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Minister faces questions over murder of private eye 19/10/2004
The family of a murdered private investigator are to meet Minister for Policing, Hazel Blears tomorrow (20 Oct) to renew their call for a public inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's handling of the case.
Four police inquiries, the latest ending in September 2003, have failed to convict the killers of Welsh-born Daniel Morgan or put the allegations of police involvement in the murder to rest. Since then, the family have obtained three police reports on these investigations, confirming their long-held fears that the inquiries were profoundly flawed.
On 10th March 1987, private investigator Daniel Morgan was brutally axed to death in the car park of a pub in Sydenham, south east London. At an inquest in April 1988, a bookkeeper employed by Daniel's company Southern Investigations alleged that Daniel's partner, Jonathan Rees, and Detective Sergeant Sid Fillery - a member of the murder squad - had planned the murder.
Bookkeeper Kevin Lennon also alleged that Fillery planned early retirement and would step into Daniel's shoes at Southern Investigations. By the time of the inquest, Fillery had already left the Police force and was working together with Rees. In the weeks before his murder Daniel Morgan had repeatedly expressed concerns over corrupt police officers in south London.
In February 2004, former Culture Secretary Chris Smith, Lib Dem MP Roger Williams and Lord Livsey of Talgarth wrote to Home Secretary David Blunkett calling for a public inquiry into the murder and for a private meeting to explain their grave concerns over the way senior officers in two police forces have handled the case. No meeting was granted and in June 2004 Policing Minister Hazel Blears refused the call for a public inquiry.
The family has obtained public funding to challenge the Home Secretary's decision but hope that their first meeting with the Home Office in 17 years will avert the need for high court action.
Solicitor Raju Bhatt, the family's legal representative said the case involved the most serious allegations of police corruption that he had dealt with in 20 years of practice.
"For us, all of the constitutional safeguards have collapsed like dominoes. The first inquiry misled the Coroner's court. The outside inquiry secretly changed its remit and misled the Police Complaints Authority. The third inquiry was conducted behind our backs and the fourth was doomed from the start. Government ministers have also been grossly misled. I believe that the future probity of the Met rests on a public inquiry into my brother's murder," said Daniel Morgan's brother, Alastair.
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