A “brutal, callous” killer was this afternoon jailed for life for the murder of his girlfriend by drowning her.

Malton mother Lisa Welford, 49, was “kind, gentle, caring, thoughtful and loved”, the Recorder of Leeds, Guy Kearl KC told Leeds Crown Court.

But for years, she had been in a relationship with Vincent Joseph Morgan, 47, who had a history of violence towards his partners and who regularly assaulted her.

On April 24, after spending the day with her drinking in York despite a court order banning him from contacting or being with her, Morgan went with her to a path alongside the River Derwent in Malton.

There he broke her thigh and as she lay helpless and drunk on the bank, put her in the river and held her head under water until she drowned.

“When in drink you are brutal and callous, unable to control your desire for violence towards your partners,” the judge told Morgan.

He jailed Morgan for life and ordered he serve a minimum of 21 years from the time of his first court appearance last April before he is eligible for parole.

Morgan, of Chandler’s Wharf, Castlegate, Malton, denied murder and two charges of causing actual bodily harm to Lisa some weeks before her death, but was convicted by a Leeds jury on Monday on all counts.

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Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, said shortly before she died, Lisa had had to leave her home because Morgan had moved in and refused to go.

“She was clearly capable of being manipulated by the defendant,” said the barrister. She had problems with alcohol and her mental health and was a slight woman.

Lisa WelfordLisa Welford (Image: North Yorkshire Police)

In a personal statement read by Lisa’s sister Mandy, her adoptive mother said she thought of Lisa every day.

"No mother should have to attend her daughter's funeral," she said. 

Mandy said they saw how Lisa suffered black eyes, a broken nose and other injuries at Morgan’s hands but she kept coming up with excuses and wouldn’t leave him.

“We knew it was hopeless to try and change her mind because she loved him. We were frightened for Lisa.  She loved him and at the same time, she was scared of what he would do to her if she upset him.”

In her personal statement, Lisa’s birth mother said she visited Lisa in Malton, where Lisa had introduced her to Morgan, calling him her “friend”.

“As I was leaving, I turned to him and said ‘look after her’. He said he would. I had no idea of his past record of beating women. If only I could turn back the clock,” the statement said.

Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, said family, neighbours, friends, social workers, medical professionals and the police had tried to help Lisa without success.

Lisa leaves a son, who lives with his grandmother.

Defence barrister James Bourne-Arton KC said Morgan had struggled with alcohol problems almost all of his working life.  The relationship with Lisa had been loving as well as “the other side of it”.

“He is not a man who has a history of serious violence,” he said.

The jury heard evidence from a previous girlfriend of Morgan, who spoke of continual violence at his hands for many years including an assault which led to Morgan’s conviction for causing her actual bodily harm.