WEB OF EVIL
Secret life of sex dungeon serial killer who murdered two women at remote farm before laying false trail to stop truth
The remains of second victim Leah Ware have still not ever been found
TO his friends and family, Mark Brown was a mild-mannered building worker with a long-term partner.
But in reality the dad of one was a sadistic double murderer with a taste for extreme violence, who brutally took the lives of two women in a homemade sex dungeon at a remote farm.
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Police who snared the 43-year-old said he was “adept at living a double life” — and detectives are convinced they stopped a serial killer, who would have gone on to claim more lives.
Victims Leah Ware, 32, and Alexandra Morgan, 34, were murdered at the farm near St Leonards, East Sussex, six months apart in 2021.
Brown had been regularly searching porn sites using terms including “rape”, “beaten”, and “forced” and most probably rented Little Bridge Farm due to its isolated location.
Now joint investigators DCI Neil Kimber and Det Supt Andy Wolstenholme, have revealed their fears about Brown — who once described himself as “a wolf in a field of sheep” — ahead of a new TV documentary about the grim case.
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Murders At Little Bridge Farm premieres on Crime + Investigation tonight and charts how the detectives caught Brown.
Ahead of the show, DCI Kimber, of Kent Police, said: “I think the set-up he had at Little Bridge Farm — how remote it was, the women he targeted — he would have carried on, for sure.
“He even said at one point he’s a psychopath with a conscience. I think he’s a very calculated, very manipulative individual.”
‘Ploy for control’
Det Supt Wolstenholme of Sussex Police added: “He had a type, he had a method, it worked. He was already grooming others. He had a way of ingratiating himself with other people.
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“He could select his targets then make his way into their personal life.
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Moment 'double murderer' collects mum-of-three victim's benefits and prescriptions 'to cover up her killing'
“We did hear from women who he was really kind to. He would bring gifts for their children, he’d give them extra money.
“He’d do all sorts of things for them, but in reality it was part of his ploy to bring them into his control so he could use them as he saw fit.”
The sex dungeon Brown had painstakingly created in a bolted shipping container near the farm convinced cops he was set to go on to find more than just two victims.
When officers probing Alexandra’s disappearance went to the site, they discovered phone signals were blocked in the dungeon — and knew something sinister had unfolded inside.
DCI Kimber says the farm was like something from a horror movie and one of the most chilling crime scenes he has searched in his 23-year career.
He said: “It was the most haunting place I’ve ever been to. And it gets even worse, even more chilling as you progress through the scene.
“In the workshop there’s a shipping container and there is a little room inside.
When I saw the bolts on the outside, I literally went, ‘Oh my God, this is where it’s happened’
DCI Neil Kimber
“You can’t get a mobile phone signal in there. It drops out. You look and go, ‘Something’s happened here’.
“He has complete control. She can’t ring anyone, text anyone, nothing. Basically it’s like a cocoon.
“When I saw the bolts on the outside, I literally went, ‘Oh my God, this is where it’s happened’.”
“You only see things like that in horror movies, when people have been locked in and stuff like that. It chilled me to my bones.”
Using never-seen-before CCTV footage, police body-cam video and interviews with investigators, the two-part TV special reveals how Brown laid a false trail in a desperate bid to prevent cops discovering the horrific truth at Little Bridge Farm.
He preyed on vulnerable women, picking his two victims from an escort site, adultwork.com, where he went by the name “McFisty” and used the email address “FistyMcRapist”.
After hiring single mum Alexandra for sex, he lured her back to Little Bridge Farm on the promise of non-sexual work that could earn her £100,000.
Seeing a way to build a better future for her two children, Alexandra’s internet searches revealed she had been looking at how much she would need for a deposit on a house and to start her own business.
In November 2021, Alexandra told her family she was heading off for a spa weekend, but instead met up with Brown at the farm.
When she failed to return, her mother raised the alarm.
Cops later discovered her burned remains in an oil drum Brown had tried to dispose of at a building site he was working on.
When police started investigating her disappearance, they had no clue about second victim Leah.
The discovery of a prescription for Leah in Brown’s car led them to realise she had been missing for six months.
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Leah had met Brown in March 2018 and moved to the farm, initially into a static caravan, after a relationship developed between them.
Police soon uncovered that Brown had manipulated Leah and kept her locked in the shipping container.
Det Supt Wolstenholme explained: “It’s important to say that Leah hadn’t been a sex worker for quite some years.
“She was a sex worker and that was how she first met Mark Brown.
“But he’d cultivated a relationship where she was dependent on him and he took her out of that environment and almost tried to father her and look after her.
“I think that was always his intention, to pick someone and make them entirely dependent on him.”
Officers found the farm was full of junk that Brown had hoarded.
For DS Wolstenholme, the mess explained the killer’s personality.
He added: “I guess it talks about control, doesn’t it?
“He’s keeping trophies, keeping everything together, just keeping control of everything. And that’s what he did with Leah.
“She was part of his collection there in Little Bridge Farm. She was there, locked in along with everything else he owned.”
He’s keeping trophies, keeping everything together, just keeping control of everything. And that’s what he did with Leah
Det Supt Andy Wolstenholme
Phone records pinpointed the exact moment Leah’s mobile went dead on Little Bridge Farm in May 2021.
Brown later confessed to an old school friend that the single mum — who did not have custody of her three children at the time of her disappearance — had died.
In messages shown during his trial, Brown was seen to tell his pal he “felt like a wolf in a field of sheep”.
He appeared to confess to murder when he wrote: “I try to laugh these things off, but it’s a very unpleasant thing to do, old oil drum, 5 litres of diesel, hey presto, nothing much left.
“But it gets hot . . . oil drum glows almost white. You go through a lot of stages in a situation like that.
“I’ve done monstrous things. Things I’ve done weigh heavily on my heart, in my head and soul — a psychopath with a conscience. It’s a joke really.”
That chilling message led officers to conclude he had killed both women, even though Leah’s remains have never been found.
At Hove Crown Court Brown was found guilty of murdering both women and, in 2023, he was sentenced to two life terms with a minimum tariff of 49 years.
DCI Kimber says the case is a reminder that monsters hide in plain sight.
He said: “It is the stuff of nightmares, but actually it’s worse than that because it could be your neighbour, could be your husband — you never know.
“There will be people out in the community that are like Brown that have done something.
It could be your neighbour, could be your husband — you never know
DCI Neil Kimber
“They’ll be there somewhere, and it’s only when they slip up, when they make a mistake, is when we cash in really, for want of a better expression.
“If they don’t make a mistake, then we never know. They don’t open their mouth. We never know.
“But they always, generally, trip up at some point whether that’s verbally, forensically or leaving something lying around as clues for us.”
Talking about Brown refusing to reveal where Leah is, her cousin Alice said: “It’s the not knowing. He may have been sentenced but there is not an ounce of closure for us.
“No death certificate, no resting place, there’s nothing. There is no closure for Leah either just to be laid to rest, she’s not resting.
“It’s a big thing to struggle with that she is not laid to rest.
“Everyone is suffering every singe day but knowing what happened would help us move forward.”
While the officers were pleased to get a conviction, DS Wolstenholme agrees the job is not over yet.
He still wants to find Leah’s remains. “That’s the stone in our shoe,” he explained. “And that’s why this documentary is so important.
“This is a witness appeal for us. We know Leah is dead but we don’t know what happened and we do want to bring that closure to the family.
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“So we still want to hear from anyone who may have information that could help us.”
- Murders At Little Bridge Farm premieres on the Crime+Investigation channel at 9pm tonight and will be available to stream on Crime+Investigation Play.