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This article recounts the case of Elias Morgan – an armed robber described as a “cold-blooded executioner” – who murdered prison officer Lenny Scott outside a gym in Skelmersdale in February 2024, after waiting four years and meticulously planning revenge for Scott’s seizure of a mobile phone from Morgan’s prison cell. The content is for educational and criminological documentation purposes only, based on BBC reports and court records. It does not aim to glorify violence or advocate for crime.
Elias Morgan: The ‘Cold-Blooded Executioner’ Who Waited Four Years to Revenge a Prison Officer Over a Mobile Phone
Lancashire Police A police mugshot of Elias Morgan, who has black hair and dark stubble, staring into the camera with a blank expression.
On February 8, 2024, outside a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, a father-of-three was shot six times and died at the scene. The victim was Lenny Scott, 33, a former prison officer. The shooter was Elias Morgan, an armed robber with a previous conviction for an £83,000 bank robbery involving machetes. The motive was not a gangland dispute or drug turf war. It was a four-year grudge that began with a mobile phone seized from a prison cell. Morgan waited, planned meticulously, and finally carried out a “cold-blooded execution” of a prison officer doing his duty. When brought to court, he offered no defence, showed no remorse, and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 45 years before he can be considered for parole. This is the story of a deadly vendetta, of a murderer’s chilling patience, and of a family who lost a father, a husband, a son – because one man did his job properly.
1. The Origin of the Grudge: A Mobile Phone and a Investigator
Lancashire Police Lenny Scott, who is bald and has a ginger beard, poses with his arms around his young sons. They are eating hot-dogs and their faces have been blurred.
In 2020, Elias Morgan was serving time at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool for violent and armed robbery offences. In his cell, a prison investigator – later identified as prison officer Lenny Scott – discovered an illegal mobile phone. The seizure of this phone opened up a larger investigation. Investigators discovered that Morgan was having a sexual relationship with a female prison officer named Sarah Williams, a relationship that was a serious breach of prison rules.
Morgan attempted to bribe Lenny Scott with £1,500 to “lose” the phone, but Scott refused. Instead of accepting defeat, Morgan began threatening him. He accurately described Scott’s home address, the appearance of his partner, and his twin sons. Scott was terrified. He told his father, Neil Scott, that Morgan had declared: “I’ll bide my time, but I promise I will get you” – then made a gun gesture with his fingers. Sarah Williams was later sentenced to 16 months in prison for misconduct in public office.
Lenny Scott stood firm against the threats. But the price he paid was his life.
2. Four Years of Waiting and the Execution Plan
Neil Scott, who is bald and wearing a black polo shirt, wipes his eyes with a tissue as he sits on a chair next to his wife Paula Scott. She has medium-length brown hair and wears a floral blouse, and is looking towards the camera with a solemn expression.
Morgan was released in 2022 but was on bail awaiting trial for offences linked to the discovery of the phone. That trial was scheduled to take place just 11 days after the assassination. Instead of facing justice in the courtroom, Morgan chose revenge by gun.
He spent weeks scoping out addresses linked to Lenny Scott: Scott’s home in Prescot, a gym in the Liverpool suburb of Speke where Scott trained, and the gym on Peel Road in Skelmersdale – where he would strike.
On the evening of February 8, 2024, Morgan drove a Mercedes registered to his mother to an estate near the scene. He parked, then walked to a van that had been left nearby the previous evening by his close friend Anthony Cleary, 29. Inside the van was an electric bike. Morgan used the bike to ride to the gym.
He waited outside for 53 minutes. When Lenny Scott emerged after a jiu-jitsu session, Morgan – wearing a high-visibility jacket – approached, raised a self-loading handgun, and fired six times. Scott collapsed and died at the scene. The entire moment was captured by security cameras and played in court, causing the victim’s family to break down in tears.
