Bin man handed life sentence for murdering Bognor mother

Wayne Morris repeatedly attacked mother-of-two Ruth Brown with a plastic tray in her kitchen in Collyer Avenue on Wednesday, April 8 last year.

A jury found him guilty of murder yesterday following an eight-day trial at Brighton Crown Court.

Sentencing Morris at court today, Judge Shani Barnes said Ruth was ‘a devoted, loving and protective mother’ to her two children, Lauren and Arran, who ‘now have to live the rest of their lives without her for no good reason’.

Morris had previously told the court that he had ‘no recollection’ of killing Ruth, after an afternoon spent drinking and smoking cannabis together.

But Mrs Barnes said she did not believe that Morris did not know what he did.

Regarding what took place on the night of Ruth’s death, she said: “We are having to piece it together because you never told anyone what you did...

“You have chosen, in my view, to refuse to reveal what you did as a way of controlling the situation as best you can.”

Morris had been staying at Ruth’s home for a few days amid the national lockdown when, at around 6pm that day, Morris received a text from his daughter Skye, who told him she had fallen out with her grandfather and was ‘desperate’ for him to go home.

Mrs Barnes said Ruth, who wanted him to stay with her, would have been ‘distraught’ by this and Morris would have felt ‘trapped between them’.

“You clearly exploded at her,” she said.

“You have refused to say a word about that event and I do not believe for a minute that is more than a device, I don’t believe it’s genuine, I don’t believe you don’t know what you did.”

The court heard that Morris repeatedly hit her with a plastic tray.

Mrs Barnes had previously stressed the difference in size between the pair.

Ruth had a ‘tiny, little’ frame, she said, adding: “You could have blown her over, she was so tiny and fragile.”

“You, Mr Morris, are a strong, burly man who could have overwhelmed or disabled her with a swipe of your hand.”

His actions following the attack were ‘bizarre’, she continued.

“Even if you were suddenly overwhelmed with anger and lashed out in this way, you would have thought at some point, what have I done, and called an ambulance,” she said.

“But you didn’t. You left her there in the kitchen, unconscious, taking hours to die with terrible injuries.”

Mrs Barnes said it was ‘inconceivable’ that he had not realised what he had done and said his consequent behaviour ‘defies expectation’.

Morris cleared up the evidence, went out shopping and ordered a takeaway, living with Ruth’s ‘lifeless body’ for two days.

Mrs Barnes said Morris had not shown remorse and said he had been ‘callous and manipulative’ by refusing to answer questions in any detail.

While she accepted that his actions were ‘sudden and unplanned’, and that there was a clear intention to cause grievous bodily harm rather than murder, she said the nature of the injuries showed it was ‘a ferocious attack’.

Morris was sentenced to life imprisonment. He will be considered for parole after 17 years, minus the days he has already spent in custody.

In a victim impact statement, which was read out at court, Ruth’s daughter Lauren said: “My mum was a fighter, she stuck up for herself. It breaks my heart that after all the battles she won, she didn’t win this one.”

Ruth was ‘the centre’ of their family and ‘kept everyone connected’, she continued.

“My mum wasn’t perfect. No one is. She did everything to give me and my little brother everything we wanted or needed,” she said.

“She would tell anyone and everyone how proud she was of us.”

She also said Wayne had ‘stepped up’ when her own father had not, and that he and her mother had been her support network.

She continued: “There’s going to be so many big moments in our lives that our mum will never be there for.

“The big achievements and life events will always have a dark cloud over them...

“She won’t be there on my wedding day, she won’t be able to walk me down the aisle...

“Mum will never get to be a grandma to my children.”

She added: “I don’t know how I’m ever going to move on from this or accept it.

“There’s a huge piece of me missing and a hole in my heart that will never be filled.”

A statement was also read out from Arran, Ruth’s 16-year-old son, who told of his pain at having ‘no chance to properly say goodbye or tell her I loved her one more time’.

He described losing his mother as ‘the most difficult, painful, discomforting, traumatic and de-stabilising thing that could ever happen’.

Arran said he struggled to sleep at night, adding: “It keeps me up at wondering if she was suffering or if she was in pain.”

He continued: “She didn’t deserve to be taken from us like this...

“I think about mum everyday and I miss her so much.”