Daniel Morgan murder: Met sorry for not disclosing documents at HQ

Daniel Morgan was found with an axe in his head outside the Golden Lion pub

The Metropolitan Police has apologised for not disclosing documents relating to the murder of a private detective which it says were found in a locked cabinet at its headquarters.

Daniel Morgan was found with an axe in his head in the car park of a pub in Sydenham, south-east London, in 1987.

The Met was institutionally corrupt in its handling of elements of the case, an independent panel found in 2021.

The latest failure is "unacceptable and deeply regrettable", the Met says.

Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said: "We are working to understand what has taken place and any impact. We apologise to the family of Daniel Morgan and to the panel."

Nobody has been convicted of Daniel Morgan's murder

Thirty-seven documents spanning 95 pages that should have been disclosed to the panel led by Baroness O'Loan were found in the locked cabinet at New Scotland Yard in January and an assessment started in February, the Met said.

The force also admitted a further 23 documents across 71 pages should have been shared with the police watchdog, which in a separate March 2022 report found the Met's approach to tackling corruption within its ranks to be "fundamentally flawed" .

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: "This is clearly unacceptable and should never have happened."

• Timeline: Daniel Morgan axe murder

• I don't accept Met's apology - Daniel Morgan's son

• Daniel Morgan: Five investigations, not one conviction

No-one has been convicted over father-of-two Mr Morgan's death, with the Metropolitan Police previously admitting corruption hampered the original murder investigation and apologising to his family.

His family believes the police corruption, and reluctance to confront it, could explain the murder and the failed investigations into the killing.

Although Mr Morgan's brother Alastair says he is not surprised by the latest development, he puts it down to "incompetence [and] error" rather than malice.

Alastair Morgan has spent 36 years campaigning for justice for his brother

Speaking to BBC Radio London, he said: "I'm despairing of the police but, again, that's really nothing new for me.

"It's not like this has shaken me to the core or anything like that - it's just same old, same old."

Mr Morgan, from Llanfrechfa near Cwmbran in South Wales, died outside the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham on 10 March 1987.

The police watchdog review last year found then-Met Police chief Dame Cressida Dick may have breached professional standards between 2013-15, when she was an assistant commissioner, by obstructing the work of an inquiry into the case - something she denied.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said Dame Cressida appeared to have "acted in the genuine belief she had a legitimate policing purpose", due to concerns about protecting information but "may have got it wrong".

Since Mr Morgan's death, there have been five inquiries and an inquest at an estimated cost of more than £40m.

The 2021 report from the Baroness O'Loan panel said there were several theories regarding possible motives to harm the private investigator, among them:

• He was on the verge of revealing links between corrupt police officers and organised criminals

• He had mentioned to friends he had been offered £250,000 by a Sunday newspaper for an expose on how he got his information

• Police officers in south-east London who were allegedly making money by selling information and moonlighting as security guards were concerned he was about to expose them, although the report claims this motive was never seriously investigated

• Mr Morgan had worked as a bailiff and the day before his murder he served a court summons on a man who had previous convictions for violent offences

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