Cressida Dick 'must consider quitting' over cover-up after brutal killing of Daniel Morgan
Daniel Morgan's brother has said Metropolitan Police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick must consider resigning in light of a report about the force's "corrupt" response to his 1987 murder.
The report found the Met was institutionally corrupt in the way it concealed or denied failings over Morgan’s unsolved murder.
His brother Alastair, who has been campaigning for decades for justice, was asked following the release of the report on Tuesday if Dick should consider resigning.
“Absolutely she should,” he responded.
The family’s solicitor Raju Bhatt added: “You heard from the panel that the institutionalised corruption that they found is a current problem in the present tense.
“The current leadership in the Met has to take responsibility for that continuing.”
Private investigator Morgan was killed with an axe in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south-east London, 34 years ago.
Despite five police inquiries and an inquest, no one has been brought to justice over the father-of-two’s death, with the Met admitting corruption had hampered the original murder investigation.
Watch: Met accused of 'institutional corruption' over 1987 unsolved axe murder of private detective
A 1,200-page report by an independent panel said the force’s first objective was to “protect itself” for failing to acknowledge its many failings since Morgan’s murder.
Dick herself was criticised for her refusal to allow the panel team access to the HOLMES police data system.
The report said: “The Metropolitan Police’s lack of candour manifested itself in the hurdles placed in the path of the Panel, such as [then assistant commissioner] Cressida Dick’s initial refusal to recognise the necessity for the Panel to have access to the HOLMES system.”
The report also said the Met owes Morgan’s family, and the public, an apology for not confronting its systemic failings and those of individual officers.
In a statement responding to the report, the Met accepted “corruption was a major factor in the failure of the 1987 investigation. This compounded the pain suffered by Daniel’s family and for this we apologise.”
Home secretary Priti Patel added to the pressure on Dick as she said: “Today I have written to Dame Cressida Dick to ask her to provide me with a detailed response into the panel’s recommendations for the Metropolitan Police and the wider issues outlined within the report.”
Patel labelled the Morgan case “one of the most devastating episodes in the history of the Metropolitan Police”.
Boris Johnson, however, is backing Dick, according to Downing Street. Asked if the prime minister still had full confidence in her, his official spokesman simply replied: “Yes.”
Watch: Tuesday's daily politics briefing
