Shameless killer Allen Morgan duped cops with ‘cast iron’ alibi for 40 years… while celebrating wife’s murder with lover

FOR 42 years, the vicious murder of mum-of-two Carol Morgan remained a chilling mystery. On August 13, 1981, while her children were watching a film at the local cinema, Carol, 37, was bludgeoned to death in the storeroom of her corner shop in Linslade, Bedfordshire. Her skull was shattered by 10 to 15 blows in an attack so savage that detectives would later describe it as "overkill.". For four decades the mystery of her brutal murder remained unsolved, haunting the quiet community and baffling cops.

Now a new ITV documentary, The Real Unforgotten, follows investigators as they reopen the case and work to find out the truth behind Carol's murder. Detective Constable Denise Brown, who reviewed the shocking images of Carol's body, described the gruesome scene in the documentary. She said: "You can see huge lacerations. You can see the skull, and the second one shows the tissue that’s exposed as a result of the attack.

"What you don’t see is how Carol had a load of hair in her hand from where she had obviously put her hand to her head to protect her head.". The brutality of the murder was undeniable. Carol’s finger was slashed in a defensive wound, her cheek was grotesquely damaged, and her skull was exposed. While cops hunted an opportunist robber, the real mastermind stood right before detectives – her 'grieving' husband, Allen Morgan.

Morgan had a cast iron alibi, claiming he discovered his wife’s bloodied body after returning from the cinema with their children. He immediately raised the alarm, reporting that £500 in cash and £120 worth of cigarettes were missing from the shop. He played the role of the devastated husband, pleading with the killer's friends and family to stop shielding them. "Well, if he’s done it once, he’s going to do it again, and it was terrible," he said in a TV interview at the time.

"You’ve got no idea what it was like when I walked in. No idea at all what she looked like. I just hope they don’t shield him too long or they don’t shield him at all.". Police initially believed the motive was robbery. They focused their investigation on a man seen leaving the shop around 7pm, described as having "piggy-style nostrils.". A composite image of the suspect was circulated widely and detectives pursued leads related to a dark green estate car seen nearby.

They questioned thousands of people and examined over 30,000 vehicles. But despite their efforts, the mysterious man and the car were never found. Meanwhile, Carol’s family struggled to understand why someone would murder such a kind and gentle woman. Her niece, Julie Walsh, said in the film: "Hearing about my auntie’s murder was the worst shock in the world. Everything just stops, and you think, 'well, that can’t have happened.'.

"Why would someone murder a defenceless, innocent woman working in her shop? It’s never made any sense to me. "Why do something so grotesque… so brutal to anyone for a small reward as it seems?”. With the police at the time laser-focused on catching the man in the composite, other leads were disregarded. Senior investigator Carl Foster, who opened the case in 2018 and eventually successfully cracked it says in the documentary: "This male was hugely significant to the original investigation because he was the main line of inquiry that was pursued.

"But in pursuing that, they were absolutely focused on catching the murderer at the expense of other lines of inquiry or other hypotheses.". While police chased the wrong lead, Allen Morgan continued to play the grieving widower. But behind closed doors, he was hiding a dark secret. He was having a passionate affair with Margaret Spooner, a married woman who was found in his bed the morning after Carol’s murder.

As detectives would later discover, Morgan and Margaret had been lovers for months, meeting every night in the days leading up to the murder. Soon after the horrific discovery, Margaret's friend, Sheila Forrest, remembered Morgan whispering to Margaret: "It won’t be long now, darling… I’m sorry I’ve had to tell them all about us.". In a witness statement in 1981, she told cops: "His grief seemed unreal… I was feeling physically sick and frightened at Morgan’s words to Margaret.".

Margaret's husband came forward to give police a witness statement, telling them: "I do anticipate that now that Mrs Morgan has died, my wife and Allen will live together.". That's exactly what happened - six weeks after Carol’s death, Margaret moved into the family home, living with Morgan and Carol’s children. Rumours swirled in the community, forcing Morgan to sell the shop and move away. He later admitted: "There are quite a few other people who won’t shop here because they are afraid to be caught up in the gossip.".

But it wasn’t just the affair that raised eyebrows. Investigators discovered the couple’s finances were in ruins, with the shop they co-owned failing and cheques bouncing. Chillingly, there was also an insurance policy that would pay out upon Carol’s death. When Carl took charge of the case, he quickly realised the original investigation had been flawed and forensic evidence had been destroyed.