Mark Brown guilty of murdering Alexandra Morgan and Leah Ware

A builder has been found guilty of murdering two women he met on an escort website.

Mark Brown, 41, of St Leonards, East Sussex, killed Alexandra Morgan and Leah Ware, who went missing six months apart in 2021.

He once predicted to his boss that he was "going down" for at least 25 years, his trial at Hove Crown Court was told.

Brown, who has never revealed what happened to Ms Ware, will be sentenced on 13 January.

Judge Mr Justice Nicholas Hilliard said: "This is clearly a case of the utmost gravity and the effect on the victims' families must be absolutely devastating."

He said Brown will be sentenced to life in prison and he will have to decide the minimum prison term or "indeed consider if he will ever be released for parole licence".

Ms Ware's remains have never been found. Brown, a father of one who had a long-term partner, has always maintained that he does not know where she is - and that she is still alive.

But the judge told the court if Brown wishes to confirm what he has done with her body, that will be something he will take into consideration between now and sentencing.

Brown had claimed Ms Morgan - known by her friends and family as Alex and a single mother of two - had slipped and fallen on a tool or piece of mechanical equipment in a workshop he rented at Little Bridge Farm, near Hastings, hitting her head.

He told the court there was "a lot of blood", and he was convinced she had died.

Brown, of Squirrel Close, later admitted to disposing of her body "in a panic" to cover the whole thing up. He put her body in an incinerator made from an oil drum.

His trial heard a message he sent which the prosecution said referred to the process he used to dispose of the women's remains.

"I'm going to be very careful how I word this," the message said.

"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."

Brown was working at a building site in Sevenoaks when he was questioned by Kent Police after Miss Morgan disappeared in November 2021.

He told his boss Alan Downs that he expected to be arrested.

Brown also sent a message to a friend which said: "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."

Police decided they wanted to speak to Ms Ware about Ms Morgan, having discovered Ms Ware had been in a relationship with Brown. It was then they discovered she had not been seen since May 2021.

While searching Brown's van, Kent Police officers found prescription drugs in Ms Ware's name.

She had also met Brown through her escort work, but had moved to Little Bridge Farm after being in a relationship with him for about three years.

Tamsin Gregory, a friend of Ms Ware said she had "concerns" about Brown's relationship with her.

"It seemed like he was very controlling of her," she said.

Ms Ware lived at the farm with her two dogs, Duke and Lady, to whom she was devoted.

Brown killed her on or around 7 May 2021 after tensions grew when she pressed him to leave his partner of 14 years, the jury was told.

In the days immediately after the prosecution say she died, Duke was rehomed with Brown's sister. Ms Ware's family said she would never have agreed to this. Lady, a Pomeranian, has not been seen since.

However, during a police search of the farm, the skeletal remains of a Pomeranian were found in a pond on the site, at the end of a collar and lead tied to a weight. The prosecution argued that these were Lady's bones.

Brown admitted giving differing accounts to different people about Ms Ware's disappearance, saying she had been "sectioned", sent to "a mental hospital" or had "killed herself" and was "at peace".

The prosecution argued that he had killed her, and disposed of her body in an oil drum.

Ms Morgan was last seen at a petrol station with her Mini Cooper near Cranbrook on 14 November.

Following a public appeal, Kent Police found her car and Ms Morgan's remains.

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