SCOTLAND Yard has apologised to the family of murdered Cwmbran private investigator Daniel Morgan after documents relevant to the inquiry into his death were discovered in a locked cabinet that had not been used for a number of years.

A total of 95 pages of material should have been disclosed to the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel, which was set up to look into the case and published its final report in June 2021, the force said.

A further 71 pages were identified that would have been provided to His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) as part of their subsequent inspection.

Mr Morgan, 37, was found dead in a car park at the Golden Lion in Sydenham, south-east London in March 1987.

He had received four or five blows to the head with an axe, which was left embedded in his face.

It was alleged that he had been investigating claims of corruption within the Metropolitan Police.

Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said: “We fully acknowledge how unacceptable and deeply regrettable this situation is.

“We are working to understand what has taken place and any impact. We apologise to the family of Daniel Morgan and to the Panel.”

The Met said its assessment found there are no evidential documents that relate to criminal investigations into the murder.

However, the Police Inspectorate has agreed to review the documents and the Met’s assessment of them.

The Met added that it remains in discussions with the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

The full Metropolitan Police statement

Documents relevant to the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel (DMIP) have been discovered by the Metropolitan Police.

The paperwork was found in a locked cabinet that had not been used for a number of years at New Scotland Yard.

A careful assessment has been completed to understand the significance of the documents and any potential impact.

Some of this material should have been disclosed to DMIP which published its final report in June 2021.

Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray said: “We fully acknowledge how unacceptable and deeply regrettable this situation is.

“We are working to understand what has taken place and any impact. We apologise to the family of Daniel Morgan and to the Panel.”

The documents were found in January and an assessment started in February.

Some of the material is relevant to the work of DMIP and a subsequent inspection by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).

HMICFRS, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Home Office have been informed.

The Met has undertaken a careful assessment of the documents to consider whether any should have been disclosed.

A total of 95 pages of material (37 documents) have been initially identified that would have been disclosed under a protocol agreed with the Panel.

In addition, we also identified a further 71 pages (23 documents) that would have been provided to HMICFRS as part of their subsequent inspection.

Our assessment is that there are no evidential documents that relate to criminal investigations into the murder.

The Met has written to the family of Daniel Morgan and Baroness Nuala O’Loan to explain what we believe has taken place and outline next steps.

The Police Inspectorate has agreed to review the documents and our assessment as a follow up to their previous inspection. We remain in discussions with the IOPC.

In addition, we will make any material that should have been disclosed to the Panel available to the family of Daniel Morgan and to Baroness O’Loan.

Morgan family statement

In a statement, Mr Morgan’s family said they were “not surprised” by the news.

“We, the family of Daniel Morgan, are not surprised by this latest revelation concerning the Met and its handling of this whole sorry saga over the 36 years since Daniel’s murder in March 1987,” the statement said.

The family said there has been “no explanation” for why it took the Met four months to tell them about the documents.

“We were informed last night – by way of a letter from Assistant Commissioner Barbara Gray – that these documents had been ‘stored in a locked cabinet at New Scotland Yard following a handover between senior officers in 2014’ and accessed only when ‘the Met forced entry into this secure storage’ in January 2023,” the statement said.

“No explanation has been forthcoming as to why it took the Met over four months to inform us of this development. In the circumstances, we consider we are entitled to ask whether the information has come to light only because, as we understand it, the media had already got hold of the story.

“What we see here is precisely the kind of conduct that was identified as institutional corruption in the Panel’s June 2021 report; it appears that the Met’s first objective remains to protect itself, concealing its failings for the sake of its public image and reputational benefit.”