Daniel Morgan axe murder inquiry finds ‘institutional corruption’ at Met Police

The Metropolitan Police has been branded “institutionally corrupt” by a long-awaited report into the axe murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan.

Mr Morgan was found dead in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London, on March 10 1987.

The final report into his murder – Britain’s most-investigated, unsolved murder – was published on Tuesday.

The independent panel examining the killing, chaired by former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Baroness Nuala O’Loan, called for Scotland Yard to apologise to Mr Morgan’s family.

Home Secretary Priti Patel told the House of Commons: “This is one of the most devastating episodes in the history of the Metropolitan Police.”

The Home Secretary has today written to Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick to demand a response to the issues outlined in the report – and will ask the HMICFRS watchdog to look into the issues too.

Asked if Dame Cressida should resign, Mr Morgan’s brother Alistair said on Tuesday: “Absolutely, she should consider her position.”

The Home Secretary told MPs the “deeply alarming” report “finds examples of corrupt behaviour”, and that “the Met Police made a litany of mistakes and this irreparably damaged the chances of successful prosecution of Daniel Morgan’s murderer.”

Ms Patel said: “Police corruption is a betrayal of everything policing stands for in this country. It erodes public confidence in our entire criminal justice system.”

She added: “It is devastating that 34 years after he was murdered, nobody has been brought to justice.”

Baroness O’Loan said: “We believe that concealing or denying failings, for the sake of an organisation’s public image is dishonesty on the part of the organisation for reputational benefit, and constitutes a form of institutional corruption.”

She called for the creation of a “statutory duty of candour” to be owed by all law enforcement agencies.

Baroness O’Loan was asked if she thought the panel’s findings were as important as those of the Macpherson report into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence which branded the Met Police as “institutionally racist”.

She said: “Yes I do. I think they are very, very important for the Metropolitan Police.”

In a statement through their lawyer, the family of Mr Morgan said: “We welcome the recognition that we – and the public at large – have been failed over the decades by a culture of corruption and cover up in the Metropolitan Police, an institutionalised corruption that has permeated successive regimes in the Metropolitan Police and beyond to this day.”

The report is highly critical of a number of senior serving and former Met officers including current commissioner Dame Cressida Dick, who is accused of failing to provide the panel with proper access to files.

The report said: “The consequential major delays to the Panel’s work, which inevitably added to the Panel’s costs, caused further unnecessary distress to the family of Daniel Morgan.”

Asked if Dame Cressida should resign, Baroness O’Loan said: “It is not a matter for us. We want the Metropolitan Police to take this report seriously.”

Despite five police inquiries costing the taxpayer an estimated £30 million and an inquest, no-one has been brought to justice over the father-of-two’s death.

It was not until 2011 that Scotland Yard finally admitted that corruption hampered the original murder investigation.

The report states: “When failings in police investigations are combined with unjustified reassurances rather than candour on the part of the Metropolitan Police, this may constitute institutional corruption. The Metropolitan Police’s culture of obfuscation and a lack of candour is unhealthy in any public service. Concealing or denying the failings, for the sake of the organisation’s public image, is dishonesty on the part of the organisation for reputational benefit. In the Panel’s view, this constitutes a form of institutional corruption.”

The publication follows a furious row between the Home Office, Independent Panel and Mr Morgan’s family over its release, which was originally due to take place in May.

After eight years in the making, the Home Office said that it may need to redact parts of the document on national security or human rights grounds.

But the panel said it had already worked with lawyers and security experts from the Metropolitan Police, calling the last-minute intervention “unnecessary” and “not consistent with the panel’s independence”.

Mr Morgan’s family said the move was a “kick in the teeth”, and called on Home Secretary Priti Patel to consider the distress the delay caused them.

An agreement was eventually reached that a small Home Office team could read the report in advance, and last week it was confirmed that the full, unredacted report would be published.

The brother of murdered private investigator Daniel Morgan had hoped the long-awaited report into his death would find institutionalised corruption within Scotland Yard.

Alastair Morgan has campaigned for decades for justice for Daniel, who was killed with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London, on March 10 1987.

Scotland Yard has previously admitted that corruption hampered the original murder investigation.

Mr Morgan previously said he expected the report to contain “a sizeable chapter on corruption”.

