Daniel Morgan murder: Family hope inquiry will expose corruption

The family of private investigator Daniel Morgan have said they hope a public inquiry into his murder will expose alleged police corruption.

He was found with an axe in his head in a south London pub car park in 1987.

It has been claimed that police corruption prevented the murder from being solved despite six criminal investigations.

Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to announce an independent judge-led inquiry into the case.

Exposing police corruption

Mr Morgan's brother Alastair told the BBC's Newsnight programme "If we're going to deal with corruption in the police force, we have to look at it straight in the eye.

"We have to see how it works, the nuts and bolts of it, where it started, what decisions were made."

He said he hoped the scrutiny shown in the Leveson and Hillsbrough inquiries would be reflected in his brother's case.

But he said it was "extremely unlikely" now that anyone would be put on trial and convicted of Mr Morgan's murder.

Mr Morgan's family believe he was on the verge of exposing police corruption when he was murdered.

Since then they have campaigned for whoever killed him to be brought to justice.

The body of Mr Morgan, originally from Llanfrechfa, near Cwmbran, Torfaen, was found in Sydenham, south-east London, in 1987.

A trial of four men charged with his murder in 2008 collapsed in 2011, following alleged failures by the police and prosecutors.

Mr Morgan's mother Isobel Hulsmann, from Hay-on-Wye in Powys, met Mrs May at the end of 2011 to press the case.

BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds says that while a new inquiry might not entirely fulfil the Morgan family's desire for a full public inquiry - especially if it takes place behind closed doors - they will still have the ear of the panel and the chance to have a say about what questions are asked.

The home secretary appears to have chosen a method of investigation designed to satisfy them, without it becoming unmanageable, our correspondent adds.