10.05.13 PRESS RELEASE
THE DANIEL MORGAN INDEPENDENT PANEL
The family of Daniel Morgan have welcomed
the Home Secretary’s written
statement announcing her decision to appoint an Independent Panel led
by Sir Stanley Burnton to examine the circumstances surrounding Daniel’s murder
in 1987.
As reflected in the terms of reference governing the Panel’s work,
its purpose and remit is to examine the circumstances of the murder, its
background and the handling of the case over the whole period since March 1987,
including:
• police involvement in the murder;
• the role played by police corruption in protecting those responsible for the
murder from being brought to justice and the failure to confront that corruption;
• the incidence of connections between private investigators, police officers
and journalists at the News of the World and other parts of the media and
corruption involved in the linkages between them.
Daniel’s brother Alastair said on behalf of his mother Isobel, his sister Jane
and himself:
“In 2011, over 24 years after Daniel’s murder, the Metropolitan Police finally
admitted that their first investigation of this crime was crippled by police
corruption.
“As Daniel’s family, we were aware of that corruption within three weeks of the
murder: we said so then, and we have been saying so ever since.
“Through almost three decades of public protests, meetings with police officers
at the highest ranks, lobbying of politicians and pleas to the media, we have
found ourselves lied to, fobbed off, bullied, degraded and let down time and
time again. What we have been required to endure has been nothing less than
mental torture. It has changed our relationship with this country forever.
“In the meanwhile, the allegations and evidence of serious corruption within the
Metropolitan Police – extending to recent history and the highest ranks –
remained unaddressed through five police investigations and a prosecution
aborted after 18 months of pre-trial argument.
“Over most of this period, we witnessed a complete unwillingness by police and
successive government to face up to what was occurring, and ultimately a
complete failure by police leadership to deal effectively with serious police
criminality.
“We trust and hope that the Panel, through its examination and publication of
all relevant material and information, will assist the authorities to confront
and acknowledge this failure for once and for all, so that we may at last be
able to get on with our lives.”
10 May 2013
Alastair Morgan