As it happened: Met Police apologises for axe murder case failings

Summary

Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick apologises for failure to catch Daniel Morgan's killer
"It is a matter of great regret that no one has been brought to justice and that our mistakes have compounded the pain," she says
Earlier, an Independent Panel published a long-awaited report into Mr Morgan's 1987 murder
The private investigator was found with an axe in his head in a pub car park in south London
The report accuses the police of "concealing or denying failings" which is "a form of institutional corruption"
Home Secretary Priti Patel says report "is deeply alarming and finds examples of corrupt behaviour"
Ms Patel also says report accused police of "a litany of mistakes" that "irreparably damaged the chances of successful prosecution"
After five separate police inquiries over 20 years, no one has been convicted of the murder
Daniel Morgan's family say they have been "failed...by a culture of corruption and cover-up in the Metropolitan Police"
Mr Morgan's brother Alastair says Met Police chief Cressida Dick should "absolutely" consider resigning
Then Home Secretary Theresa May announced the Independent Panel in 2013
Its remit included looking at police involvement in the murder, and police corruption
Chairman Baroness Nuala O'Loan criticises lack of co-operation from Met during the inquiry
"The consequential major delays...caused further unnecessary distress to the family," says Baroness O'Loan

Live Reporting

Edited by Owen Amos

What's happened so far?published at 12:25 British Summer Time 15 June 2021
On 20 May, Home Secretary Priti Patel told MPs she had not yet received the report into the unsolved murder.
A day prior, the family of Daniel Morgan had criticised the decision of the Home Secretary to review the report before it was made public.
The panel spokesperson, Baroness O’Loan, said the Home Office review was “unnecessary and not consistent with the panel’s independence”.
The independent panel was set up by former home secretary, and later prime minister, Theresa May, after a meeting with the family in 2011.
On 28 May, the government confirmed that the report would be published on June 15. The Home Secretary told MPs that nothing would be redacted from the publication.
A family's campaign for justicepublished at 12:20 British Summer Time 15 June 2021
Image caption,
Daniel Morgan's brother Alastair speaking to the BBC in 2013
Daniel Morgan's family believe he was on the verge of exposing police corruption when he was murdered in 1987.
His brother Alastair has long campaigned for an investigation into the handling of the case.
In 2013, when the independent panel investigation was announced, Alastair Morgan told the BBC he had “made a promise to expose the corruption”.
He said the family had endured "nothing less than mental torture" in trying to bring this to light.
"Through almost three decades of public protests, meetings with police officers at the highest ranks, lobbying of politicians, and pleas to the media, we have found ourselves lied to, fobbed off, bullied, degraded and let down time and time again."
Read more here.
Who’s on the Daniel Morgan panel?published at 12:14 British Summer Time 15 June 2021
Image caption,
Baroness O'Loan has chaired the panel since 2014
The five-member independent panel has been chaired by Baroness Nuala O'Loan, a crossbench peer who was Northern Ireland's first Police Ombudsman from 2000 to 2007.
She investigated thousands of cases including the police handling of the Omagh bombing in 1998 and police collusion with loyalist paramilitaries engaged in serious crimes between 1990 and 2002.
She was appointed in July 2014, replacing ex-judge Sir Stanley Burnton, who stepped down from the role the year before.
The other panel members are: criminologists Dr Silvia Casale and Prof Rod Morgan, ex-police officer and criminal investigator Michael Kellet, and Sam Pollock, ex-head of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
Who was Daniel Morgan?published at 12:09 British Summer Time 15 June 2021
Image source, PA
The murder of Daniel Morgan has never been solved.
The private investigator's body was found in a pub car park in South London in 1987. An axe was embedded in his head.
Despite numerous criminal investigations costing millions, no one has ever been convicted.
The case became bogged down, amid allegations of police corruption.
Daniel Morgan's family has continued to campaigned for justice, and for answers.
In 2013, then Home Secretary Theresa May announced that an independent judge led panel of experts would look at all aspects of the murder.
The inquiry examined claims of police involvement in the murder, and the lingering allegations that internal corruption prevented the Metropolitan Police from finding Daniel Morgan's killer.
The panel led by a former Court of Appeal judge Baroness Nuala O’Loan examined 750,000 pages of documents from the previous inquiries.
The panel completed its report this spring, and after an initial delay, Home Secretary Priti Patel said the report would be published to Parliament on 15 June, and nothing would be blanked out.
Read the full story here.
Good morningpublished at 12:04 British Summer Time 15 June 2021
Image source, Getty Images
Welcome to our live coverage.
We’ll bring you the home secretary’s statement on the report by the independent panel in to the murder of Daniel Morgan, who was killed in 1987.
Priti Patel will be at the dispatch box at 12:30 BST.
Do stay with us.