth, after Kelly's medical records revealed she had suffered a series of injuries during this period, one of which resulted in a trip to A&E. A port-mortem also revealed old bruises on her body, while during an interview prior to trial the Worgans' children told how they had previously seen their father strangling their mother.
Worgan unexpectedly changed his plea to guilty at his trial in May 2019. He was sentenced to life in prison.
In their victim impact statement, Kelly's dad, Paul, and mum, Glynnis, described the effect on their grandchildren. 'Two days after the children came to stay with us and they have remained with us ever since. We had to tell them their mummy had died.
'Now neither of the children want to sleep in their own bed and and ask to go to her grave so they can talk to her. The biggest question we have is why? We trusted him and treated him as a son and as a part of our family. We now struggle with the concept of who we can trust."
Speaking to the programme, Paul says he still feels like he's living 'in a nightmare, and it's not going to end. I feel l made the biggest mistake ever. I feel I handed my daughter over to a murderer.'
