Man accused of killing mum and burning body charged with murder of second missing woman

Mark Brown, appeared at Lewes Crown Court today via videolink from Belmarsh Prison

Alexandra Morgan disappeared on Remembrance Sunday last year (Sussex Police / SWNS.COM)

A man accused of killing a mother-of-two and burning her body has today been charged with the murder of woman who went missing six months earlier.

Mark Brown, 40, pleaded not guilty to killing Alexandra Morgan, who disappeared on Remembrance Sunday last year, and was also charged with the murder of Leah Ware, 33.

Brown appeared at Lewes Crown Court today via videolink from Belmarsh Prison. He spoke only to confirm his name and enter his not guilty plea to the murder of Miss Morgan, a dog groomer.

Brown did not enter a plea for the murder of Miss Ware, from Hastings, East Sussex, who went missing on or around May 7, 2021.

Danny Moore, defending, told the judge that Brown’s defence would be that Miss Morgan’s death had been an accident, but he would admit to trying to dispose of her body by fire.

Leah Ware disappeared from her home in Hastings, East Sussex (Sussex Police / SWNS.COM)

Miss Morgan was last seen buying petrol in her white mini Cooper at the Shell service station at The Common, Sissinghurst in Kent, at 7.20am.

The 34-year-old told a cashier she was meeting someone, but was later reported as missing by family.

The car belonging to Miss Morgan, who lived in Sissinghurst, was recovered, but despite extensive police searches for her in three areas near Hastings and another near Sevenoaks Weald, they failed to find her body.

Miss Ware disappeared from her home in Hastings, East Sussex, and was the subject of a missing persons report.

No friends or family have heard from her since she went missing and no body has been found.

The 40-year-old from St-Leonards-on-Sea, East Sussex will return to court on March 25 to make a plea in relation to the new murder charge.

The Brighton and Hove Recorder, Judge Christine Laing, sitting at Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex, said the addition of the second charge made it likely that the case would now need to be heard by a High Court Judge, so a date for the trial could not be set immediately.

Additional reporting by SWNS

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