Speaking in May, he said: “I’m hoping to see a conclusion of institutionalised corruption. There’s been some very bad policing going on there.

“And not just at the beginning – it went on and on and on in one way or another.

“In the current situation I think it’s extraordinarily unlikely that anyone will ever be convicted of the murder because of the mess that has been made en route.

“Nor do I believe that any of the police officers who were involved in discreditable activity or activity that is criticised by the panel will face any disciplinary or criminal action.

“But I just hope that this situation, this kind of injustice, will be highlighted by the panel.”

A series of police investigations have been held into the murder in the last three-and-a-half decades.

In February 1989 Mr Morgan’s business partner Jonathan Rees and his associate Paul Goodridge were charged with murder, and Mr Goodridge’s girlfriend Jean Wisden was charged with perverting the course of justice.

But three months later the case was dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, and Mr Goodridge went on to sue Hampshire Constabulary over the charge.

Later, in 2008, five people were charged in relation to the case – Mr Rees, his brothers-in-law Glenn and Gary Vian, and an associate James Cook, were charged with Mr Morgan’s murder, while former police officer Sid Fillery was charged with perverting the course of justice.

But police failures in disclosing evidence and handling of key witnesses led to the prosecution collapsing by March 2011.

Eight years later in 2019, Mr Rees and the Vian brothers were each awarded six-figure sums in damages after suing the Metropolitan Police for malicious prosecution.

It is estimated that the five police inquiries cost around £30 million, while according to statements posted on its website, the panel itself cost just over £14.1 million up to the end of 2019/20.

Timeline of a case blighted by police corruption

Despite five police investigations costing the taxpayer £30 million no-one has ever been brought to justice for the 1987 axe murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan. Scotland Yard has previously admitted the original inquiry was blighted by police corruption.

Here is a timeline of key dates:

• March 10 1987: Daniel Morgan is murdered with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London.
• April 1988: An inquest into his death records a verdict of unlawful killing.
• June 1988: Hampshire police begin investigating the murder and the Metropolitan Police handling of the case.
• February 1989: Mr Morgan’s business partner Jonathan Rees and his associate Paul Goodridge are charged with murder and Mr Goodridge’s girlfriend Jean Wisden is charged with perverting the course of justice.
• May 1989: The case is dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service. Mr Goodridge later sues Hampshire Constabulary.
• 1997: A new investigation is opened into Mr Morgan’s death, but ends when separate crimes are uncovered. In September 1999, Mr Rees is charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over a plot to plant cocaine on a woman involved in a custody dispute, and later jailed for six years, raised to seven years on appeal.
• Late 2000: A formal review is carried out of the case, which leads to another investigation opening the following year. It is closed in March 2003 with no charges brought.
• February 2004: Mr Morgan’s family call on the Government to open a public inquiry into the case, but it is refused.
• April 2008: Five people are charged in connection with the case. Jonathan Rees, his brothers-in-law Glenn and Garry Vian, and an associate, James Cook, were charged with Mr Morgan’s murder, while former police officer Sid Fillery was charged with perverting the course of justice.
• March 2011: The prosecution collapses after police failings relating to disclosure of evidence and handling of informants. In the wake of the collapse, Detective Chief Superintendent Hamish Campbell and Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin both acknowledge that corruption hampered the early investigations into Mr Morgan’s death.
• 2013: Then-home secretary Theresa May announces that an independent panel will be set up to examine the case.
• July 2019: Mr Rees and the Vian brothers are all awarded six-figure sums in damages after successfully suing the Metropolitan Police for malicious prosecution. A High Court judge rules that Mr Rees and Glenn Vian should each receive £155,000, and Garry Vian should get £104,000.
• May 18 2021: The Independent Panel is due to publish its report, but suffers delays due to the Home Office initially claiming no Parliamentary time can be found to make publication possible, and then insisting it wishes to review the document and make redactions as it sees necessary on national security or human rights grounds.
• May 28: An agreement is reached that a small team of Home Office officials will be allowed to read the report before its publication on June 15, with any redactions marked in footnotes. Mr Morgan’s family will also be allowed to read the full report.
• June 8: The Home Office confirms that the full, unredacted report will be published on June 15.