The Real Unforgotten, a two-part ITV documentary now streaming on Netflix, has entered the platform's TV top 10 by revisiting the 1981 murder of Carol Morgan, a case that remained unsolved for over four decades until her husband was convicted in 2024.
Fresh investigation into 1981 killing
The documentary retreads the chilling murder of Carol Morgan, a 36-year-old convenience store owner found brutally killed in the stockroom of her shop in Linslade, Bedfordshire. The attack, carried out with an axe or machete, also saw the theft of £435 in cash and 1,400 cigarettes. At the time, police operated on the assumption that the murder was a robbery gone wrong, according to the documentary.
Carol's husband, Allen, was at a cinema with their two children during the attack. Despite this alibi, the documentary highlights that Allen and his mistress, Margaret Spooner, were not formally questioned under caution. Instead, police pursued a reported sighting of a man with carrier bags getting into a car, even though Carol was seen alive after that sighting.
Police blunders and forensic failures
The series reveals numerous police blunders in the initial investigation, including the loss of all forensic evidence. When the case was reopened in 2018, investigators had to start from scratch, relying on what former Detective Superintendent Carl Foster, the senior investigating officer, called 'old-fashioned detective work' in a 2025 BBC interview.
'Knocking on doors, re-interviewing people and seeing what changed,' Foster recalled. 'We always had a really strong circumstantial case, but you need direct evidence.' The team re-examined long-unanswered questions, such as why Allen reported the murder using a neighbour's phone despite having his own, and why he quickly sold the shop and married his mistress.
Key witness testimony and conviction
A breakthrough came when Jane Bunting, a teenager at the time of the murder, recalled Allen asking if her ex-boyfriend knew anyone who could kill. She later told Luton Crown Court: 'He'd say, “I hate Carol”, “I don't want to be married to her”, “I wish she'd die”, “Wouldn't an accident be nice?”.' This new evidence 'blew the case wide open,' according to the documentary.
In 2024, Allen was found guilty of hiring a hitman to murder his former wife. He was jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years. His current wife Margaret was found not guilty of the same charge.
Aftermath and ongoing questions
Former Det Supt Foster expressed pride in the team's work, saying: 'I feel hugely proud of what the team achieved just through their tenacity and that old-fashioned police work. We just kept grinding away and eventually we got there.' He also voiced concern for Carol's biological children, who must now 'come to terms with the fact that the man they called dad murdered their mother.'
Foster remains hopeful that Allen will one day reveal who he hired to kill his wife. The Real Unforgotten is available to stream on Netflix.
