Daniel Morgan murder: we need a Public Inquiry · @morganinquiry
7th Apr 2018 from TwitLonger
FACTS about the Daniel Morgan murder (long post)...
How police manipulated evidence, offered inducements to witnesses, fed witnesses information they didn’t know and publicised fake news. How police non-disclosure is still blighting the inquiry.
The stories about the ‘guilt’ of Rees, Fillery and the Vians are easily accessible and well publicised. All angles should have been investigated but police developed tunnel-vision early on and tried on numerous occasions to fit the evidence around their beliefs. The upshot was that important leads were never investigated. Police desperation eventually led them to endeavour to fit up their chosen suspects.
With the collapse of the murder trial in 2011, the prosecution had aired their case against the defendants, but the defendants never had the chance to air their defence. This has resulted in a biased view of events. After the trial collapsed, DCS Hamish Campbell said: “It is quite apparent that police corruption was a debilitating factor in [the initial] investigation.”
That is the official police line. They are lying. There was no evidence of police corruption in the initial investigation, just outstanding incompetence.
What DCS Campbell never disclosed was that the CPS wrote to Defence solicitors saying that police corruption was NOT a factor in the murder.
SID FILLERY
Despite lies that have been published, it is well documented that Sid Fillery demanded to be taken off the inquiry immediately because he knew Jonathan Rees and did not want to compromise the investigation. However, he was ordered to stay on it by the SIO, Det Supt Douglas Campbell (who arrived drunk at the murder scene). Fillery continued to demand to be taken off the investigation until he eventually was.
This factual version of events does not fit the narrative of Fillery spoiling the initial investigation so it has been suppressed.
SUPERGRASS KEVIN LENNON
Police obsession with Rees began shortly after the murder and they soon set about trying to make the evidence fit their beliefs.
Southern Investigations accountant Kevin Lennon made a statement on 2/4/87 shortly after the murder. He made no allegations whatsoever.
Five months later Lennon made another statement. By this time, his wife had left him and he was facing a lengthy prison sentence for a £1 million tax fraud (unrelated to his work at Southern Investigations). His situation made him vulnerable and the perfect target for police to turn into a supergrass.
Lennon’s later statement of 4/9/87 followed a meeting with DCI Bucknole in August. This meeting was when the supergrass deal was offered. It was held with no solicitor present and was never taped. Lennon was later to say that if he had brought a solicitor along, it would have been ‘provocative’.
Lennon was to go on to tell the 1988 inquest that he had watched Rees's relationship with Morgan deteriorate. He told the inquest that six months before the murder, Rees told him he had found the perfect solution to the problem. 'My mates at Catford nick are going to arrange it. For £1,000. Those officers are friends of mine and will either murder Danny themselves or will arrange it.'
Five months after the inquest, Hampshire Police, who had been drafted in to investigate the case, said that Kevin Lennon's credibility and integrity as a witness was 'diminishing'.
At this stage Lennon was a free man, having been given an 18 months suspended sentence. Quite a short sentence for a £1m fraud and one doesn’t have to think too hard as to why that might be. This now meant that Lennon didn’t have to toe the police line any more and was beholden to nobody. Strange that police now thought he was no longer credible.
Another accountant, Bill Newton, who worked for Southern Investigations in the six weeks leading up to the murder, recalled a chance meeting with Lennon in a Croydon pub. Newton said: 'Lennon was shaking a bit, and said: 'Look I'm sorry. They put a lot of pressure on me. I had to do it for my children'.
But Peter Jukes and Untold Murder have gone to press recently putting much store in Kevin Lennon.
MORE SUPERGRASSES
Supergrasses feature strongly in this case and, although their testimony gets discredited along the way, the mud sticks. Police are well aware of this and continue to employ the dirty tactics of using supergrasses even if they know prosecutions have no hope of succeeding.
The police handling of supergrasses in the last inquiry ending in 2011 was to bring down the investigation, causing the trial judge to issue warnings to police about their illegal behaviour. In general, the supergrasses who were in custody wanted reduced sentences (apart from Andrew Docherty who was nearing the end of his sentence – see later). Those who were not in custody admitted to wanting the £50,000 reward on offer. And the OIC, Det Ch Supt David Cook wanted convictions so that he could write a bestseller with a Sun journalist where he could boast about finally solving the murder.
It stands to reason that supergrasses need to be kept in ‘sterile corridors’ and all contact with them needs to be video /audio recorded.
