Thread by @MarkWatts_1

Daniel Morgan independent panel set up EIGHT YEARS ago, intended to report SEVEN YEARS ago.

Panel expected to complete report FOUR YEARS ago.

Mourning for Prince Philip stopped publication THREE WEEKS ago.

Then Priti Patel wanted to VET it.

Finally, today PUBLICATION DAY.

We were expecting Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report to be published at 12.15pm today.

However, there is A BIT OF a delay to Priti Patel’s formally laying it before Parliament, where foreign secretary is still taking questions.

Delay is the watchword for this inquiry.

As soon as I tweeted that, Daniel Morgan independent panel has published its report: danielmorganpanel.independent.gov.uk/the-report/

As revealed @FOIACentre, Daniel Morgan independent panel recommends, it says, that all police officers & staff must register membership of Freemasons or any organisation that “might call their impartiality into questions or give rise to the perception of a conflict of loyalties.”

As also reported @FOIACetre, the Daniel Morgan panel says in a statement that it saw no evidence “that masonic channels were corruptly used in connection with either the commission of the murder, or to subvert the police investigations.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel: “From the moment of his murder, there were serious failures of investigation – both at the scene which was never searched, and during the first investigation. Many opportunities to gather evidence were irretrievably lost...”

“The forensic work in that investigation was described by a senior officer in the second investigation as ‘pathetic’,” says Daniel Morgan independent panel in statement with publication of report.

Daniel Morgan independent panel. “By not acknowledging or confronting, over the 34 years since the murder, its systemic failings… by making incorrect assertions about the quality of investigations… we believe the Metropolitan Police’s first objective was to protect itself.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s statement: “The Metropolitan Police were not honest in their dealings with Daniel Morgan’s family, or the public.

“The family and the public are owed an apology.”

“We believe that concealing or denying failings, for the sake of an organisation’s public image is dishonesty on the part of the organisation for reputational benefit, and constitutes a form of institutional corruption,” says Daniel Morgan independent panel in statement.

Daniel Morgan independent panel says that it recommends a statutory duty of candour on the part of all law enforcement agencies.

Daniel Morgan independent panel complains in statement about a lack of co-operation from the Met.

“At times, our contact with the Metropolitan Police resembled police contact with litigants rather than with a body established by the home secretary to enquire into a case.”

We already knew that Daniel Morgan independent panel cost more than £14m.

Today, it says that total cost is around £16m, blaming the high cost partly on “the excessive length of time taken by the [Met] to provide us with access to necessary documentation.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report found evidence of a culture within the Met in 1987 that “permitted very close association between police officers who were either members of the investigation or were close to those who were… and individuals linked to crime.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report found that Met had failed properly to investigate evidence that corruption – “such as selling confidential information, assisting criminals with inside police information and ‘moonlighting’” – might have provided a motive for the murder.

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report: one officer on first police investigation into the murder, DS Sid Fillery, became master of two masonic lodges in 1993 and 1996.

“Ten police officers who were prominent in the Daniel Morgan murder investigations were freemasons.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report: “The legacy of previous corruption by police officers continues to have a harmful effect.

“Further concerted action is required to address the issues identified by the panel… which are highly relevant to policing today.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report outlines hair-raising egs of corruption, as described by ex-officers, “a vivid illustration of the culture” in parts of the Met.

These were not in inquiry’s remit so were not verified, but panel “has no reason to doubt their veracity.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report: Met documentation shows that DS Sid Fillery, who was on the first police investigation for “the first few critical days… was suspected of corruption by senior officers” on the investigation while he was on it and later...

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report questions whether there was “any connection” between “lack of prompt action to deal with DS Sid Fillery” and his “position as a member of a masonic Lodge, which may have conferred a status beyond his position as a detective sergeant.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report: “Police corruption did occur during the investigation of the murder of Daniel Morgan and was not confined to the first investigation.”

Met report of 2006 to the then Metropolitan Police Authority on Daniel Morgan case, and disclosed to inquiry panel, admits: “There can be little doubt that this was a time when corruption in certain parts of the [Met], particularly the specialist squads, was endemic.”

And a Met summary of 2011 to MPA, also disclosed to inquiry panel, about a proposal to make an ex-gratia payment to Daniel Morgan’s family, refers to “the flawed initial investigation caused by corrupt police officers...”

DS Sid Fillery was “most notable”, says this Met document.

He “had a close personal and professional relationship with [Daniel Morgan’s business partner] Jonathan Rees. His involvement in the investigation led to the compromise of various critical evidential lines of enquiry.”

Daniel Morgan report: “There were, and continue to be, issues attaching to the involvement of police officers in ‘secret’ societies, such as the Freemasons, and police officers mixing with local figures operating on the fringes of legality,” including “private investigators”.

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report: “The documentation shows that the conflict between public assurances and internal suspicions of corruption remained unresolved for decades...”

“When failings in police investigations are combined with unjustified reassurances rather than candour on the part of the Metropolitan Police, this may constitute institutional corruption.”

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report.

Daniel Morgan independent panel’s report slams Met commissioner Cressida Dick for restricting, when assistant commissioner, access to HOLMES data system, which logged actions in murder investigations, “as well as limiting access to the most sensitive information.”

Daniel Morgan report: The intelligence “does not reflect a ‘rotten apple’ model of corruption. It is indicative of systemic failings,” including “a corrupt culture”.

Met failed to investigate whether motive of murder was to stop exposure of police corruption in SE London.

While Daniel Morgan panel found no evidence that freemasonry was a factor in the murder, “there is evidence of the concern about the extent to which masonic loyalties might conflict with those which police officers owe to each other and to the public by virtue of their office...”

One ex-officer told Daniel Morgan inquiry panel that “the notion that the influence of freemasonry was now ‘peripheral’ in the police was ‘laughable’.

“Officers, particularly [CID] officers, joined the freemasons as a means to ‘get on in the job’…”

“Their seniority in the freemasons meant that their influence within the police was sometimes at odds with their rank in the police,” ex-officer told Daniel Morgan inquiry panel.

Daniel Morgan inquiry panel recommends that all police officers and staff should be obliged to register in confidence with chief officer membership of any organisation, inc freemasons, “that might call their impartiality into question” or raise potential “conflict of loyalties”.

Daniel Morgan inquiry panel’s report: “There has been a failure over decades to tackle police corruption effectively and to resource anti-corruption work properly.”