Joy Morgan: Police investigate whether remains discovered in Stevenage woods could be missing student

Police suspected Shohfah-El Israel dumped victim's body in Stevenage area but he refused to reveal location

Joy Morgan is a student at the University of Herforshire (Hertfordshire Police)

Police are investigating whether human remains found in woodland could be those of a murdered student midwife.

Joy Morgan, 20, was killed by a man she met through her London church group in December, but her body was never found.

Her mother pleaded for Shohfah-El Israel to reveal her resting place when he was jailed for life in August but he continued to deny the crime.

Hertfordshire Police said officers had been called to reports of a “suspected human body” in woodland near Stevenage, were detectives suspected Israel had dumped her body but failed to recover it in initial searches.

“Police were called by a member of the public at 7.43am on Saturday to reports of a suspected human body found in woodland off Chadwell Road, Stevenage,” a spokesperson added.

"Officers are in attendance at the scene. No identification has been made at this time."

Israel, whose birth name is Ajibola Shogbamimu, killed Ms Morgan after they met through a church group and spent time alone together in violation of its rules.

The married 40-year-old claimed he dropped Ms Morgan off at her student accommodation in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, after a celebratory dinner at the American-founded Israel United in Christ church on Boxing Day.

Israel claimed he left Ms Morgan safe and well but she has not been seen since that date or used her bank accounts, and prosecutors said the laptop, prepared food and class agenda left in her room indicated that her “life was cruelly cut short”.

Sentencing the married father to life imprisonment with a minimum of 17 years, Judge Michael Soole condemned his “cruel and cowardly silence about Joy Morgan’s final resting place”.

Speaking outside court, Ms Morgan’s mother Carol pleaded with Israel to reveal the location of the body.

“Give me my baby back, he knows where she is,” she said. “If he loved her give her back up to us so I can bury my daughter. If I get to see her before I die I’ll be very grateful.”

The court heard that after killing Ms Morgan, Israel attempted to cover his tracks by removing her number from a church group chat to suggest she had left the congregation, and appearing to check on her by visiting her student accommodation after the disappearance.

Joy Morgan was a student at Hertfordshire University (Hertfordshire Police)

A signal from the victim’s phone, which has never been found, was detected in Israel’s car in the Stevenage area on 28 December, at which point the jury was told he was most likely “looking for somewhere to dispose of the body”.

The keys to her accommodation were also discovered in the footwell of his car.

GPS data from Israel’s car shows he was around Ms Morgan’s house at the time of the unusual phone activity, before he drove to Stevenage and returned her phone to Hatfield more than two hours later.

When asked why he had spent so long in Stevenage, he told the police that he had taken a wrong turn and became lost.

The prosecution’s case was that Israel had killed Ms Morgan and had in all likelihood driven her body to Stevenage.

Israel was a senior member of the Israel United in Christ congregation in Ilford, and previously ferried Ms Morgan to and from services with his wife.

He admitted spending two nights alone with the University of Hertfordshire student in his Cricklewood flat, but denied they had sex and claimed he initially lied because the church banned women from being alone with men other than their husbands.

Founded in America in 2003, the Israel United in Christ group preaches that “blacks and Hispanics must learn the truth that they are the Biblical 12 tribes of the nation of Israel”, and tells people to “repent” and obey a fundamentalist interpretation of Christianity.