St Leonards man accused of murder said he ‘disposed of Albanian drug farm in oil barrel’, court told

Alexandra Morgan, left, and Leah Ware, right. Picture from Sussex Police

A man accused of murdering two women said he disposed of an ‘Albanian drug farm’ in a homemade incinerator, a court heard.

Mark Brown, 41, of Squirrel Close, St Leonards, is accused of murdering Alexandra Morgan, 34, and Leah Ware, 33, in 2021 after both women were reported missing.

He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.

Earlier in the trial at Hove Crown Court, the prosecution alleged Brown had used the homemade incinerator to dispose of Ms Ware’s body.

Mr Atkinson also told the jury that Ms Ware disappeared in early May last year and the last confirmed sighting of her was on May 6, 2021.

Her phone completely disconnected on May 8, 2021 and has not been switched on since, Mr Atkinson said.

At the start of the trial last month, prosecution solicitor Duncan Atkinson KC shared a message Brown had sent to an old school friend, Elizabeth Howard, on June 13, 2022.

The message was sent just over a month after the prosecution allege he killed Ms Ware on May 8.

The message read: “I’m going to be very careful how I word this – it happened again, not very long ago when disposing of something. It’s a very unpleasant thing to do – an old oil drum, five litres of diesel, and hey presto, there’s not very much left. It gets hot, very hot, it glows almost white.

“The things I have done weigh heavily on my heart, on my head and my soul. A psychopath with a conscience – it’s a joke really.”

The court heard the remains of Ms Morgan were found in an oil drum which Brown had disposed of in a skip at a building site in Sevenoaks, Kent where he was working at the time.

While questioned by defence solicitor Ian Henderson on Friday, Brown said his message referred to disposing of an ‘Albanian drug farm’.

He said: “It was a lot of stuff that came from an Albanian cannabis factory, I got rid of quite a lot of drugs, probably ketamine, paperwork, passports, and a weird currency I didn’t recognise.

"This was the second or third week of January 2021. I heard word the Albanians were looking for me, I heard they were poking around so I got rid of everything they left in their factory in a hurry.”

Brown also denied references to events ‘weigh heavily on my heart, on my head and my soul’ had any relevance to Ms Ware, and he was instead referencing events from 20 years ago.

The trial continues.