The Metropolitan Police have declared “Londoners should be reassured by our work” as it rejects the findings from an inquiry that evidence institutional corruption.
The corruption claims concern the unresolved murder of Daniel Morgan, a private investigator, who was found dead in a car park after being attacked with an axe outside a pub in East-London in 1987.
Following a series of unsuccessful investigations into his death, Mr Morgan’s family took the decision to sue the Met on the basis they had concealed and denied its failings over the unsolved murder.
At the time, Metropolitan Police Chief Dame Cressida Dick issued an apology to the family of Mr Morgan, a father of two, saying it was a “matter of great regret that no-one has been brought to justice and that our mistakes have compounded the pain suffered by Daniel’s family”.
Metropolitan Police chief Dame Cressida Dick
Jonathan Brady
Publishing its formal response to the independent inquiry’s findings on Friday, the Met said it accepted the recommendations and have been “working to address them”.
The Met said those responsible for the murder have managed to escape justice, “for now” but insisted it had not “given up on this case”.
The statement said: “There still remains a possibility of solving this murder. Our work to make that happen will not stop no matter how much time passes”.
It accepted “corruption was a major factor in the failings of the first investigation, but we do not accept that we are institutionally corrupt as has been suggested”.
Daniel Morgan, a private investigator who was killed with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London
Family handout
Officers are “receiving refreshed training, improved guidance and clear directions for the handling of sensitive information” and the force has “improved and formalised” how it cooperates with independent inquiries being carried out into its work, it said.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray, who leads the response to the report, said: “There is undoubtedly more to do, but Londoners should be reassured by our work to address this report.
“We will use our response to these recommendations, as well as our commitments to build trust and confidence more generally, to be the police service that London deserves.”
A £50,000 cash reward for information leading to a successful prosecution – one of the largest rewards ever made available by a UK police force – is still being offered.
The IOPC said: “We are undertaking our own assessment to determine whether there are any conduct matters identified within the report for any named police officer, including the Commissioner and former commissioners, that may require a referral to us”.
The Met have recently come under further fire after police officers strip searched a black schoolgirl who was on her period.
The student was removed from an exam and forced to remove her sanitary pad because she "smelt of cannabis".
Following a safeguarding review, three officers are now under investigation for their role in the “humiliating and traumatising” strip search.