Dad of Brit who died on holiday with wife calls for body to be exhumed (2025)

A grieving dad has urged authorities to exhume the body of his wealthy businessman son who died in mysterious circumstances while on holiday in Morocco with his glamorous wife.

Allen McKenna, 47, died two months ago just hours after landing in the north African country with his wife of seven years Majda Mjaoual, 27, who he had married under Islamic law.

Brewing and security boss Mr McKenna was buried just 48 hours after he died in keeping with Muslim tradition, but his devastated dad Alan Moorhead has demanded authorities exhume him from the Casablanca cemetery where he is buried.

In his first interview with a British news organisation Mr Moorhead, who is originally from Leeds, but moved to Australia with Allen when he was a young boy said, 'there are too many questions that need answering.'

Speaking from Adelaide where he lives, Mr Moorhead, 77, told MailOnline: 'I just want my lad here with us in Australia or back in Yorkshire where he was born, he shouldn't be where he is, it's just not right.

'He deserves to be somewhere that his family can visit him, not in a cemetery in Casablanca. There are just too many questions that need answering and Majda isn't helping at all.

'I want the authorities to exhume him and look into the circumstances of how he died, we haven't been told anything, and we haven't got any paperwork we don't even know where exactly he's buried.'

Mr Moorhead said the first he knew that his son – who relocated back to Yorkshire ten years ago – had died, was when he received a video call from Ms Mjaoual on February 22 from her flat in Casablanca.

He said:' I could see Allen on the bed, he looked as if he were sleeping, he was fully clothed. I said, 'take the phone over to let me see him' and then her brother walked in and said 'Don't worry we will bury him on Monday'.

'It's ridiculous, she hasn't told any of my family at all, where my son is buried, we just don't know where he is so how can we pay our last respects.'

Last week Ms Mjaoual told MailOnline she and Mr McKenna had married in 2017 in a ceremony conducted under Islamic law at their then home by an imam from Regents Park Mosque in London after they had met while he was providing security at a restaurant where she was working.

However, Alan Moorhead disputes her version of events saying: 'The whole thing stinks and the family and I want some answers we want the truth. What really happened?

'He had a Harley, he had an Audi TT and he had a helicopter, where is all that now? What about the business he had? The brewery and the security firm? I've heard she's taken it all over without consulting any of us.'

'Everyone who knew my son adored him he was a lovely man, very well educated and very successful businessman.'

Mr Moorhead then sensationally claimed: 'Look we want justice. He worked hard and he played hard, Allen was a great boss, and he built up a good successful career.'

Last week Ms Majoual claimed there had been animosity between Mr Moorhead and herself after his son had converted to Islam and that the row was over the fact she would 'inherit everything' as sole executor of his will.

But Mr Moorhead insisted: 'There is no way he would have converted; he wasn't at all religious and I just don't believe he would have converted to Islam. I want a post mortem and I want to see the results and I want to know how he died.

'She keeps saying they were in love and a couple and she's always posting on social media pictures of herself here there and everywhere, but I've never seen a picture of the two of them together.

'She has taken him for a ride, he bought her an Audi TT and where's that? Like I said where is his Harley? He had a McLaren, where's that?

'He ran a brewing business so how can he have turned Muslim? It just doesn't add up.'

He bought her handbags, shoes, jewellery, he was infatuated with her, I think she's 100 per cent a gold digger. This is worse than watching an Agatha Christie movie because at least with that you know the ending.

'We haven't seen any documentation about his death. I miss him more than anything. He was raised in the church of England, and he went to a Catholic school, there is no way he converted to Islam.

'Technically I am the next of kin, I am his father, I don't care about his money, I just want him out of Morocco with a postmortem and then I want him in either England or Australia where we can get a plaque for him and pay our respects.'

Ms Majoual has insisted she registered Mr McKenna's death with authorities and shared his certificate with MailOnline as well as documents showing how he converted in 2017 and their marriage.

She said she spoke to Moroccan authorities and the British consulate and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and then buried him in Arraham Cemetery on the outskirts of Casablanca.

Ms Mjaoula, is prolific on social media and has more than 24,000 followers on Instagram and 48,000 on TikTok but she has closed her profile after receiving abusive messages following Mr McKenna death.

She shared posts of herself shopping at designer stores such as Louis Vuitton, Prada and Chanel as well as on holidays in Amsterdam, Rome, Tokyo and Seoul.

When asked about the missing vehicles she told MailOnline: 'I think his dad is delusional. The Audi was on lease and went back to the company last year, the Harley was sold and there was never a Mclaren.

'He had a pilot's licence was taking helicopter lessons with Yorkshire Helicopter, but he didn't own a helicopter.'

A spokesperson for the FCDO said:' We are supporting the family of a British man following his death in Morocco and are in contact with the local authorities.'