THE Burnley lodger accused of murdering his landlady and her mother in Southport has been found hanged in his prison cell.

Barry Morrow, 52, was awaiting trial for the murders of his ex-partner Angela Holgate, 54, and her mother 75-year-old Alice Huyton, who were found strangled at Mrs Holgate's Southport home on December 3.

His body was discovered by staff at HMP Manchester, formerly known as Strangeways, on Thursday. Morrow, who grew up in Brush Street, Burnley, went on the run after the killings and a Europe-wide search was launched by murder police.

A Prison Service spokesman said: "HMP Manchester prisoner Barry Morrow was found hanging in his cell at 2.18pm on Thursday.

Staff attempted resuscitation and paramedics attended but he was pronounced dead at 2.46pm. "As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will conduct an investigation."

Morrow was awaiting his next court appearance on March 19 where he was expected to enter a not guilty plea Liverpool Crown Court.

A two-week trial had been scheduled for May 7. Morrow became one of Britain’s most wanted men in December after the bodies of Mrs Huyton and Mrs Holgate were found and he was spotted in France.

After a five-day hunt, during which he made contact with the Lancashire Telegraph via Facebook, he arranged to hand himself in to police after consulting his Burnley-based solicitor Keith Rennison, of Donald Race and Newton.

Police then charged him with two counts of murder. John Huyton, Angela’s brother and Mrs Huyton’s son, said: “We are still grieving for the loss of Alice and Angela, two very special ladies who touched the lives of all who knew them.

“This news will not bring them back, but we feel this is an admission of guilt by Barry Morrow by taking his own life. "It is the wrong type of justice we were looking for and it doesn't make us feel any better as his death has left a lot of unanswered questions.

It is, however, another step towards closure for the family. "Alice and Angela will always be missed and in our thoughts."

Morrow’s cousin Peter Astbury, 64, of Coal Clough Lane, Burnley said: “By doing what he has done he has proved he was guilty.

What he did was pure evil. “None of the family heard from him while he was in prison, we think the guilt got too him and it was too hard inside.

“Rumours have been circulating he did this because he didn’t want to repay money he had borrowed from her.”

The former Ivy Bank High School and Hargher Clough Junior School pupil, a dad-of-one, had worked at the Warburton’s bakery and the Wood Top pub in Accrington Road, Burnley, before working as a travelling salesman. Greater Manchester Police said a post-mortem examination would now have to be carried out on Morrow’s body.

He had lived with Mrs Holgate for more than 12 months as her lodger. She met Morrow at the Flight Academy in Blackpool.

Close friend of Mrs Holgate, Jack Doyle, said: “Angela first spoke to me about Morrow after she met him in Blackpool on a flying lesson.

“He had clearly swept her off her feet with his charm. My initial impression of him was good, you had to take what he said with a pinch of salt but apart from that he seemed fairly normal.”

Mrs Huyton was last seen by her family on December 2 as she left to visit her daughter. Mrs Holgate, a divorced mother-of-two, had been ill and had not been seen out of the house where — she had lived for 20 years — since the previous week.

The pair were discovered by a family member and tests showed Mrs Holgate had died some time before her mother.