From the first to last investigation into Daniel Morgan’s murder there were failures to adequately challenge and investigate allegations that officers had acted corruptly. That’s according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), after its assessment of the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel (DMIP) report. The IOPC says there are no new avenues for investigation which could now result in either criminal or disciplinary proceedings.
The Panel, in June 2021, reported on the failures of the police investigations into private investigator Daniel Morgan’s murder in south London in March 1987. The IOPC said it disagreed with the Met Police’s assessment of former Assistant Commissioner (AC) John Yates, who retired in 2011. The IOPC found an indication that he may have breached police standards of professional behaviour, relating to the second investigation into Mr Morgan’s murder, by failing to take action against the senior investigating officer, former Detective Chief Superintendent (DCS) Dave Cook.
Former DCS Cook’s actions led to the exclusion of key witness evidence from the trial, in 2011, of three defendants for Mr Morgan’s murder. Given former AC Yates’ retirement, disciplinary proceedings cannot be brought, and as an investigation would not provide any further information than that in the DMIP report, there are insufficient grounds to exercise IOPC power of initiative, the IOPC said.
The IOPC also disagreed with a MOPAC (Mayor of London’s police office) assessment of former Commissioner Cressida Dick’s conduct. The IOPC assessed that she may have breached police standards of professional behaviour by not providing full and exceptional disclosure to the DMIP sooner, although not to the extent that would justify disciplinary proceedings. On this basis we have no grounds to exercise our power of initiative. The IOPC found that she acted with a genuine belief to protect the information but may have got the balance wrong and should have given greater priority to her duty to provide full and exceptional disclosure to the panel.
Sal Naseem, IOPC regional director for London, said: “In coming to our decisions, we are acutely aware that not one single officer was ever successfully prosecuted or received significant disciplinary action as a result of corruption directly connected to the murder investigations.
“The wrongs that occurred can never be put right, but it may have served as some small comfort to Mr Morgan’s family and loved ones if the officers involved had been held to account and suffered the consequences of their actions at the time.
“The circumstances of these matters must serve as a salient reminder to the Metropolitan Police and the police service more widely, of the importance of being constantly vigilant in challenging improper and corrupt behaviour swiftly, firmly and robustly.”
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said it was in agreement with the IOPC that there are insufficient or no grounds to take any further action. An indication that there may have been a breach of the standards of professional behaviour does not mean misconduct is proven, the Met pointed out. Dame Cressida Dick said that from September 2014 to January 2015, the record showed her and her team acted professionally, flexibly, expeditiously, diligently and with integrity in a challenging, unprecedented and complex task; by December 2014, the Panel had received 133,000 pages of material.
The IOPC assessment said that the most concerning issue, as identified by the Panel, was ‘the repeated failures to appropriately deal with many indications of corruption and misconduct when they first came to the attention’ of the Met.
Although a number of the officers suspected of corruption were convicted and/or dismissed in proceedings unconnected with the murder, no successful prosecution or significant disciplinary sanction has taken place in relation to corruption directly connected to the Daniel Morgan murder investigations, the IOPC noted. Reform of the disciplinary regime means that retired officers can now be disciplined for gross misconduct after retirement. Where gross misconduct is proved, they can be placed on a barred list preventing future employment with the police. Some of those detectives named in the assessment went on to work in private investigation.
The IOPC repeated an inspectorate of constabulary point that the Met ‘could not now, in 2022, offer assurance that the Met’s systems and processes do enough to minimise the risk of corrupt police officers pursuing inappropriate business interests’. The IOPC saw ‘a reluctance to use the disciplinary regime to robustly challenge and investigate behaviour which may be corrupt’.
Background
Daniel Morgan was murdered in the car park of the Golden Lion public house, Sydenham. Last year the DMIP reported that the Metropolitan Police were not honest in their dealings with Mr Morgan’s family, or the public; and that the family and the public were owed an apology.
