A man accused of killing a young mum and burning her body in an oil drum described himself as a "psychopath with a conscience" who had done "monstrous" things, a court has heard.

Mark Brown, 41, is accused of killing Alexandra Morgan, 34, from Sissinghurst, who was last seen at a petrol station in the county on Remembrance Day last year.

Brown, from East Sussex, is also said to have murdered Leah Ware, 33, whose body has never been found. He denies both charges.

His trial began this week at Hove Crown Court where Duncan Atkinson KC, prosecuting, set out the Crown’s case during his opening statement.

Outlining the case against Brown, Mr Atkinson said: "On November 14 2021 a 34-year-old woman named Alexandra Morgan disappeared.

"She had lived in Cranbrook in Kent, was a single parent and had two children she raised."

He told the court Ms Morgan had worked as a sex worker, and had arranged to meet Brown, a groundworks labourer and weekend security guard, at his "hobby" yard at Little Bridge Farm, near Hastings after meeting online.

CCTV was shown to the jury of her last public appearance at a petrol station forecourt near her home. Cell tower records and ANPR cameras were used by investigators to trace Ms Morgan's journey in her White Mini Cooper as she travelled to the yard Brown rented in East Sussex.

Her car can be seen pulling up at the site in Rock Lane before following Brown's gold Jaguar up a dirt road.

Mr Atkinson also read aloud a message allegedly sent by Brown to a friend in which he described himself as a “psychopath with a conscience” and hinted at what the prosecution allege to be the methods used to dispose of both Ms Morgan and Ms Ware's remains.

The message read: “I’m going to be very careful how I word this – it happened again, not very long ago when disposing of something.

“It’s a very unpleasant thing to do – an old oil drum, five litres of diesel, and hey presto, there’s not very much left.

“The things I have done weigh heavily on my heart..."

“It gets hot, very hot, it glows almost white.

“The things I have done weigh heavily on my heart, on my head and my soul. A psychopath with a conscience – it’s a joke really.”

In a previous court appearance Brown admitted to destroying Ms Morgan's body by fire "in a panic", claiming it to be an accident.

Brown was charged with the murder of Ms Morgan in November 2021 and Ms Ware in February of this year.

While the remains of Ms Morgan were discovered Ms Ware's body has not yet been found.

Like the Kent woman, Ms Ware, a mother-of-three from Hastings, East Sussex, was also a sex worker operating on the same website as Ms Morgan, and first met Brown as a client in March 2018.

Ms Ware was described to the court as having led a "chaotic life with a history of mental illness and drug use". She was last seen by a friend in the early hours of May 6, 2021.

The court heard that the accused lived a double life having had a son with an existing partner before striking up a four-year romantic relationship with Ms Ware who referred to Brown as her "sugar daddy".

Jurors were told the affair developed with Ms Ware living with Brown, first in a static caravan and then in a converted shipping container inside a barn on the site, until the prosecution say she was killed on May 7 2021.

In the months before her disappearance Ms Ware confided to a friend she "was scared of him" and was "a voluntary prisoner".

She told another friend that Brown wanted to photograph her bound and that he sometimes locked her up inside the shipping container.

"It is a story of an increasingly controlling relationship in which Leah was expected to be subservient," Mr Atkinson said.

"There were restraints on Leah both physically and through the locking of doors."

Text exchanges read aloud to jurors described how Ms Ware, who had worked at the Mecca Bingo hall in Ashford, had grown frustrated at direction of the relationship and Brown's lack of time for her.

For several months Ms Ware had lived at the farm with her two dogs, a mastif called Duke and a Pomeranian called Lady, to whom she was devoted.

In the days immediately after the prosecution say she died, Duke was rehomed with Brown’s sister but Lady has not been seen since.

However, during a police search of Little Bridge Farm, the skeletal remains of a Pomeranian were found in a pond on the site, at the end of a collar and lead tied to a dumbbell weight. The prosecution argue that these are Lady’s bones.

Ms Ware’s remains have never been found and Brown maintains she is still alive.

But in messages to friends Brown told different people what the prosecution claims to be "conflicting accounts". This included telling one friend she had "lots of demons" and had been “sectioned” to “a mental hospital”.

While in another exchanges he is alleged to have remarked that she had “killed herself”, telling one close confidant she was “at peace”, referring to her in the past tense.

The court also heard how Ms Ware had recently had a pregnancy terminated.

In the months after her disappearance Brown continued to collect her medication for depression and anxiety from a Lloyds pharmacy near his lock-up. A stash of her prescriptions were later located in the footwell of his van, the court heard.

Jurors were also told how Brown continued to manage her finances and used bank cards belonging to Ms Ware, which had been redirected to his sister's address, to withdraw money from a cashpoint long after her last known sighting.

The prosecution alleges this is part of a "false trail" to create the "untrue" narrative Ms Ware is still alive.

The trial, which is expected to last five weeks, continues.