Man found guilty of murdering midwifery student whose body has never been found

Shohfah-El Israel, 40, of Cricklewood, north London has been convicted of murdering midwifery student Joy Morgan.

The 20-year-old midwifery student's body has never been recovered, despite extensive police searches of hundreds of acres of land in Hertfordshire.

Israel was convicted by a jury of eight women and four men on a single count of murder.

He lied to the police when he was arrested, saying he had dropped Ms Morgan off at her student accommodation in Hatfield after a celebratory dinner at the American-founded Israel United in Christ Church they attended in Ilford, east London, on December 26.

He later admitted he had in fact spent two nights alone with the University of Hertfordshire student in his Cricklewood flat, but claimed his lies were due to concerns about having broken church rules banning women from being alone with men other than their husbands.

After killing Ms Morgan he attempted to cover his tracks by removing her number from a church Telegram group chat, the court heard, and even kept up the pretence by going to her student house share under the guise of checking on her in the days after she apparently went missing.

A signal from Ms Morgan's phone, which has never been found, was detected in Israel's car in the Stevenage area on December 28, at which point the jury was told he was most likely "looking for somewhere to dispose of the body".

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Despite days of police searches in that area, Ms Morgan's body has not been found.

The keys to her accommodation were discovered in the footwell of his car after his arrest in February.

From the witness box he told the jury that Ms Morgan – who he denied having sex with, claiming he saw her as a daughter – had told him she wanted to leave the church.

But fellow worshippers told the court they were shocked by the idea that she might quit the church so suddenly, saying she had found the "familial love" there that she had been craving.

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