Anthony Morley

Case record: Anthony Morley

Background

Anthony Morley (born 1972) was an English model and convicted murderer. He won the first Mr Gay UK contest in 1993. Morley was described as a chef.

Morley grew up in Leeds and had dreams of becoming a dancer. In 1993, he entered the first Mr Gay UK competition, winning the title, £1,000 and a holiday to Gran Canaria. Morley claimed he was not gay when he won the contest and that he actually had a steady girlfriend at the time. He did admit to “adventuring” into ideas of relationships with men and was said to have had a relationship with an older man when he was a teenager. After his win, Morley moved to London, where he pursued a career in modelling and dance, using opportunities given to him by winning the competition. On his return to Leeds, he trained as a chef and worked at a number of top restaurants in the city, eventually becoming a sous-chef specialising in seafood.

Morley appeared on a late night dating television game show hosted by Davina McCall where he chose a date from a crowd of men, which included his future victim, Damian Oldfield. Morley later had a five-year relationship with a man called Shaun Wood but also went on to have a relationship with a woman lasting about three years. He had encounters with both men and women and said his sexuality worried him, claiming he just “wanted to be normal”. He was also known to have had an alcohol problem.

In 1996, Morley was a contestant on the television programme “God’s Gift”. An audience member of that edition was Damian Oldfield. Oldfield was a contestant of another edition of the show in October 1996.

The offence

Damian Oldfield was an employee of All Points North, the company owning “Bent” Magazine, “Mission” Club in Leeds and the “Mr Gay UK” brand. He worked as an advertising manager for the magazine. Morley and Oldfield were involved in a relationship of some kind in the previous months and exchanged a series of text messages on April 23, the date of Oldfield’s death. One text implied that Morley was having difficulties with his sexuality but would “like to try again” but “take it slow”.

On the day of Oldfield’s murder, Morley and Oldfield met after exchanging the texts and went to Morley’s house. Morley cooked a meal of fish for them both before they went upstairs to his bedroom. Both men had been drinking, stripped to their underwear and kissed and cuddled while watching a DVD of gay cowboy film Brokeback Mountain.

Morley claimed he woke to find Oldfield performing a sexual act on him and said he had felt betrayed after telling him he wanted to take things slowly. It led Morley to slash Oldfield’s throat and stab him multiple times.

Police found pieces of muscle, skin and flesh under Oldfield’s naked body, which was discovered by officers in Morley’s bedroom in his flat in Harehills. Oldfield sustained more than 30 stab wounds, some of them post mortem, and pieces of his leg and chest had been sliced off. His jugular vein had been cut open in the attack at Morley’s home. A jagged 27cm by 14cm wound in his chest and a similar sized one in his thigh were described.

Morley cut chunks of flesh from Oldfield’s body, cooked it and tried to eat it. Chunks of cooked flesh were found on the chopping board in his kitchen. A partly consumed piece of flesh was found in a plastic bin bag in the kitchen.

Forensic evidence described that Valerie Tomlinson, a forensic scientist, examined Morley’s house shortly after the killing. In Morley’s kitchen, she found a blue chopping board containing six pieces of human flesh on it, together with a cleaver. She also found fresh herbs, olive oil and a dish of seeds. A frying pan on the hob contained herbs and oil. She told the court:

“It does suggest that the original piece of meat had been cooked as one piece of meat and subsequently chopped.”

She said, on the cleaver:

“there was greasy staining but very little actual blood on that item. It may well have been used to chop the original piece of meat after the meat had been fried.”

She also told the court that a partly consumed piece of flesh was found in a plastic bin bag in the kitchen.

The court was told that another piece of flesh had been cut from Oldfield’s chest area and that a Lloyds TSB BANK CARD was placed over the area where his nipple would have been.

After the attack, Morley went to a nearby takeaway restaurant. He asked that someone call the police. He was found described as stumbling into the kebab house around 2:30 in the morning, drenched in blood and asking that someone call the police. Morley was reported to have said to police:

“It’s this lad, he tried to rape me so I stopped him.”

Morley’s account included a statement to the court about watching a DVD in bed at the time of the sexual activity and his feelings and understanding of what happened. Morley told the court on Monday:

“I remember feeling that he was on top of me doing what he was doing. ”
“I felt numb and out of control. I felt uncomfortable and betrayed. ”
“We had talked about the whole situation. ”
“I was not comfortable with having a sexual relationship when we had only just got to know each other. ”
“I can only say at some point Damian's body had just become something I would deal with at work; a piece of meat. ”
“That's the only thing I can think of. That was my daily task, preparing meat.”

