Not sure if this has been posted but here it is. It is perhaps worth pointing out that the judge in this case has warned the public gallery that if there are any comments audible to the court he will clear the public gallery for the rest of the trial. When he said this nobody said a word. However I have been to trials when all hell has kicked off in the public gallery and the judge has not cleared the gallery? Was this an empty threat as the public have a right to see justice done in the courts and if there is a problem remove that person, do not make it a closed court.
Murder-accused Mark Brown drained thousands of pounds from the bank account of his alleged victim Leah Ware, his trial heard today (November 16). In the days following Leah’s alleged murder, Brown made multiple withdrawals from her account, amounting to £1,400 per week, with some of this money being put into his own account - Brown insists this money was left for Leah in her horsebox or returned if he had borrowed it.
Leah Ware, a single mum of three, met the defendant, of Squirrel Close, in 2018 and they later began a relationship before she disappeared in May 2021. Brown, 41, is on trial for the alleged murders of Leah as well as that of Alexandra Morgan, a single mum of two, in November 2021.
Updates from today's proceedings can be read here.
Mr Atkinson KC continued with his cross-examination of the defendant and made reference to Leah’s finances before and after her disappearance. After making a withdrawal on May 16, 2021, Brown did not withdraw from his account for more than a month, instead making withdrawals of £200 per day from Leah's account on more than 10 occasions - her account was topped up regularly with DWP payments.
After two instances where Brown took £200 from Leah's account and placed it almost immediately into his own account, Mr Atkinson said: "The reality, Mr Brown, is that the withdrawals of cash from Leah's account had nothing to do with her and everything to do with you," - claims that Brown denied.
Alongside the financial transactions, Mr Atkinson also told the court of Brown's use of an escort website shortly after Leah's disappearance. In a message to one user on the site, Brown expressed an interest in a organising a regular meet up, with Mr Atkinson KC stating: “That wasn’t because your last regular thing went up in smoke in a barrel?" Brown again denied any suggestion that he had killed Leah.
Mr Atkinson, who made reference to Brown's purchases of petrol and diesel, followed this previous question when saying: “It took a number of days to burn the body of Alexandra Morgan. Did it also take Leah’s body a number of days to burn?” Brown responded with: “I wouldn’t know, I didn’t burn Leah’s body,” before adding that he had a number of petrol and diesel vehicles that the fuel could be used for.
After Brown had previously mentioned a situation in April 2021 in which Leah had "swiped" a bag of drugs on their way home from Ashford, Mr Atkinson suggested that Brown was simply “making things up as you go along.” Despite Brown stating he was worried about “blowback,” Mr Atkinson pointed out that the defendant never brought this up in conversation with Leah after initially seeing it. Brown denied he had made anything up and said he simply had a lot going on at the time.
The jury were also told about bottles of Leah's medication that were found by police in an oil drum that Brown had used as an incinerator. Brown had already told the jury that he had continued to collect Leah's medication and left it in the horsebox on Little Bridge Farm - burning it if he returned to find the previous week's medication had not been collected.
