A student who was last seen alive in Ilford cried at a church event on the day she went missing
She has not been seen since and fellow worshipper Shohfah-El Israel, 40, is on trial for her murder.
The 20-year-old had previously told church member Laurine Leach that she had not started a university assignment which was due soon and that she was unhappy in her student house share, the court heard.
But the witness, who changed her name by deed poll to Lydia Israel, said she did not ask Ms Morgan what the cause of her upset was.
The witness, who agreed with a suggestion that she was something of a mother figure to Ms Morgan, said: “She started to cry and I didn’t want to draw any attention to her at that point because I didn’t want her to be embarrassed.
“She didn’t cry for long because I kind of respectfully just didn’t want anybody else to see that she was crying so I kind of dampened it down.”
Another church member Trine Samba, known as Sister Yahzel, was also at the event, which included a dinner and games, and said Ms Morgan had seemed “really down”.
She told the court: “Throughout the day she was quite isolated. She kept herself to herself.”
Ms Morgan was not participating in the games with the others at the church in Ilford so Sister Yahzel said she approached her to ask what was wrong.
The witness told the court Ms Morgan asked her: “Do you ever feel like what if?”
Sister Yahzel added: “And I was waiting for her to say something but she didn’t. There was an awkward silence for a few seconds. I didn’t want to pry.”
Sister Yahzel described Ms Morgan as a “serious person” and said she was surprised when it appeared she had left the church, which the court has heard she saw as a family