A prosecution barrister, Andrew Stubbs QC, argued that Morley killed Oldfield because he could not deal with his homosexuality when he was drunk. Stubbs said:

“It was a killing borne out of hatred for what he felt and what had happened to him, hatred for his own sexuality and now for the homosexual who was in his bed.”

Morley was reported to have admitted the cannibal killing while denying murder.

Investigation and arrest

On the day of Oldfield’s murder, police found Morley’s bedroom with Oldfield’s body described as naked on the bedroom floor. Police found evidence including the blue chopping board, human flesh pieces, and other items in Morley’s kitchen. After the killing, Morley went to a takeaway restaurant and asked staff to call the police. When police arrived to arrest him, he repeated his claims to officers.

Trial

Morley was tried at Leeds Crown Court for the murder of Damian Oldfield. A jury at Leeds Crown Court found Anthony Morley guilty of the murder of Damian Oldfield. The jury took less than three hours to reach their verdict.

Evidence included the number of stab wounds and the post-mortem nature of some wounds, as well as the removal of pieces of leg and chest. Valerie Tomlinson’s forensic evidence was presented about the chopping board, flesh pieces, and cooking and chopping.

The court heard that the prosecution told the court that after sexual activity took place that Morley then stabbed Oldfield in the throat. The court was told that there was no sign of struggle and that it was possible that the victim was attacked from behind.

On the claim of rape, it was said that Morley had told police: “It’s this lad, he tried to rape me so I stopped him.” The prosecutor Andrew Stubbs QC told the court that Morley could not come to terms with his sexuality and killed Damian Oldfield after cooking for him and watching Brokeback Mountain. Stubbs said the claim that Morley was raped was a “nonsense.”

Expert evidence included a forensic psychiatrist, Professor Nigel Eastman, who told the court that Morley could have suffered flashbacks to an alleged rape he suffered as a teenager, which may have explained his motivation for the attack on Oldfield. Eastman said Morley was likely to have been in a “dissociative state” during the alleged attack. Eastman said:

“There's an assault, there are flashbacks and that makes dissociation likely during the killing,”

The court also heard evidence from forensic psychiatrist Dr Patrick Quinn, who assessed Morley. Dr Quinn said that he did not think Morley was suffering from any mental illness, and that Morley had never mentioned any flashbacks during the two assessments they held. Dr Quinn said Morley had told him that he was raped when he was 17. Dr Quinn’s evidence was presented in the context of arguments over diminished responsibility and provocation or abnormality of mind.

Morley’s defence counsel included Robert Smith QC, who admitted Morley cut Oldfield’s throat and seasoned parts of the body and said Morley was guilty at least of manslaughter, with the issue over provocation or abnormality of mind.

Sentencing

Morley (age 36) was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime. The sentencing occurred at Leeds Crown Court. It was described as a minimum term of 30 years. Morley was sentenced on October 17, 2008.

Appeals

No appeal information was included in the provided material.

Other details

Denise Oldfield was the victim’s mother. She spoke of her son:

“We shared a special bond, which I can still feel, but now I'm only left with memories and that's not good enough. ”
“Damian loved life and he has had that taken away from him in the cruellest of circumstances. ”
“He was so easy going and friendly that to know Damian for five minutes was to know Damian as a friend. ”
“Damian always made a big impression on those who knew him and I have been very touched by all the messages that have been left on the Gone Too Soon and Facebook websites. ”
“It's testament to Damian's popularity that school friends as well those who knew Damian more recently have left messages.”

She added:

“Damian will be sadly missed by all those who knew and loved him. ”
“Gran, older brother Craig and sister-in-law Tracy, as well as all his nieces and nephews, will miss his smile and his company.”

The material also described a violent past involving assault and threats while Morley was described as having an alcohol problem. It stated that Anthony Morley once attacked a former boyfriend, Shaun Wood, with a meat cleaver after drinking and threatening ambulance staff with an air rifle. It also stated that on another occasion he told a man he could kill him with his bare hands.

Shaun Wood described the meat cleaver incident in quotes:

“He went to the kitchen and came back and sat down on the settee and five minutes later he leapt up and went for me with a meat cleaver, but unfortunately he fell backwards so it didn't get me.”

Steven Robinson described an incident in which Morley grabbed him by the neck of his shirt and told him he could kill with his hands.

Morley and Oldfield were described as nicknaming Oldfield “Tough Poof” in one description.

The stabbing and slicing were described with multiple details across the material, including the size and location of wounds and the items found placed with the body.

The material described that Morley could not remember seasoning and cooking Oldfield. It also said Morley claimed he was sexually confused and said he had sent Oldfield a text message saying he wanted to take their relationship slowly.

It was also described that Morley was “more than three times the drink-drive limit” in connection with the former relationship incident referenced in the material.