Millionaire jailed for life for murder of escort Georgina Symonds

Property developer Peter Morgan killed Symonds in south Wales after learning she planned to blackmail him, court was told

A multimillionaire property developer has been jailled for life with a minimum term of 25 years for murdering a woman he paid to be his escort.

Peter Morgan strangled Georgina Symonds last January at a bungalow in Newport, south Wales, where he allowed her to live rent-free while also paying her up to £10,000 a month.

Morgan, 54, of Llanellen, Abergavenny, admitted killing the 25-year-old but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. He said he feared she was going to leave him and work for other men while at the same time extracting money from him by threatening to share incriminating pictures and videos.

On Wednesday, after more than three days of deliberations, a jury at Newport crown court unanimously found him guilty of murder.

The court heard how, in November last year, Symonds had threatened to show intimate pictures of Morgan to his wife and two daughters if he left her. The same month, he installed a listening device in the bungalow, disguised as a white plug adapter. He called it 514 times in the months leading up to her death.

Morgan claimed that in the hours before killing her he overheard a phone conversation in which she discussed leaving him with her boyfriend, Tom Ballinger, while continuing to get money from him.

“I can remember her saying she would ‘do me over’ and I just assumed it was financially,” he told the court. He then made a list of items reading “sim, gloves, snip, handle, tape, adapter” as he made a plan to kill Symonds.

Morgan told the jury he twice released the pressure around her neck but strangled her after she told him: “You’re going to pay for this.” He said: “I had just been pushed too far.”

After killing Symonds, Morgan wrapped up the body and hid it in an outbuilding near the farmhouse where his family lived. He later confessed to police and directed them to the body.

Morgan showed no emotion as the jury foreman announced the panel’s finding.

In a statement released after the verdict, the victim’s mother, Deborah Symonds, said: “The death of my daughter Georgina has been a devastating tragedy for the whole of our family. Her beautiful daughter has been left without a mum. Georgina has left a hole in our lives that will never be repaired. All of our happy memories will be kept forever in our hearts.”

She thanked Gwent police but said no sentence could compensate for the family’s loss.

After Symonds’s death, police found her mobile phone under the driver’s seat of Morgan’s Porsche 911. They accessed thousands of text messages exchanged between Symonds and Morgan, Ballinger, other escorts, her friends and family.

In one, she told a man: “Once I’ve rinsed Rich Pete, it’s you and me baby.”

Officers found a dossier of images and videos featuring herself, Morgan and other escorts, including in bed at the family home near Usk, Gwent.

Det Supt Roger Fortey, who led the investigation, said: “This is a tragic case that resulted in the death of Georgina, the loss of a mother, daughter, sister and friend to many. The actions of Peter Morgan were calculated and he committed the act without emotion.

“Hopefully this conviction will bring some closure to the family in terms of the criminal justice process but we are in no doubt that Georgina’s family and friends will continue to mourn and grieve for the rest of their lives. Our condolences remain with those who have suffered her loss.”

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