Murder-accused searched on adult site for victim, court told

A man accused of murdering two women has said he set up an account on an adult website in order to look for one of them, jurors have heard.

Mark Brown denies murdering Alexandra Morgan and Leah Ware last year.

The 41-year-old from St Leonards is accused of killing Ms Ware, whose remains have not been found, on 8 May.

He told Hove Crown Court he set up the account on the site where he met both women "to look for Leah, to see if she went back on the site".

Jurors have heard he had an "on again-off again" relationship with Ms Ware, 33, from Hastings.

Asked by defence solicitor Ian Henderson KC what happened to Ms Ware, Mr Brown said: "I went to the farm on May 7 and when I got back to the workshop I found a note tied to the door handle in a blue plastic bag.

"It said 'I'm sorry boo, I'm going to get this sorted and get help. Please don't let this be the last shot. Please can you pick up meds and money for me. My card is at your sister's, and leave it in the Bertmobile. I love you'."

He said he threw the note away.

Mr Brown said he created the account on the adult services website on 20 May.

He said: "I wanted to log into my old account to find Leah's previous usernames, but when I couldn't log in because of the time lapsed since the last log-in, I created a new account because you can search members' names that way."

Mr Henderson asked: "Did you report her as missing to anyone?"

Mr Brown said: "No."

"And why not?" he was asked.

Mr Brown said: "As far as I was concerned she was on the run. She did not want to be found by anybody."

Mr Brown is also accused of murdering Miss Morgan, 34, from Sissinghurst, Kent, a single mother of two children who was reported missing by her mother in November last year.

The trial continues.

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