Brother of Daniel Morgan hopes report will find ‘institutionalised corruption’
The brother of a private investigator whose murder became one of Scotland Yard’s longest-running cold cases hopes a long-awaited report into his death will find institutionalised corruption within the police.
Alastair Morgan has campaigned for decades for justice for
his brother 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.
Despite five police inquiries and an inquest, no-one has
been brought to justice over the father-of-two’s death, with the Metropolitan
Police admitting corruption had hampered the original murder investigation.
In 2013, then-home secretary Theresa May announced that an
independent panel was being set up to examine the case. It is due to report its
findings on Tuesday.
Mr Morgan has said he expects the report to contain “a
sizeable chapter on 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 panel’s remit was to address questions relating to the
murder including police handling of the case, the role corruption played in
protecting Mr Morgan’s killer, and the links between private investigators,
police and journalists connected to the case.
Speaking in May, Alastair Morgan told the PA news agency:
“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 – chaired by former Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Baroness Nuala
O’Loan – cost just over £14.1 million up to the end of 2019/20.
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