Domestic abuser who drowned partner in river jailed for at least 21 years

Vincent Morgan, 47, held “kind and gentle” mother Lisa Welford’s head under the water of the River Derwent after breaking her leg in an assault.

Leeds Crown Court heard Morgan broke a domestic violence protection order banning him from seeing Ms Welford, who was reportedly a childhood friend of missing chef Claudia Lawrence, in order to spend the day with her on April 24.

The two had been drinking on a riverside path in Malton, North Yorkshire, when a woman who knew them both saw Ms Welford, 48, lying injured on the riverbank at about 11.30pm.

While the woman phoned her ex-partner in order to get help, Morgan put Lisa into the river and held her under the water for a “significant period of time”, the court heard.

When police arrived they found Ms Welford trapped in the river and Morgan on the riverbank claiming that she had jumped into the water.

Ms Welford, who had a son, was taken to hospital where it was found she had suffered head injuries, a bleed on the brain, fractured ribs, a fractured collar bone and a severely fractured femur. She was pronounced dead at 7.30am on April 25.

Police said Ms Welford’s numerous and severe injuries, combined with the low-growing branches at the scene, would have made it impossible for her to jump into the river as claimed by Morgan.

CCTV also showed her walking unaided, without any sign of injury, towards the river that evening.

The court heard Morgan was “regularly” violent towards Ms Welford during their year as a couple and, at the time of her death, magistrates had imposed a third domestic violence prevention order designed to keep him away from her.

Ms Welford’s mother Rita Welford said in a victim impact statement that her daughter had loved Morgan but “was scared of what he would do to her if she upset him”.

Her birth mother Joy Oxley said she would be “safe in the knowledge he will never harm another woman again, so long as he stays behind bars”.

James Bourne-Arton KC, defending Morgan, said he had “struggled with alcohol addiction almost from the beginning of his work life unfortunately”.

Morgan was found guilty of murder and two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm against Ms Welford in the months before her death.

Jailing Morgan for life with a minimum term of 21 years on Wednesday, Judge Guy Kearl, the Recorder of Leeds, said Ms Welford’s life was “not untroubled” but that: “Those who knew her speak of someone who was kind and gentle, thoughtful and loved.”

He told Morgan: “For some years you were her partner, someone who ought to have cared for her and looked after her.

“However, over the past two decades you have shown yourself to be a person who is violent, particularly when intoxicated with alcohol or drugs.

“When in drink you are brutal and callous, unable to control your desire for violence towards your partners.”

Ms Lawrence’s mother Joan Lawrence said her daughter and Ms Welford were “very close” as children and shared a “happy friendship” during their younger years.

She told The Mirror: “I was devastated. I felt numb with shock. How could two children that had grown up together have such terrible things happen to them.”