In this case, police fed information to the supergrasses so their stories would appear credible. There were secret mobile phones that only came to light during the cross-examination of witnesses at the 2011 murder trial. This led the judge to order billings to be provided to the court. These billings revealed contact between the police and supergrasses both before and after the supergrass debriefings.
What police did to one supergrass was probably what they did to all of them, some of their illegal actions will never see the light of day. It was revealed that police gave supergrass Sally-Ann Wood a laptop connected to the internet (making a mockery of sterile corridors). She ran amok with her fantasies, backing them up with numerous searches for ‘South London murders’ and then putting the Google Maps ‘Pegman’ on to several locations to mug up on her stories. Her stories were so fantastical and full of detail that the Defence asked if she had access to the internet and police had to drop her when the facts emerged.
DCI (now retired) Noel Beswick was to claim in court that he was the one responsible for bringing it to everyone’s attention that Sally-Ann Wood was not reliable. What Beswick failed to say was that the Defence had directly asked the police: ‘Did this woman have access to the internet?’ If Beswick had been caught lying (rather than merely covering up), he stood to be in far more serious trouble.
Another supergrass Andrew Docherty, was in jail for manslaughter. Police visited him several times. In 1988 he said he had “not learned anything since the murder which may assist the police”. In 2008 he admitted he was interested in the £50k reward and the stories started. Not surprisingly, none of the interviews were recorded. Evidence of police feeding info to the so-called witnesses has already been proven. So what really went on in those interviews? More feeding. If Docherty had testified, evidence that the Defence had would have proved he was lying.
James Ward had originally said he knew nothing about the murder. He was facing a lengthy sentence for drugs smuggling. He told police he wanted ‘some help’. Ward was ‘interviewed’ by DCS Dave Cook, and again, nothing was tape recorded for a matter of years. When he was ready with all the stories, they interviewed him.
Terry Jones version was at odds with every other supergrass’s version, placing Gary Vian at the scene of the murder. Police didn’t want him called to give evidence but still mentioned him in proceedings to emphasise the ‘weight of evidence’ against the suspects.
Gary Eaton was another fantasist who was (now infamously) told by DCS Dave Cook: “I'll give you a head start. It was Glenn with the axe, Garry was there and Jimmy with the car.”
Eaton, who knew Jimmy Cook, couldn’t even name the brothers up until then. He had never met them and never heard of them. One crucial interview was not recorded due to ‘equipment failure’. Eaton initially said he had no direct knowledge of the murder except what he had heard, but, weeks down the line, he then changed his story to say he was there in the car park on the night and saw it all happen. Police led him on several sorties to the Golden Lion so he could make his new story credible. There were so many illicit mobile phone calls and texts (subsequently deleted) between Gary Eaton, DCS Dave Cook and DS Gary Dalby (who incidentally is currently involved in providing information to the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel) that eventually the upper echelons of the command chain (including John Yates) became alarmed.
Again, Eaton’s stories have been published and no doubt serve to muddy the waters of those who believe there is no smoke without fire. Truth is Eaton was told on numerous occasions what to say and then thought he would try to help police a bit further by actually being there at the time of the murder.
DANIEL WAS A REGULAR AT THE GOLDEN LION:
Peter Jukes in Untold Murder is still putting about the lie that Daniel never used the Golden Lion (with the inference being he was led there to be murdered). In the last few months, Jukes gave an interview to a news station proclaiming this lie to be true. In fact Daniel regularly used the Golden Lion.
The following is from a witness who was a regular at the pub whose house overlooked the pub car park.
DB (full name available) says he was shown a photo of Daniel Morgan and knew him as a regular of the Golden Lion. Daniel used to park his BMW in the car park regularly and when he saw Daniel come into the pub, he was always alone. He used to see Daniel walk into the pub on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. He remembers Daniel well as he used to admire his BMW.
Another witness Carol R said she went to the Golden Lion with Daniel.
M.L, a police officer, says he was with Daniel, Rees and Fillery at the Golden Lion the night before the murder. One witness said Daniel was drinking heavily and making loud remarks about the barmaid. The married barmaid, DA, later denied Daniel had made comments to her, but witnesses said she was 'smirking' when he made them. Another drinker at the Golden Lion said Daniel was threatened by the husband of a 'blonde girl' that night.
Just for the record, it was well documented by the police that drug dealing went on in the ‘dark part’ of the car park. That is where Daniel had parked on the night he was killed.
POLICE SAID: ‘AN AXE IS AN UNUSUAL MURDER WEAPON’ SO WHY DID THEY IGNORE EVIDENCE INVOLVING AXES?
