Daniel Morgan Independent Panel Report

On 10 March 1987, Daniel Morgan's body was found in the car park of a public house in south London. By any standards it was a brutal murder - Wikipedia. Prosecutions against a number of individuals were abandoned in 2009.

The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel was established in 2013 by the Home Secretary - (at the time, Theresa May MP) - to "shine a light" on the circumstances of Daniel Morgan's murder in 1987 and the handling of the case over the period since 1987. The Independent Panel was chaired by Baroness O'Loan DBE and issued its three volume report on 15 June 2021.

A debate concerning publication

of the report took place in the House of Commons on 24 May 2021 - Hansard 24 May 2021 and Westminster Daily 25 May 2021.

The report was published on the gov.uk website on 15 June 2021 - see the report.

A further debate was held in Parliament on 15 June 2021 - Hansard.

The Metropolitan Police issued a statement regretting its failure to bring those responsible for the murder to justice. The Police apologised to Mr Morgan's family for the failings. The Police also accepted that "corruption and malicious acts of corrupt individuals" were a major factor in the failure of the first investigation. The statement continued by claiming that the "Met" has "transformed how we investigate homicide and major crimes as well as how we identify misconduct, root out corruption and conduct forensic, covert operations and vetting."

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner has stated that she will not resign as a result of the report. (Over the 34 years since the murder there have been 8 Metropolitan Police Commissioners).

The Independent Panel's report is lengthy and very detailed. For the purposes of this post it will suffice to note that the Panel arrived at its own definition of "corruption" and how it did so is explained in the report Volume 1. For the panel's purposes, corruption essentially meant improper behaviour by action or omissions for direct or indirect benefit. 

The Panel found evidence of Police corruption in relation to the investigation of the murder but it did not find evidence capable of proving Police involvement in the actual murder.

The Panel did not have any statutory powers and the report notes that "this resulted in ongoing problems." The report comments - "It is to be hoped that lessons will be learned from our experience, for the benefit of future inquiries and panels."

The many recommendations in the report include -

and

17 June 2021.

Update July 2022:

Daniel Morgan Independent Panel Report: Metropolitan Police Service - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Update August 2022:

IOPC-assessment-of-the-Daniel-Morgan-report-Aug2022_0.pdf (policeconduct.gov.uk)