The Met failing to learn how to tackle corruption from lessons of Sydenham muder of Daniel Morgan

THE Met’s approach to tackling police corruption is “not fit for purpose”, an inspector’s report into a notorious unsolved murder has said.

London’s top brass have failed to learn lessons from the 1987 murder of private detective Daniel Morgan, the findings say.

Its procedures for rooting out corrupt staff are “fundamentally flawed” and it has a “degree of indifference” to the risks, according to damning findings published today, Tuesday.

Mr Morgan, 37, was found dead in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham Road, Sydenham in 1987. He was reportedly investigating corruption within the ranks of the Met at the time.

A £50,000 cash reward – one of the largest ever offered by a UK police force – is still being offered for information leading to a successful prosecution.

The Home Secretary called in Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) after an independent inquiry into how the force handled Mr Morgan’s case by Baroness O’Loan last year found it was institutionally corrupt.

Now Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr has said the Met had “sometimes behaved in ways that make it appear arrogant, secretive and lethargic”.

He wants the watchdog’s 20 recommendations for change to be “among the commissioner’s highest priorities” – to restore public trust in the force.

He said: “It is unacceptable that 35 years after Daniel Morgan’s murder, the Metropolitan Police has not done enough to ensure its failings from that investigation cannot be repeated.

“In fact, we found no evidence that someone, somewhere, had adopted the view that this must never happen again. This will be understandably distressing for Mr Morgan’s family and friends, to whom we send our condolences.

“We found substantial weaknesses in the Met’s approach to tackling police corruption. From failing to properly supervise police officers who have previously committed offences, to inadequate vetting procedures, and much more besides, it is clear that the current arrangements are not fit for purpose.

“The Met’s apparent tolerance of these shortcomings suggests a degree of indifference to the risk of corruption.”

According to the findings:

• In the last two years, the Met recruited people with criminal connections and more than 100 people who have committed offences. Some of these decisions “may have been justifiable, but the force failed to properly supervise these people to lessen the risks”;
• Property and exhibits procedures were “dire”. Hundreds of items were not accounted for, including cash and drugs. The security access code for a property store was written on the outside of the door, in one instance;
• The force does not know whether all those in sensitive posts – such as child protection, major crime investigation, and informant handling – have been cleared to the level of security vetting needed;
• More than 2,000 warrant cards issued to staff who have since left the force were unaccounted for;
• The Met still “does not have the capability to proactively monitor its IT systems, despite repeated warnings from the inspectorate”. Such monitoring is used by most forces to help identify corrupt staff.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “Whilst the report found some examples of impressive work, I am very disappointed that serious issues still persist.

“Standards must be immediately improved. I expect the mayor of London and the new commissioner to reverse these deficiencies as a matter of urgency.”

The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said: “The findings are deeply worrying.

“It is crystal clear to me that action needs to be taken at the highest levels of the Met in order to regain the trust and confidence of Londoners.

“Corruption has no place in the police service and with the failure to take adequate action, it’s another reason confidence in our police almost at an all-time low.”

The watchdog did acknowledge the force’s “capability to investigate the most serious corruption allegations is particularly impressive, and other police forces regularly call on their expertise” and also praised its confidential reporting line and the support it gives to whistleblowers.

It also recognised the Met had cut the number of personnel without security vetting.

The inspection also found “no evidence of any deliberate or co-ordinated attempts” by the Met to “frustrate” the work of the Morgan inquiry – and based on this inspection “it would not describe the Met as institutionally corrupt”.

Police pursued thousands of lines of inquiry and conducted six investigations into Mr Morgan’s death. Independent assessments and five forensic reviews have also been carried out.

Another forensic review of evidence linked to the case has now been commissioned.