Elias Morgan, 35, has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 45 years for the cold-blooded murder of former prison officer Lenny Scott, 33, outside a gym in Skelmersdale on 8 February 2024.
Morgan, disguised in a high-visibility jacket, approached Mr Scott and shot him six times, executing a long-planned revenge attack. The murder followed a four-year vendetta stemming from an incident inside HMP Altcourse in March 2020, where Scott had discovered a mobile phone in Morgan’s prison cell—evidence that exposed an illicit affair between Morgan and a female prison officer.
According to Preston Crown Court, Morgan had offered Scott a £1,500 bribe to stay silent about the phone and the affair. When Scott refused and followed prison protocol, Morgan warned him he would “bide his time, but would get him.”
In a call to police shortly after the 2020 incident, Scott expressed concern that his family home was being watched, indicating that threats had already begun.
On 29 August 2025, an 11-person jury found Morgan guilty of murder. His co-defendant, Anthony Cleary, 29, was found not guilty of both murder and manslaughter.
Scott’s murder devastated his family. His mother, Paula Scott, speaking outside the court, said:
“We are so angry that Lenny was killed for doing the right thing, doing his job well, with pride and integrity. He lost his life standing up for what was right.”
His ex-partner Lucy Griffiths, mother of his twin boys, gave a heart-wrenching victim impact statement in court:
“He adored his children. All he ever wanted was to be a dad… When I got the call to say he’d been killed, our boys were bouncing on their beds waiting for him.”
She shared how the children still ask if they can visit him in heaven and often leave notes under their pillows asking him to come home.
Mr Justice Goose, in sentencing Morgan, said:
“This murder was a carefully planned, revenge killing of a prison officer. He was loved, respected and made his family proud.”
Morgan will serve a minimum of 45 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole, ensuring justice for a man remembered as principled, compassionate, and devoted to his children.