Why did police not properly investigate the ex-police officer who had attacked a South London bailiff with an axe at the time of the murder? Police visited the man and asked him if he was involved in Daniel’s murder. The man answered ‘no’ and that was the extent of police enquiries. And yet, all through the investigation, they said an axe was an unusual murder weapon.
Why did police not investigate the fact that a detective involved in the investigation saw an axe identical to the murder weapon with tape around the handles in the boot of a car? It was reported, marked NFA and the car owner wasn’t asked until 20 years later where he was on the night of the murder.
MALTA – AN AFFAIR WITH A WOMAN AND A CAR ‘LOADED WITH DRUGS’?
Daniel Morgan is said to have had an affair with a solicitor ‘AT’ (married to CT). AT and CT went to live in Malta and remained wanted by police in relation to a £1m mortgage fraud. It’s suggested that Daniel saw AT while in Malta shortly before his murder. No attempt was made by police to speak to the couple.
Witness MN sd: Daniel had a High Court repossession order for a Range Rover. He repossessed it in Malta and drove it back to the UK. The car was back in UK just six hours before it disappeared.
MN added that speculation was the car was ‘loaded with drugs’ which belonged to the Maltese Mafia who were huge in South London. They were not impressed when their drugs disappeared along with the car. After this, Daniel was said to be worried, saying he was a ‘marked man’.
Another witness said Daniel received a phone call saying that he should hand over the packets that were inside the vehicle “or else.” The witness said Morgan told the caller to go the police.
On the night of the murder, a witness in the Golden Lion reported seeing an 'Italian-looking' man peering through the saloon bar window three times.
BRINKS MAT CONNECTION
The Brinks Mat connection has been highlighted in the media and can be searched for - but it’s been overlooked by the police.
PANORAMA PROGRAMME ON RIGHT WING EXTREMISM
What about the enemies Daniel may have made while working on a programme for BBC’s Panorama? A BBC source confirms they asked him to look into right wing extremism. Shortly after this time, Southern Investigation’s offices were burgled and Daniel’s car was broken into.
BACKGROUND ON DEREK HASLAM
Derek Haslam freely tells people that, while a Met officer, he ran over and killed a pedestrian on a crossing while drink driving. His Cmdr, Ray Adams, wanted him to face charges but officers from CIB (now the DPS) wanted to use him as an undercover operative against Adams. Haslam was ‘forced’ to retire and then worked feeding info on the Brinks Mat robbery about his hated Cmdr Adams and DC Taffy Holmes who shot himself blaming Haslam in his suicide note.
Years later Adams reportedly blocked Haslam’s application for a security manager job and the hatred between the pair continued.
Haslam has been used by police to infiltrate Defence solicitors. He derailed the Appeal of former police officers Harris, Howell and May by passing to police vital information which would have cleared them. Police changed evidence as a result and these former officers remain convicted. Haslam also sat in on Defence solicitor meetings in R v John ‘Reg’ Elliott and, again, vital evidence was changed by police. There are other cases too.
DEREK HASLAM’S WORK AT SOUTHERN INVESTIGATIONS
All that has been put in the press about Operation Two Bridges (the bugging of Southern Investigations) is only what the police want you to read. It’s a massive smokescreen blaming the media and giving rise to more conspiracy theories deflecting away from police failings in investigating the murder. Operation Two Bridges is shrouded in non-disclosure and evidence served has been heavily redacted. Is it because Derek Haslam and his Met police handlers, Chris Jarratt and David Wood, would face prison if the evidence were fully disclosed?
Everyone is now aware Haslam was the informant, so there is no reason to redact. Haslam himself wrote in a letter that his police handlers forced him to commit crimes.
Is it that information was found which proved the Morgan murder suspects were actually innocent?
When Haslam was used by the police to spy on the offices of Southern Investigations, everyone should consider what his motives were. From the start of his years working at Southern Investigations, police firmly believed incriminating audio would be available. It never happened, nothing incriminating was said about the murder. In desperation over the years, Haslam’s handlers ordered him to be more pro-active.
Ask why Sid Fillery’s office computer was found to have indecent material on it.
Of all the transcripts from recordings made at the Southern Investigations office, the police served none where Haslam was heard to speak. Why was that? Jonathan Rees maintains that when it was decided to put a listening device into the car of a woman under surveillance, this was at Haslam’s request. Initially Haslam had asked Rees to break into the woman's home but Rees refused. Why was none of that audio ever served on Rees or his legal team? Take a look at Rees’s conviction for planting drugs in a car and ask yourself why it was that the actual person who ‘planted’ the drugs was found not guilty.
