These are external links and will open in a new window. He admitted killing her but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He said he did it to stop her blackmailing him. The murder of a woman you said you loved. You might have loved her - she didn't even like you. In mitigation, Morgan's defence barrister, Patrick Harrington QC, told the judge his client suffered from a mental disorder and had been provoked by prolonged stress.
The judge agreed Morgan had a "mild form" of Asperger syndrome but said the plans he made for killing Miss Symonds "demonstrate perfectly clearly that you retained self-control".
He did however acknowledge Morgan was provoked, saying the abuse he suffered was "vicious, persistent and extreme" and the threat of blackmail by Miss Symonds was "gross and appalling and an abuse of trust. Morgan admitted killing Miss Symonds after officers traced her mobile phone to his Porsche parked at his farmhouse near Usk, Monmouthshire. He claimed he confiscated her phone to stop her buying drugs, but when asked whether he had killed her, he told detectives: "Yes.
I don't know why I done it. He handed over keys to a farm workshop to officers and told them: "You will need those keys - she's locked in the outhouse. He claimed she threatened to release explicit photos of him to his family if he did not transfer money to her and sign over a bungalow he was letting her stay in rent free at Pencoed Castle, Llanmartin. He said he loved Miss Symonds and she had been like a "best friend", though he always knew she would leave him if the money stopped.
Using a listening device in her home disguised as a plug adaptor, he heard her tell another love interest on the phone she would leave Morgan after he signed over his bungalow to her. The court was told he considered poisoning her with antifreeze as a way to get her to hospital to see a doctor about her drug use. Despite saying "I done it" to police after he was arrested, he always maintained he was not responsible for his actions due to Asperger syndrome.
