A burslesque dancer strangled to death by her ‘sugar daddy’ had threatened to show his wife a picture of him with prostitutes, a court heard yesterday.
Georgina Symonds, 25, wanted to reveal damning ‘warts and all’ evidence of secret hook-ups with sex workers to blackmail multi-millionaire property developer Peter Morgan, before he allegedly murdered her in the grounds of his castle.
Miss Symonds’ best friend Alexy Butcher told the court that she had vowed to ‘get as much as she could from him’, and indulged in a lavish lifestyle thanks to the £10,000-a-month wage he was paying her to be his exclusive escort. It was also claimed Miss Symonds had a secret fling with a Sky TV engineer, and that she was ‘vile’ to Morgan. Miss Symonds threatened to release a picture of the businessman with prostitutes at his marital home in Usk, South Wales, and claimed he was ‘hiding from the taxman’, it was alleged.
Her mother Deborah, a residential services officer, told Newport Crown Court: ‘She thought she could ruin him. She said, “I know Peter Morgan keeps about £50,000 at home and I’m going to do this warts and all. He is hiding from the taxman and he has also built property that hasn’t met building regulations.
‘George had evidence on her phone of Morgan taking call girls back to his marital home when he was married to his wife. She showed me a picture on her phone of him with some girls in the lounge. Morgan was up to no good behind his wife’s back and George had evidence with which she would blackmail Morgan.’ The court heard Morgan had promised to transfer a bungalow in the grounds of a castle he owned to his lover.
Miss Symonds was living in the property with her five-year-old daughter when she died.
Morgan, 54, who is worth £20million, also took out a £1million life insurance policy to be paid to Miss Symonds on his death.
In addition, he paid £8,000 for her to have full-body liposuction. But she was said to be ‘livid’ when he lowered her monthly payment from £10,000 to £7,000 after she moved into the bungalow owned by him and his estranged wife Helen. On the third day of Morgan’s murder trial, Miss Butcher described how the businessman met Miss Symonds through an escort website and became ‘totally smitten’.
The court heard Miss Symonds nicknamed Morgan ‘Rich Pete’, while her ex-boyfriend Peter Deem – her ‘true love’ – was known as ‘Poor Pete’. Miss Butcher said her friend was ‘vile’ to Morgan, who would ‘just stand there and take it’ as she showered him with insults.
During their three-year relationship, Miss Symonds had a secret ‘fling’ with a Sky TV engineer who came to her bungalow in Llanmartin, near Newport in South Wales.
The pair spent three nights together, unbeknown to Morgan, in the five-star Celtic Manor Resort.
Miss Symonds also embarked on a secret relationship with another married man called Thomas Ballinger, 34, who was a friend of her ex-boyfriend, two months before she was killed in January.
Giving evidence from behind a screen yesterday, Miss Butcher told how Miss Symonds was ‘only with Morgan for the money,’ adding: ‘I don’t think she ever cared for him.’ She added that Miss Symonds ‘hated’ Morgan following the suicide of her ex-boyfriend Mr Deem in November 2015.
Her other lover, Mr Ballinger, told the court Miss Symonds made it clear she had no feelings for Morgan. He said: ‘She said she wanted to end things with him and go back to being an escort. She said she was going to leave Morgan after he signed over the bungalow to her.’ He added: ‘We spent New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day together at the bungalow. On New Year’s Day, Morgan turned up sometime mid-afternoon.
‘A few things were said and I felt uncomfortable being there. She said it was hard being in a relationship with someone you don’t love. Morgan was reactionless.’
Two days before Miss Symonds’ death, Morgan, of Llanellen, South Wales, allegedly made a list of items he would use to kill her in the notes section of his iPhone, reading ‘String, 02, poly, glove, snip, handle, tape, Special K, starter, rag, adapter’. He was said to have eavesdropped on more than 500 of her phone calls, planting a listening device in the bungalow, and knew she planned to blackmail him.
Morgan, who denies murder on grounds of diminished responsibility, strangled Miss Symonds with twine at the bungalow on January 12. The trial continues.
© Daily Mail