Daniel Morgan axe murder report delayed by Home Office

The handling of Daniel Morgan's murder has been the subject of five inquiries

A report into the failure of police to find the killers of a man three decades ago will be "reviewed" by the Home Secretary before it is made public.

Private investigator Daniel Morgan was found dead in a London pub car park in 1987 with an axe in his head.

A panel looking at the Met Police's handling of the murder was due to publish its findings on 17 May.

However, it was told government lawyers would examine the document first on the grounds of "national security".

Panel chairperson Baroness Nuala O'Loan said the measure was "unnecessary" and "not consistent with the panel's independence".

Baroness Nuala O'Loan and Home Secretary Priti Patel

When Mr Morgan, who was from Monmouthshire, was discovered in Sydenham, south London, in March 1987 he had not been stripped of his valuables - but notes he was earlier seen writing in the pub had been ripped from his trouser pocket.

There have been five separate failed investigations over the years; a trial was abandoned in 2011, and the inquiries have been plagued by allegations of police corruption and links between police, private investigators and journalists.

Theresa May, who set up the panel in 2013, described Mr Morgan's death as "one of the country's most notorious unsolved murders".

The panel released a statement saying that in the subsequent eight years there had been "no mention" of any need to review the report before publication. It also gave details of how both national security and human rights legislation had been adhered to.

Timeline: Daniel Morgan axe murder

The panel was originally told Home Secretary Priti Patel would be unable to table the report in Parliament on 17 May as planned because of delays caused by the Duke of Edinburgh's death and local elections.

A new date of 24 May was set, but the government has now said no publication date will be agreed until Home Office lawyers have decided whether to redact parts of the document "for national security and duties under the Human Rights Act".

The remit for the inquiry panel was to "shine a light on the circumstances of Daniel Morgan's murder, its background and the handling of the case over the whole period since March 1987."