Elias Morgan, 35, shot father-of-three Lenny Scott six times at close range as he left a gym in Skelmersdale, Lancashire, on 8 February 2024.
Preston Crown Court heard that four years earlier, while working at HMP Altcourse in Liverpool, Mr Scott, 33, had recovered a mobile phone from Morgan’s cell in March 2020.
It revealed the inmate was having an affair with a female prison guard named Sarah Williams.
Morgan, from Edge Hill, Liverpool, first tried to bribe Mr Scott by offering him £1,500 to not report the find.
When Mr Scott refused and reported the phone Morgan threatened his victim’s family before vowing revenge, telling the-then prison officer “I’ll bide my time” and making a gun gesture.
CCTV footage captured the moment Scott was gunned down almost four years later while Morgan was on bail for having the phone in his cell.
Mr Scott had left the Prison Service by the time the shooting took place.
Speaking after Morgan was sentenced today, Mr Scott’s mother Paula said her son “lost his life standing up for what was right”.
Mrs Scott added: “Morgan has no regard for the impact of his actions.
“He not only has stolen Lenny’s future, but he has stolen our future with him.
“Lenny now won’t achieve all the things that he was working towards, all the plans that he had with his children. His chance to see them grow and flourish.
“That has been taken away from us all.”
Mr Justice Goose had earlier told the defendant while passing sentence: “This murder was a carefully planned, revenge killing of a prison officer. He was loved, respected and made his family proud.”
Following Morgan’s conviction on 29 August, Wendy Logan, deputy head of CPS North West’s Complex Casework Unit, described Mr Scott from Prescot, Merseyside, as “a devoted father who had bravely upheld his duty” as a prison officer.
She added that Morgan was “driven by revenge” when he “carried out a cold-blooded murder”.
Morgan, from Edge Hill in Liverpool, handed himself in to police after his name began circulating in connection with the shooting.
The killer denied any involvement but was convicted of murder by a jury last Friday.
Anthony Cleary, 29, a friend of Morgan’s who had been accused of helping to plan the shooting, was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter at Preston Crown Court on the same day.
Morgan’s conviction came after detectives traced phone and vehicle data revealing how he spent time stalking his victim to learn his daily schedule in the weeks before the attack.
The jury also heard Morgan had scouted out places, including Mr Scott’s home, as he planned the murder.
He later shot Mr Scott once in the head and five times in the body before fleeing on an electric scooter.
Scott’s fears for family’s safety
During the nine-week trial a recording of a call Mr Scott made to 101 days after finding the phone in 2020 was played to the court.
In the recording, he says: “Hi, I’m an officer at HMP Altcourse, I’ve just been informed that there’s been a car sat outside my house all weekend, by a prisoner.”
After the operator asked Scott who was threatening him, he replied: “Elias Morgan, he’s described my family and me to a tee. Described my house… Just in fear for my family’s life, that’s all.”
Morgan wasn’t charged in relation to the discovery of the phone until April 2023.
Mr Scott played no part as a witness in the prosecution.
Williams admitted three offences of misconduct in a public office in June 2023.
Morgan denied a charge of unauthorised possession of the mobile phone and a court hearing was scheduled for 19 February 2024 – 11 days after Mr Scott was murdered.
The gun used in the murder has never been recovered.
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