The family of a former prison officer convicted for exchanging messages and images with inmates say she was a victim and had no involvement in the later revenge killing of a colleague.
Elias Morgan was convicted in 2024 of murdering former HMP Altcourse officer Lenny Scott outside a gym in Skelmersdale on Feb. 8, 2024. Morgan had previously threatened Mr. Scott after the officer reported a mobile phone seized from an inmate that contained evidence of communications between the inmate and another prison officer, Sarah Williams, prosecutors told the court.
Williams, who worked at the Category B prison near Liverpool, pleaded guilty in 2023 to three counts of misconduct in public office and one count of intending to secure unauthorised access to data. She was sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting she had exchanged intimate messages and images with three inmates, including Morgan. Prosecutors said thousands of calls and messages had been exchanged between Williams and the prisoners.
Williams's family, speaking to the Daily Mail, said she was coerced, suffered from bipolar disorder and had been unfairly linked to Mr. Scott's killing. Her father, Thomas Moore, said police found nothing linking her to the murder when their home was searched by detectives and that she "had nothing to do with it." The family said she had been threatened by inmates and that mental health problems were not fully aired at her misconduct trial.
The sequence of events leading to the killing was set out during Morgan's trial. Prison officer Lenny Scott discovered a mobile phone in an inmate's cell and, according to court evidence, found messages showing Williams's communications with inmates. Prosecutors said Morgan offered Mr. Scott a sum of money to avoid a report and warned him to "balls up the paperwork"; Mr. Scott refused and reported the device. Morgan then threatened Mr. Scott, telling him he would "bide his time" and promising revenge, the jury heard.
Mr. Scott, who had left the Prison Service in 2021 after being dismissed for punching a prisoner, reported the threats to the Prison Service and to police. Prosecutors told the court Morgan stalked Mr. Scott for weeks after his release from prison, using phone and vehicle data to trace his routines. On Feb. 8, 2024, CCTV showed Mr. Scott leaving a gym shortly before 5:30 p.m.; he was approached by a man in a high-visibility jacket who shot him multiple times. Mr. Scott died of his injuries.
A jury convicted Morgan of murder after a nine-week trial. Mr Justice Goose described the killing as a "carefully planned, revenge killing of a prison officer," and Morgan was later sentenced to 45 years in prison before eligibility for parole. A co-defendant, Anthony Cleary, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter.
Detective Chief Inspector Lee Wilson, speaking after the conviction, called the killing "one of the most callous, brutal and inhumane things" he had seen in 30 years of policing and described Mr. Scott as "a man of integrity" who "did the right thing in challenging circumstances." Mrs. Scott, the victim's mother, said her son had "lost his life standing up for what was right" and expressed relief after the sentence.
At Williams's misconduct trial, her defence said she had "fallen into the traps and into the arms of sophisticated criminals" and that she may have had an impaired ability to judge because of a personality condition; lawyers said she had not engaged in physical sexual contact with the inmates. Court evidence also included allegations that Williams accessed prison records to help an inmate's associate and that she warned one prisoner about another suspected of illicit items in his cell.
Williams was arrested in July 2020 after mobile phones seized from inmates led to an anti-corruption inquiry. The messages and calls between her and the inmates were cited in court. Her family told reporters she had been under medical treatment while on duty and argued that she should not have been placed in the position where she encountered "sophisticated dangerous criminals." They said the publicity surrounding the case continued to portray her as central to events that led to Mr. Scott’s death.
Court material established that Morgan was charged with unauthorised possession of a mobile phone in April 2023 and had denied the charge. A hearing was scheduled for Feb. 19, 2024, 11 days after Mr. Scott was killed. Morgan denied any involvement in the killing at the time but later handed himself in and was bailed while police gathered additional evidence, the trial record shows. The gun used in the shooting has not been recovered.
The case prompted renewed attention to illicit mobile phones and the risks they can pose in prisons, and to the vulnerability of staff who become involved in improper communications with inmates. Police and prison service representatives have described the murder as retaliation tied to the loss of contraband and the reporting of security breaches.
Family members of both the victim and the convicted prisoner gave statements during and after the court proceedings. Williams's father said the family had their home searched and their lives upended while his daughter served a sentence, and he expressed disbelief that she had been implicated in the assassination. The mother of the slain officer praised the sentence and said the family hoped the result would bring some measure of justice.
Morgan's conviction concludes the criminal trial over Mr. Scott's death; Williams's sentence followed separate proceedings for misconduct in public office. Investigations into the circulation of phones and other contraband in prisons continue to be a focus for authorities seeking to reduce risks to staff and prisoners alike.