Daniel Morgan: Met apologises and agrees to pay damages to family of murdered private investigator

Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley ‘unequivocally and unreservedly’ apologises for failures

Daniel Morgan was killed with an axe in the car park of a pub in Sydenham, south-east London (PA Media)

The Metropolitan Police has admitted liability for a botched investigation into the murder of private investigator Daniel Morgan and agreed to pay substantial damages to his family.

Morgan, who co-founded PI firm Southern Investigations, was found dead on 10 March 1987 in a south London pub car park with an axe through his head. On the night of his death, Morgan had a drink with his partner, Jonathan Rees, at the Golden Lion before heading to his BMW to return home.

Morgan’s family alleged the police investigation was hampered by corruption.

Met commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admitted it "prioritised its reputation at the expense of transparency and effectiveness" while apologising "unequivocally and unreservedly" for failing to bring the killers to justice.

"This case has been marred by a cycle of corruption, professional incompetence, and defensiveness that has repeated itself over and over again.

“Daniel Morgan’s family were given empty promises and false hope as successive investigations failed and the Metropolitan Police prioritised its reputation at the expense of transparency and effectiveness," the statement read.

“No words can do justice to the pain and suffering that has been a feature of the family’s lives for more than three decades as they have fought for justice, a fight which no family should have to endure."

The family in a statement said that after a mediation process, they reached a “mutually satisfactory settlement of the proposed claims, including an admission of liability on behalf of the commissioner in respect of the conduct of his officers in response to the murder”.

“At the request of the family of Daniel Morgan, all other terms of the settlement are confidential to the parties. Accordingly, the parties will not be making any further comments to the media about the terms of settlement or the mediation.”

The commissioner said the campaigning of Morgan’s family “exposed” systemic failings in the organisation.

Sir Mark met with the family and “listened to vivid and moving accounts of the devastating impact those failings have had on their lives”.

The UK’s largest police force agreed to pay a sum of £2m, one of the biggest in policing history, which covers family legal fees and avoids the need for civil proceedings, The Times reported earlier this week.

The amount of the settlement was not confirmed in Wednesday’s statement, with the Met joining the family in saying the terms were confidential.

An official inquiry ordered by then-home secretary Theresa May found Sir Mark’s predecessor, Cressida Dick, obstructed the panel appointed by the government to investigate corruption allegations that sabotaged the investigation into Morgan’s murder.

The Daniel Morgan Independent Panel concluded that the force’s “first objective was to protect itself” against allegations that corrupt officers were involved in the murder.

The report said severe failings in the initial investigation, such as crime scenes not being searched or interviews not properly carried out and suspects being forewarned of their arrests, meant potential evidence had been “irretrievably lost”.

The Morgan family had brought a civil claim against the Met in December 2021 alleging misfeasance in public office and breaches of the Human Rights Act.