Interestingly, I shall mention here that Haslam’s police handler DCI Chris Jarratt wrote in his application for promotion that, in a major operation, he decided to go against the advice of his senior officers and legal team and ‘lose’ drugs. He had the drugs planted in a flat which police later raided. This scenario has remarkable similarities to the planting of drugs in this woman’s car (for which Rees was later found guilty of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice).
MORGAN THE WHISTLEBLOWER?
Peter Jukes in Untold Murder says Daniel was going to blow the whistle on police corruption. But that is relying on the word of Derek Haslam who has an ulterior motive - in besmirching Cdr Ray Adams.
Haslam also has an ulterior motive for besmirching Jonathan Rees. Reason being that he is desperate for his role in Operation Two Bridges to remain under wraps; if it doesn’t he would face prison.
Operation Two Bridges is a massive smokescreen blaming the media and giving rise to more conspiracy theories deflecting away from police failings in investigating the murder. In Peter Jukes, who is on a mission to destroy mainstream media, the police have the perfect willing stooge.
The whistleblower story deserves analysis but it has been analysed up hill and down dale. It is a convenient line for the police to publicise because it means they can say they will never get to the bottom of this case and they have the perfect scapegoat - the press.
EXTRA MARITAL AFFAIRS
It is well known that Daniel Morgan had extra marital affairs.
Daniel’s wife, Iris, says their marriage was ‘fiery’. She admitted having an affair with a Klaus Neu and said Daniel had found out about it. She was reportedly on the verge of leaving Daniel due to his drinking and womanising. Iris named a woman Daniel was suspected of having an affair with as ‘RC’ (full name available).
Police have bent over backwards to show Daniel as a family man as it hides the fact important leads were missed. This has resulted in a skewed version of events. The police are happy with this as it ties in with their version.
As mentioned previously, Daniel appears to have had an affair with a solicitor ‘AT’ who went to live in Malta with her husband CT.
David Bray, who worked at Southern Investigations, recounted how he and Morgan were once driving past a house in Sydenham when Morgan told him that 'he had been seeing a woman that lived there'. Bray said the woman’s husband had found out about them and had phoned Daniel at home and threatened to kill him.
There are further rumours which have never been fully investigated. Shortly before the murder, it is said Morgan had an affair with a woman who had a violent husband. The man had seen his wife in a car with Morgan. One night the man returned home drunk with his brother and tried to attack his wife. An officer reviewing the case in December 1988 noted that the man 'should not be forgotten, he is a good suspect'. He was then forgotten.
Other documents indicate Morgan had a 'lengthy relationship' with a woman whose husband was bugging her bedroom. Morgan had a row with the man and the woman told police she thought her husband 'may have had something to do with the Daniel Morgan murder'.
‘DB’ says: Daniel had an affair with a woman surname ‘C’, as well as a mixed race girl who worked at an off licence. Daniel also told him that he had an affair with his previous secretary.
‘AD’ says he was told Daniel had affairs with female clients and would defer payments when debt collecting if they agreed to have sex with him.
Daniel’s mother, Isobel Hulsmann, told police early on that she had heard of Daniel’s tangled love life and said his marriage was “shaky”. She says ‘KS’ told her that Daniel was having an affair with a nameless woman. Isobel also knew that Daniel’s wife, Iris, was having an affair with Klaus Neu.
‘MG’ says he had seen a woman Daniel had a liaison with who was connected to a Porsche 924.
LATEST MISINFORMATION FROM UNTOLD MURDER PODCAST
To set the record straight on the latest misinformation put out, Jimmy Cook was not going to change his ‘not guilty’ plea to a plea of guilty. This was another of SIO Dave Cook’s ‘offers’, it was not accepted. Dave Cook’s ‘offer’ was a reduced sentence if Jimmy Cook pleaded to a lesser charge. Jimmy Cook refused. Now, some six years later, the Podcast publishes information of this offer and escalates it to “Jimmy Cook was going to change his plea. So this implicates all the other suspects”.
Fact: Jimmy Cook was not going to change his plea and nobody was implicated at all.
“THE PROBES PRODUCED NOTHING OF EVIDENTIAL VALUE”
…No, they didn’t. But they allowed police to put out biased misinformation and allow conspiracy theorists to take up the police mantle.
