At least 49 years in prison were given to the psychopath who ki*lled two sex workers brutally and then burned their bodies in an oil drum.
The 41-year-old former builder Mark Brown was given his sentence today at Hove Crown Court for ki*lling Leah Ware, 33, and Alexandra Morgan, 34, in Sussex in 2021.
Their bodies were burned on a farm in the middle of nowhere near St. Leonards after the father of three met them on adultwork.com.
The two women went missing at Little Bridge Farm in Hastings six months apart. Later, Miss Morgan’s body parts were found on a construction site where Brown had worked. Miss Ware’s body parts, on the other hand, have never been found.
He told a friend that he was a “psychopath with a conscience,” but he denied k*illing them, saying that Miss Morgan, a mother of two, had fallen in his workshop and hit her head.
He also said that Miss Ware, a mother of three, had joined a traveling group and was still alive.
He was tried for seven weeks and found guilty of both mur*ders at Hove Crown Court in December of last year. He refused to go to court today for his sentencing and stayed in his cell instead.
Nicholas Hilliard, the judge, said that he had thought about a full life tariff but decided that it did not meet the standards that were needed.
But he was given 49 years for each count of mur*der, less the 380 days he had already spent in jail. Both sentences will be carried out at the same time.
The families of the two victims let out gasps and shouts of “Yes” before they started to applaud.
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Kimber of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said, “Brown is a dangerous person who poses a major threat to women.” He caught Leah and Alex in weak spots and worked to earn their trust so he could use it against them.
It was very important that his sentence fit the horrible crimes he committed and keep him from hurting other women for the rest of his life.
Detective Superintendent Andy Wolstenholme of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team said, “We hope that Mark Brown’s conviction and sentence will give the families of Alex and Leah a sense of justice and help them come to terms with the tragic loss of their loved ones.”
We are still committed to following all reasonable leads that may help us find Leah’s body and give her family the answers they so desperately need and deserve, even though the court case is over.
The court had already heard that Brown took two mothers away from their families and children in the most “devastating” way.
Rebecca Martin, Miss Ware’s mother, said in a tearful statement that no child should have their mother taken away in such a cruel way.
She said that Leah had three kids. No child should have to learn about the horrible things their mother has been through. Everything she did was kind, smart, and loving toward everyone she met.
She will leave her kids with a huge hole in their lives. Suddenly, both my mind and body hurt when I realize I won’t see her again. The suffering is too much to bear.
Mrs. Martin said that Brown’s refusal to tell them what he did with her body was “sadistic torture.” The family still doesn’t have a funeral or a place to visit her.
Zara Ware, her sister, said, “Losing my sister has been the hardest and most heartbreaking thing I can imagine.” Someone who is sick and lonely took advantage of my sister’s loneliness and abused her.
There will never be another chance for her to see her kids. How do you tell kids between the ages of 6 and 12 that they will never see their mother again?
I got one last message from Leah that said, “I will always be your big sister, be there for you, and protect you.”
“Mark Brown has selfishly separated two mothers from their children,” her cousin Gabby Barnard said.
“He has prevented us from giving them a proper burial, so we have no place to honour their memory.” He took Leah away, but he can’t change the way we remember her.
Miss Morgan’s parents, Jackie and Michael Morgan, were said to be “devastated” by the mur*der of their daughter.
In letters to Judge Hilliard, they talked about how smart their daughter was and how her main goal in life was to take care of her two young sons.
Atkinson KC, the prosecutor, read their statement: “She was a smart, active young woman who worked hard and was determined to succeed.”
She had run into problems, but she was getting past them. It was her time to think about what would happen with her two kids.
Brown was married and had three sons. He lived in St. Leonards-on-Sea and was deeply in love with Lisa Clarke, his 44-year-old partner.
He rented a barn and a group of outbuildings at Little Bridge Farm on the edge of Hastings to work on cars.
But Brown also used the farm buildings for regular sex dates with escorts he met online.
He got in touch with Miss Ware through adultwork.com in 2018 and paid her for sexual services.
There was no custody of Miss Ware’s three children. She was 33 years old and from Hastings. She had a history of severe mental illness and drug abuse.
By May 2019, Miss Ware had moved to Little Bridge Farm. She lived in a caravan at first, then an old shipping container in the barn.
She bought a horse named Bertie and some goats. The dogs she got were Lady the Pomeranian and Duke the Mastiff.
The court heard that Brown needed Miss Ware a lot and would lock her in the barn while he worked.
He also put her in restraints and put a gag on her during sex and liked how “subservient” she was to him.
Nearby people and friends of Miss Ware have never seen her alive since she disappeared on or around May 7, 2021.
Brown found Duke, her Mastiff, a new home with his sister the day after she went missing.
Later, Lady, her beloved Pomeranian, was found by a pond with her bones attached to a dumbbell.
Nearby people and friends of Miss Ware have never seen her alive since she disappeared on or around May 7, 2021.
Once Brown was gone, she sent her friend Elizabeth Howard a scary text message that said, “Things I’ve done weigh heavily on my heart, in my head, and in my soul; I am a psychopath with a conscience.” In fact, it’s a joke.
After that, he said, “I’ve done terrible things, but I couldn’t hurt you.” You’re so great that you deserve more than I do.
The jury was told that Alex Morgan from Sissinghurst, Kent, also met Brown on the website adultwork.com.
Miss Morgan, who used to groom dogs, slept with Brown more than once at her house and on the remote farm.
Six months after they met, Brown texted her to tell her about a business opportunity at the hotel where he worked as a night security guard. For three to five days of work, she could make about £100,000!
She made plans for her two sons to stay with her parents, and on November 14, 2021, at 7:58 a.m., she drove her cream-colored Mini Cooper to the farm.
On surveillance video, Brown’s gold Jaguar could be seen following the Mini up a path. No one ever saw her alive again.
It was sad that Miss Morgan had died in Brown’s workshop because she tripped over tools that were left on the floor.
He said she hit the floor hard and flew through the air like a “cartoon” character slipping on a “banana skin.” She got a serious head injury.
Brown told the jury that even though he gave her first aid, his efforts to save her didn’t work and she died in the end.
But he didn’t call for help; instead, he burned the body in an oil drum to hide it.
They called the police when Miss Morgan didn’t come home on Wednesday to get her sons.
A note from Miss Morgan to the police read, “Check postcode TN34 5NY Rock Lane, opposite Bartletts”; this is where the Hastings farm is located.
So, the police were able to follow the victim’s car as it drove 20 miles from her home to Little Bridge Farm.
Police found Miss Ware’s prescription for medicine in her boss’s work van while they were looking for Miss Morgan. They immediately started looking for her as a missing person.
After some time, Miss Morgan’s body was found on a construction site in Sevenoaks, Kent, where Brown had been digging for a project. The body of Miss Ware has never been found.