After the shooting, Morgan rode the electric bike back to the van, drove the van out of Skelmersdale, and returned a few days later to retrieve the Mercedes. He thought he had been perfect. But police quickly identified him through the Mercedes registered to his mother and the van.
3. The ‘Cold-Blooded Executioner’ in the Dock
Lancashire Police A photo released to the jury of the two accused at the Glastonbury festival., standing together with throngs of festivalgoers in the background
When brought to trial at Preston Crown Court, Elias Morgan displayed an attitude rarely seen. He instructed his barrister, Caroline Goodwin, KC: “Say nothing at all. No mitigation, no submissions, no representations.” Goodwin was forced to inform the court that she was not permitted to offer any defence or mitigating factors.
Meanwhile, Morgan’s close friend Anthony Cleary turned on him in court. Cleary testified that Morgan had called him after the shooting and said he had “done someone in Skem” and told Cleary to get rid of his phone. Cleary was charged but later acquitted after the jury accepted that he did not know the van and bike would be used in a murder.
Judge Goose told Morgan he was satisfied the murder was a “revenge killing” for what Lenny Scott had done “lawfully in his duty as a prison officer.” Morgan was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 45 years – meaning he cannot be considered for parole for nearly half a century.
4. A Family’s Grief: ‘Every Day Has Been a Waking Nightmare’
Throughout the trial, Lenny Scott’s family read tearful statements. His mother, Paula Scott, spoke directly to Morgan from the courtroom: “My son was everything you are not. He was strong, brave, honest, respectful, hardworking, kind, and principled. He stood for what was right. You are a violent, inhumane coward. I am hurt, I am angry, and I will never forgive you.”
Lucy Griffiths, Scott’s former partner and the mother of his twin sons, described the pain of telling the boys, then aged six, that their father was dead. She said: “I find letters they write to him hidden under their pillow asking for him to come back. This is so upsetting to find as a mother. They have had nightmares about men chasing them with guns because of what’s happened.”
Neil Scott, the victim’s father, sat through the entire trial, watching footage of his son being executed. He wiped tears from his eyes multiple times.
5. ‘An Unprecedented Crime’ and the Fallout for the Prison Service
Mark Fairhurst, chairman of the Prison Officer’s Association, called the case “unprecedented” and said it had damaged morale across the service. He told the BBC: “It’s absolutely horrific and demonstrates to the general public what a risky and unsafe job this really is.”
Lord James Timpson, minister for prisons, probation and reducing reoffending, described Morgan’s crime as “truly shocking” and pledged to work hand in hand with police to protect prison officers and pursue the toughest punishments for those who seek to cause them harm.
Lenny Scott had been dismissed from the prison service in 2021 following an incident involving the restraint of a prisoner unrelated to this case. But that did not change the fact: he had done his duty properly when he seized that mobile phone. And for that, he paid with his life.
A Verdict for the ‘Executioner’ and a Warning
Elias Morgan was not just a robber. He was a man who turned revenge into a dark art, planned for four years, waited for his moment, and did not flinch when he pulled the trigger. He was an executioner in the most literal sense – a cold-blooded killer. The life sentence of 45 years is a powerful statement from justice: no revenge, no matter how meticulously planned, can be tolerated for taking the life of a man doing his duty.
But this case also raises a larger question: How well are those who work inside the prison system – the prison officers who daily face the most dangerous criminals – being protected? When an illegal phone can become a death sentence four years later, none of them are safe. Lenny Scott died because he did the right thing. And that is the greatest tragedy of this case.
Primary sources:
BBC News, “Prison officer Lenny Scott murder: Elias Morgan jailed for minimum 45 years” (2025)
BBC News, “Elias Morgan: The armed robber who executed a prison officer over a mobile phone” (2025)
BBC News, “Prison officer murder: CCTV shows moment Lenny Scott shot in gym car park” (2025)
Crown Prosecution Service, “Elias Morgan convicted of murder of prison officer Lenny Scott” (2025)
Liverpool Echo, coverage of Preston Crown Court trial (2025)