Probe regarding Jimmy Cook:
Police said: The deployment of probes was resumed at the beginning of October 2002. They revealed an attempt by Jimmy Cook to arrange with Gwendolen and John Sturm a false alibi for the night of the murder.
Fact (which was never aired as the 2011 trial collapsed): Jimmy Cook was talking to the Sturms and happened to mention he was elsewhere on the night of the murder. Jimmy Cook never tried to ask the Sturms for an alibi. This has been completely twisted by the police.
Probe regarding Glen Vian where police mis-hear ‘age’ and change it to ‘axe’:
This is what the police transcription said was picked up on the audio at Glen’s home:
“Sid, I remember Gary told me once, right, just run in and that’s there and pay for it how he got the axe. They want to question a man a 46 year old man in connection with, you said that they, umm, you said to me or they said umm that they was questioning him blah blah.”
What was actually on the audio tape:
“I remember Gary told me once, [inaudible] told me once right which is bollocks, how he got the age. All they knew is that they want to question a man a 46 year old man in connection with, you said that they, umm, you said to me or they said umm that they was questioning him blah blah.”
Note: There was no mention of ‘Sid’ or an ‘axe’. Police invented it in their transcript. The fabricated police version was used to apply pressure in interview.
“Glen Vian was racking a shotgun”:
Police Expert Witness version: the noises heard would suggest a firearm being racked or adjusted or altered in the background. "The audio contains references which most probably pertain to a pump-action (or?) self loading shotgun with possibly a folding stock.”
First point: if the expert says it was a folding stock (which folds away), then why would Glen Vian be taking the butt off?
Fact: the noises were electrical sounds from Glen Vian’s kitchen coupled with sounds of the opening and closing of the front door.
The conversation was about a film they had seen the night before which would have been proved had the trial continued.
Incidentally, police immediately raided Glen and Garry Vian’s homes, carried out a thorough search and found nothing.
Police conveniently mis-hear ‘Rifle Range’ and change it to ‘Motorway’:
The police version is that Glen said “motorway” and that led them to ask him in interview: “What were you talking about there? What was the job? Did that involve standing guard at the motorway? Ten foot away and pistol and you might miss with a pistol but not the weapon you had chosen. Is that what you mean. Not cock the cunt in the motor. You might miss him with a pistol. The length of the gun makes it impossible to cock. Is that what you mean? What did you mean by that?”
Fact: Glen actually said “rifle range” and not “motorway”. The conversation was Glen talking about his experience as a soldier in the army and relating it to Garry’s son, also a soldier in the army. A ‘rifle range’ would have made sense to the conversation so police changed it to ‘motorway’.
The Met Police had bought the house next door to Glen Vian to install the probes in his house. The house was bought at full asking price and sold at a loss. This was all the police had managed to pick up during the bugging over several months and they had to manipulate the evidence to make it incriminating. The bugs were even in place when the Defence team came to take statements.
WHERE ARE WE NOW?
If the 2011 murder trial had continued rather than collapsing, the Defence would have had the chance to put their side of events and cross examine. Instead, the police version of events that we have on the internet is inferred as fact and wild theories circulate.
DANIEL MORGAN INDEPENDENT PANEL
So now we have the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel which is scheduled to report its findings in 2019, some six years after it was set up. Panel members have left as they were not happy with the workings.
It was reported in the press that a dispute had broken out among panel members about how to respond to the Met Police who had voiced objections to handing over hundreds of thousands of internal files.
DMIP is currently chaired by Nuala O'Loan, brought in by the government after the last Chair, Sir Stanley Burnton, suddenly resigned citing ‘personal reasons’. And yet, two years later, in 2015, Sir Stanley was still working, becoming the Interception of Communications Commissioner.
Interestingly, Baroness O’Loan was instrumental in setting up the Northern Ireland Ombudsman office with another DMIP member, Sam Pollock. What is shocking is that DCS David Wood (Derek Haslam’s handler who led the Southern Investigations bugging and its subsequent non-disclosure) was seconded to Northern Ireland to help set up the Ombudsman office with them.
DMIP sits in secret. The Met Police are providing them with [no doubt selective] documents cherry-picked to suit their purpose but not to reveal the truth. Costs are running at roughly £2million per year. The Panel is paying the solicitor of Daniel Morgan’s family for help in the inquiry. One has to ask why. The solicitors representing the defendants have asked to become involved as they have far more papers and information in this case which would benefit the inquiry. But the Panel has refused to allow them to partake on an equal basis.