Mark Brown: Murder-accused claims woman's death was accident

A man accused of killing two women told a court one of them died after accidentally falling and hitting her head.

Mark Brown, 41, from St Leonards, East Sussex, denies murdering Alexandra Morgan, 34, in November 2021 and Leah Ware in May of that year.

He told jurors at Hove Crown Court Ms Morgan slipped on his farm near Hastings and "smacked her head".

He said he "panicked" and tried to cover up her death.

The court had heard Mr Brown had been having a relationship with Ms Ware, 33, from Hastings, after meeting her through an escort site, and that Miss Morgan, from Sissinghurst, Kent, was also a sex worker who had arranged to meet Mr Brown at the farm he was renting.

Continuing his defence for a third day, Mr Brown told how Ms Morgan had gone to get cigarettes from his car when he heard a noise at Little Bridge Farm on 14 November 2021.

He said he caught a glimpse of her "in mid-air," as she fell "like in a cartoon when someone slips on a banana skin".

Mr Brown said he presumed she had "kicked" or "trodden" in something, possibly a tool box.

He said he placed a beach towel under her head to try to stem her bleeding, and checked her pulse and performed CPR.

He said he did not raise the alarm because he "panicked" when he could not find a pulse on Ms Morgan.

Asked why he did not alert authorities, he told the court: "I've got a dead escort on my workshop floor, there's blood everywhere, what does it look like?"

He added: "It looked like a murder scene." He said he put her body in a sleeping bag and set fire to it.

The trial continues.

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