An “evil” abusive partner who drowned his girlfriend in a river will be jailed for life after he was convicted of her murder.

Vincent Joseph Morgan already had a history of attacking his partners before he formed a relationship with Lisa Welford, 49.

He had tried to throw a previous girlfriend into the same river in Malton several years earlier over the railings of the Railway Street bridge and only stopped when passers-by realised what was happening, Leeds Crown Court heard.

She told the jury she had been "clinging to the railings for dear life" and “when he was drinking, he was evil”.

Morgan was banned from contacting or being with Lisa under a court order but he met up with her on April 24 this year and escorted her by bus to York and back before taking her down a path along the River Derwent beside Malton Bus Station.

Later that evening, he put her in the river and held her head under water while pretending to help her out, a jury heard.

Although a passer-by summoned help from her previous boyfriend who together with a police officer managed to get the Malton woman alive out of the river, she died later at Hull Royal Infirmary.

Lisa WelfordLisa Welford (Image: North Yorkshire Police)

Morgan, 47, of Chandler’s Wharf, Castlegate, Malton, showed no reaction as the jury convicted him of Lisa’s murder by a majority verdict today (Monday, December 2) after nearly 11 hours in retirement.

They convicted him unanimously of causing her actual bodily harm on two previous occasions.

Relatives of Lisa wept silently as the verdicts were delivered. They had waited for the verdicts over a three-day period.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Guy Kearl KC, said he will sentence Morgan on Wednesday (December 4).  He told Morgan he will have to decide how long he will have to serve before he is eligible for parole.

The jury was not told that in 2022, Morgan was jailed for conning a 102-year-old Dunkirk veteran by claiming he would do his gardening, but instead he stole his commemorative war medal and used his bank card to steal thousands of pounds from his bank account.

The jury heard Lisa, speaking on a police bodycam, say how she was so terrified of Morgan she didn’t want to give a statement against him. She said that if he was jailed he would only hit her when he came out. They also heard from Lisa’s friends how scared she was of him and how she had had to call out police to get him out of her house when he moved in.

The jury also heard from the previous partner how Morgan made her life hell for many years by repeatedly attacking her and how he continued to do so despite her being involved with several agencies who tried to help her.

She eventually managed to get away from him when she decided she couldn’t take his treatment any more.