London police accused of corruption

London: London’s Metropolitan Police engaged in "a form of institutional corruption" by denying and even concealing failings in its handling of the unsolved murder of a private investigator, an independent panel said Tuesday.

The first objective of Britain’s biggest police force was to "protect itself" in its refusal to acknowledge the many failures in the probe into Daniel Morgan’s murder in 1987 in southeast London, it concluded. In a brief statement Tuesday, the force accepted that corruption has been a major factor in the failed investigation, but interior minister Priti Patel has called for a more detailed response to the report.

The long-awaited and damning verdict has echoes of the 1998 Macpherson inquiry into the racist murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence -- also in southeast London, in 1993 -- which condemned the Met for "institutional racism".

Private investigator Morgan died of multiple head wounds after being repeatedly struck by an axe in a pub car park. The axe was found embedded in his skull.

Despite five police inquiries and a coroner’s inquest, no-one has been brought to justice for the father-of-two’s death. There have been persistent allegations that corrupt officers may have been involved.

"We believe that the Metropolitan Police’s first objective was to protect itself," said panel chairman and peer Nuala O’Loan, a lawyer and former police ombudsman. "(They) were not honest in their dealings with Daniel Morgan’s family or the public. That lack of candour over so many years has been a barrier to proper accountability."