‘Real life Line of Duty’ as Home Secretary delays report into police and media corruption in unsolved murder case
The family of murdered private detective Daniel Morgan have once again been left in the dark after the Home Secretary stepped in to delay the publication of a long-awaited report into his death.
The father-of-two was found with an axe embedded in his head in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham on 10 March 1987. It is one of South London’s biggest unsolved murders.
But his murder, that inspired a recent plot line in the hit BBC crime show Line of Duty, remains unsolved 34 years later.
Rhondda MP Chris Bryant has now claimed News UK, once owners of the News of the World which paid Mr Morgan for stories, is involved in Priti Patel’s decision to hold up the report.
Mr Bryant secured an urgent question on the case, and told the Commons: “Daniel was axed to death in a car park on March 10 1987, 34 years ago, and thanks to corruption in the police and interference by News UK, the family have had no justice.
“That shames all of us.”
He accused Home Secretary Priti Patel of blocking the publication of the report and added: “Daniel’s brother Alastair told me ‘this has only added to our pain’ and he urges the Home Secretary speedily to reconsider her position and to put an end to this unnecessary situation.
“So will the minister agree a date with the independent panel and Daniel’s family today for publication this week?
“And will she undertake to publish the report in full without deletion, amendment or redaction, because people are worried that she’s not going to do that.”
Mr Bryant demanded details on any communications between Ms Patel and her officials with News UK representatives on the case. He added: “Will she publish the minutes of her and her department’s meetings with representatives of News UK over the last 12 months?”
Nobody has been brought to justice over the father-of-two’s death, despite five police inquiries, an inquest, and the Metropolitan Police admitting that corruption hampered the original murder investigation.
An inquiry panel set up in 2013 to look at the case had been expected to publish the report of its investigation into the role of police and media corruption in Mr Morgan’s killing today (May 24).
But on May 18, the Home Office said the report could not be published until the Home Security Priti Patel had reviewed it and made any changes she thought were necessary.
Mr Morgan’s son, also called Daniel, has since urged the Home Office to stand aside and said Ms Patel should bring “our torture to an end” by allowing the findings to be published.
Writing in The Guardian, Mr Morgan said: “I urge the home secretary to stand aside.
“You say you want to review the report over concerns relating to the Human Rights Act and national security.
“You know you have made no preparations for any such review, because none was ever envisaged on your part.
“You have said you understand how we feel and you don’t wish to compromise the integrity or the independence of the panel and their work.
“If this is true, we see no reason for you not to desist immediately, so that the panel’s report may be published as it stands without any further delay.”
Ms Patel herself told Channel 4 News that she thought it was important for her to look at the report before the information was entrusted to the public.
“I think it’s important that I, as home secretary, actually receive the report before it is published,” she said.
“I have yet to receive this report and I think it’s right that I receive the report and read it before laying it in parliament.
“That is standard practice when it comes to reports of this nature and that is absolutely the right process to follow.”
In a message posted on Friday, the murder victim’s brother Alastair Morgan, said: “Having been briefed by the panel on the current situation, all I can say at this moment is that discussions between the Daniel Morgan panel and the home secretary to resolve this situation are ongoing.”
He said that Ms Patel “would have received the report one day before publication, as is the convention, but she blocked publication and insisted she was entitled to redact if she saw fit”.
“This was not part of the deal.”
Earlier today he also tweeted: “It’s impossible not to suspect that @rupertmurdoch is somehow behind this delay in publication of the Daniel Morgan panel’s report.”
There is no official evidence of this.
It's impossible not to suspect that @rupertmurdoch is somehow behind this delay in publication of the Daniel Morgan panel's report.
— Alastair Morgan (@AlastairMorgan) May 24, 2021
A real life Line of Duty plot
Daniel Morgan was born in Singapore in 1949. In his late 20s he married Iris and they moved to Norwood, and had two children, Sarah and Daniel.
He had an exceptional memory for small details, such as car registration numbers
He first began working as a private investigator in London in January 1977, and in 1980, set up his own private investigation business, DJM Investigations, initially working from h
On the night of his death, March 10 1987, Daniel Morgan was having a drink with his business partner, Jonathan Rees, at the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham.
Morgan was said to be on the point of uncovering police corruption, but he was found with an axe lodged in his skull.
His watch had been stolen, but his wallet and £10,000 had not been taken.
His trouser pocket was torn, and notes that witnesses had seen him writing earlier, were missing.
A month after Daniel’s death, six men were arrested on the suspicion of murder – Mr Fillery, Morgan’s friend Jonathan Rees, two police officers, and the Vian brothers, Glenn and Gary.
But all six were released without charge.
Two months later, Detective Constable Alan Holmes, thought to have worked with Morgan on exposing police corruption, committed suicide under mysterious circumstances.
Allegations of police corruption and drug trafficking were made in the five police inquiries held in the 20 years following Morgan’s death.
Timeline of events
March 10, 1987: Daniel Morgan’s body, with an axe embedded in his head, is found in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham
April 3, 1987: Six men are arrested over the murder but police find there is not enough evidence to charge any of them
April 1988: Inquest at Southwark Coroner’s Court gives a verdict of unlawful killing
June 24, 1988: The Met refers the case to a police watchdog after allegations against the police by Mr Morgan’s family. A year later it concludes without any evidence supporting an allegation of criminal misconduct by Met officers
December 2000: Jonathan Rees, who said he used an extensive web of contacts to get confidential information, is jailed for six years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, increased to seven years on appeal, in an unrelated trial
October 2001: A review by the Met’s Murder Review Group recommends the case should be re-investigated
June 2002: Police appeal for witnesses and information on the case on the BBC’s Crimewatch
March 2006: Another investigation, Operation Abelard Two, begins
April 23, 2008: Jonathan Rees and brothers Glenn and Garry Vian are charged with murder along with a fourth man James Cook
March 2010: The four accused, who have been on remand, are granted bail after their time in custody goes over the set limit
Mid-2010: James Cook is discharged
March 2011: Mr Rees and Glenn and Garry Vian are formally acquitted
May 2013: Home Secretary Theresa May announces an independent inquiry into the Met’s handling of the murder.
February 2017: Mr Rees and Glenn and Garry Vian sue the Met Police for damages, but their claims are thrown out by a judge
November 2017: Mr Morgan’s mother Isobel Hulsmann dies age 89
July 5 2018: The Court of Appeal’s civil division rules in favour of Mr Rees and the Vian brothers
May 24 2021: An inquiry panel set up in 2013 to look at the case had been expected to publish the report of its investigation into the role of police and media corruption in Mr Morgan’s killing – but this was delayed by the Home Office on May 18.