On 10 March 1987, a 37-year-old private investigator named Daniel Morgan was found dead in a south London pub car park with an axe embedded in his head. Despite the arrests of several men, the initial investigation did not lead to any charges and the murder has gone unsolved amid allegations of police corruption.
The Metropolitan police have previously accepted that corrupt officers shielded the killers. But a new panel inquiry concluded last week that the crime was probably “solvable” had it not been undermined. The force was described as “institutionally corrupt” and its commissioner, Cressida Dick, personally censured for obstruction by an independent inquiry.
The former Guardian reporter Duncan Campbell has been following the case for decades. He describes a world where journalists, private investigators and police would socialise together in the same pubs and swap information, often for money. Daniel’s brother, Alistair Morgan, tells Anushka that after decades of unwavering perseverance, he has forced the Met to confront its failings – but despite having his own strong suspicions, he does not expect justice to ever be done.
- Clips from BBC (Crimewatch), ITV, BBC News, BBC London, Channel 4, LBC
Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA
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