An independent panel has said the investigation of the unsolved murder of Daniel Morgan showed “a form of institutional corruption" within the Metropolitan Police.
Home Secretary Priti Pate, who was criticised last month for delaying the publication of the report, told the House of Commons it made for "deeply alarming" reading and showed there had been a "litany of mistakes" around the original investigation of the crime.
tl;dr
— davidallengreen (@davidallengreen) June 15, 2021
1999 - Macpherson report - Met Police 'institutionally racist'
2021 #DanielMorgan report - Met Police 'institutionally corrupt'
The problem with the Met police is the very barrel itself - and not a few apples
Mrs Patel said the Met’s actions had "irreparably damaged the chances of successful prosecution".
The independent investigation by a panel led by Baroness Nuala O’Loan - a former police ombudsman in Northern Ireland - was due to publish its report on Monday, 17 May, until Mrs Patel ordered a delay so it could be reviewed by Home Office lawyers.
When asked whether this panel report means “peace at last” @AlastairMorgan says this is ‘just a starter’. He doesn’t know yet what kind of role he’ll play yet. “I’ll be taking a key interest in what happens next”
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) June 15, 2021
That angered Mr Morgan’s family but on Tuesday, 15 June, they put out a statement which 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 found no fresh evidence of police involvement in the murder but said the original investigation was poor and a second probe was “pathetic”.
At a press conference Ms O’Loan said: "The family of Daniel Morgan has suffered grievously as a consequence of the failure to bring his murderer or murderers to justice: The unwarranted assurances which they were given, the misinformation which was put into the public domain, and the denial of failings in the investigation.”
An inquiry into the murder of Daniel Morgan has deemed the Met Police guilty of ‘institutional corruption’ and calls the charge ‘very current’.
— Byline TV (@BylineTV) June 15, 2021
Speaking about the case, Daniel’s brother @AlastairMorgan tells Byline TV “I don’t trust Britain”pic.twitter.com/vo5mzQgDpW
"We believe that concealing or denying failings, for the sake of an organization's public image is dishonesty, on the part of the organisation, for reputational benefit. This constitutes a form of institutional corruption," added Ms O’Loan.
In March 2011, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped murder charges against Morgan's former business partner Jonathan Rees, 56, Garry Vian, 50, and his brother Glenn, 52. Charges against former detective sergeant Sid Fillery, 63, and another man, James Cook, had been dropped in February 2010.
All five men have always strenuously denied any involvement in Morgan's murder.
Morgan and Rees were partners in a private detective firm, Southern Investigations but after Morgan's death the firm would become deeply involved in murky journalistic practices at the News of the World, which closed down in 2011 after details emerged of widespread phone hacking by journalists.
In 2017 Peter Jukes, co-author of the Untold podcast, told Sputnik he did not believe anyone would ever be convicted of Daniel's murder, because the first two inquiries had been so "thoroughly corrupted."
This otherwise helpful timeline of the #DanielMorgan case from the Times omits all mentions of News International/News UK employment of the suspects, and News of the World's attempt to derail the final two investigations pic.twitter.com/48AO4r5e0G
— Peter Jukes (@peterjukes) June 14, 2021