Now blundering Met discover lost murder files in their own safe
‘Concealing its failings’
SCOTLAND Yard was left embarrassed yesterday after calling in the fire brigade to prise open their own safe and finding lost murder case files.
The Metropolitan Police was accused of trying to hide its failings after the documents that should have been shared with an inquiry into the unsolved murder of a private detective were found in a locked cabinet.
The files related to the murder of Daniel Morgan, who was killed with an axe in a pub car park in 1987, and whose shadow hangs over the force.
They had sat in the cabinet – on the same floor as senior officers at New Scotland Yard – for nine years before it was opened in January.
It is the latest blunder in the failed 36-year investigation into the killing.
But Mr Morgan’s family say they were not informed until Tuesday evening, after the Met received a press enquiry about the discovery.
The force admitted some of the files should have been shared with the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel, which found in June 2021 that institutional corruption had blighted its investigation.
In a statement issued last night, the family said: ‘We, the family of Daniel Morgan, are not surprised by this latest revelation concerning the Met and its handling of this whole sorry saga over the 36 years since Daniel’s murder in March 1987.
‘We were informed last night – by way of a letter from Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray – that these documents had been
“stored in a locked cabinet at New Scotland Yard following a handover between senior officers in 2014” and accessed only when “the
Met forced entry into this secure storage” in January 2023.
‘No explanation has been forthcoming as to why it took the Met over four months to inform us of this development.
‘In the circumstances, we consider we are entitled to ask whether the information has come to light only because, as we understand it, the media had already got hold of the story.
The statement added: ‘What we see here is precisely the kind of conduct that was identified as institutional corruption in the panel’s June 2021 report: It appears that the Met’s first objective remains to protect itself, concealing its failings for the sake of its public image and reputational benefit.’
The Met said 95 pages were identified that should have been disclosed with the panel led by Baroness O’Loan.
And a further 71 pages would have been provided to the inspectorate of constabulary as part of its subsequent investigation.
Private investigator and fatherof-two Mr Morgan was found with an axe in his head in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London, when he was aged 37.
Despite five police inquiries and an inquest spanning two decades, no one has ever been brought to justice for his murder.
The DMIP scrutinised more than 110,000 documents and its 1,200page report identified key opportunities to solve the case that were missed.
It listed several theories about why Mr Morgan was killed, including that he was on the verge of revealing links between corrupt police officers and organised criminals. His business partner Jonathan Rees was twice charged with the murder but no trial took place due to difficulties with evidence.
The Met assessment ruled that no evidential documents relating to criminal investigations into the murder were among the newly discovered files.
Ms Gray said: ‘We fully acknowledge how unacceptable and deeply regrettable this situation is.
‘We are working to understand what has taken place and any impact.’
She added: ‘We apologise to the family of Daniel Morgan and to the panel.’
The force tweeted its apology. It wrote: ‘We have apologised to the family of Daniel Morgan after documents were found.
‘Some of these should have been disclosed to the inquiry.’