The Moroccan wife of a British businessman who mysteriously died on holiday ‘cleared out’ their £2,000-a-month rented within weeks of his death, neighbors claim.
Company director Allen McKenna, 47, died in mysterious circumstances during a break with his wife Majda Mjaoual two months ago and he was buried in a cemetery in the Moroccan city of Casablanca shortly afterwards.
His father Alan Moorhead claims to have received a video call on February 22 from his daughter-in-law, who is 22 years his son’s junior, where he could tragically see his son’s body. He claims he has heard nothing from Mjaoual since.
However Mjaoual says she told McKenna’s father his son had died at her family home from a heart attack and had been unwell for several weeks, but he claims she has refused to hand over a death certificate or tell him where his son is buried.
Now MailOnline can reveal neighbors of the couples rented home in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, said they saw Mjaoual clearing out the home with people who they believed were her relatives around two weeks ago.
They claimed possessions had been moved by two removal vans – both with foreign number plates. The property was also marketed to let on February 28 – less than a week after McKenna’s body was seen by his father.
When MailOnline visited the four-bed detached new-build, the property had been completely emptied, with even the light bulbs taken from their fixtures.
“We saw that the house was up for rent and we just stopped seeing Allen,” a neighbor told MailOnline: “I thought they’d split up because we stopped seeing him.”
Explaining how the couple shared a Chow-Chow dog together, the resident said Mr McKenna would ‘always’ walk the dog, but before Ms Mjoual moved out of their shared property she was seen taking the pet for walks with her mother.
‘Two vans with foreign number plates turned up,’ They added: ‘I assumed it was her family helping her move out because they were wearing hijabs and they looked familiar with each other.
‘She moved out all their stuff about two weeks ago.’
Another neighbor described Allen as “really friendly” but that Miss Mjaoual was not often seen.
“We just stopped seeing him and then she started walking the dog,” they added.
“I’d say maybe a week before she moved out, I saw her with her mum walking the dog.”
“I remember thinking it’s not normal to have removal vans with foreign number plates, so I presumed she was moving out of the UK.”
“There were quite a lot of family relatives. Sisters, a mum, maybe an aunt, and then there was an old man. They all looked Moroccan.”
“Allen was very into fitness. He was a big guy but really, really lovely. They’d lived there for around two years.”
Mystery surrounds the death of McKenna, but now MailOnline has pieced together the fullest picture yet of his passing, having spoken to his widow and friends.
We have learned details of how he converted to Islam, how the couple married in a mosque – and how he was certified after his death overseas.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline Mjaoual described the death as a “personal matter” and added: “His father is harassing me, and you don’t know what’s going on. If his father wants to know anything he can use lawyers,” she later added.
“When Allen passed away, I informed the authorities in Casablanca and the British consulate, then I called his father, I asked him if he would like to come to Morocco he didn’t.
“I explained everything to Alan and the Foreign Office in London also said that I didn’t have to call his parents, they would do it, at the time I was extremely upset and very emotional.”
“I am really fed up with Alan because he has been so unfair and so unreasonable. He knows everything that happened.”
“Allen passed away at my home in Casablanca in his sleep and he was buried after an autopsy. He was an amazing guy, the best person I have ever met.”
“I loved that man for seven years, he was wonderful, I looked after him when he was ill but I will not have anything to do with his father.”
“There is a lot of animosity between Allen’s father and Majda. The will names Majda as the sole beneficiary,” a pal said.
“Allen and Majda had a big falling out with his dad, his mum was OK, but his dad wasn’t happy about the relationship.”
McKenna, who ran brewing firms and a security company, met Mjaoual in London in 2017 shortly after he left his first wife, and he converted to Islam with the two later marrying in a ceremony conducted by the Regents Park Mosque imam.
He was originally from Harrogate but had moved to Adelaide with his parents and siblings in the late 1970s. He later moved back to the UK where became a successful businessman.
Initially he lived in London with Mjaoual, who was working as a waitress when they met, but they then moved to Harrogate where his companies were based and where he still had extended family.
MailOnline has a certificate which shows how McKenna converted to Islam and later married Mjaoual at their home in south London, with the certificate signed by Kazi Luthfur Rahman who is still at the Regents Park Mosque.
“This all boils down to Allen converting to Islam which didn’t go down well with his father, his mother was OK, but Alan just didn’t agree with it,” the pal added.
“Some of the messages he got from his dad were awful. The thing is his father and mother have both been to Morocco to see her family.”
“But Alan has been vile to her, Allen didn’t have a good relationship at all with his dad. They often had arguments, but he got on OK with his mother.”
The day before McKenna died, Mjaoual posted on her Instagram a clip of her arriving at what is thought to be Gatwick airport before taking an easyJet flight to Morocco.
“That airport feeling especially when the destination is your home country,” she captioned it
MailOnline has seen a Moroccan death certificate that lists his death the day after they arrived and gives his place of death as a residential address in Casablanca. It is signed by Dr Abdelilah Lekbiri, a forensic medicine specialist.
“Allen’s conversion really rankled with his dad and this is what has caused all the problems,” the pal added.
“Allen had been in and out of hospital the last few weeks before he died,” the pal said.
“He was warned he wasn’t in good health and was treated at Lewisham hospital for five days.”
“All the money has gone to her and that’s what this is about.”
McKenna lived in a large detached house in Harrogate, one of the most desirable towns in the UK, but it’s unclear what the source of his evident wealth was.
Companies House records show McKenna as the director of McKenna Investment Management and McKenna Global Services with Mjaoual listed as a company secretary for both firms.
On his LinkedIn page he wrote: “Someone who has learned from his mistakes and that success isn’t about being great, it’s about being consistent. Consistent hard work breeds success.”
An online profile reveals how he “bounced back from setbacks to create successful brewing and security enterprises.”
Companies House records show that McKenna had a current balance of £87,323 and was owed £1.178 million.
A search of probate records failed to reveal any will details, although this is not unusual as the death was only registered two months ago.
One of the companies in his name is McKenna Brewery, based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Mjaoual is listed as the company secretary.
Brewing had stopped at the business today and the gates were padlocked.
Neighboring businessmen, unaware of McKenna’s death, said the company’s three or four staff haven’t been working in the brewery for a few weeks now.
Mjaoual’s social media – which has since been deleted – showed her in various glamorous locations across the world on luxury holidays including Tokyo, Rome, Paris, Seoul and Dubai.
Although she appears in all of the pictures intriguingly there are none of her with Allen.
A spokesman for the Foreign Office told MailOnline: “We are supporting the family of a British man following his death in Morocco and are in contact with the local authorities.”
North Yorkshire Police, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Interpol are also said to be investigating.
