Metropolitan Commissioner Cressida Dick has apologised for failings in the Daniel Morgan murder case, saying it is a ‘matter of great regret that no one has been brought to justice’.

The senior police officer has admitted her force’s mistakes ‘compounded the pain suffered by Daniel’s family’ after a damning delayed report accused Scotland Yard of ‘a form of institutional corruption’.

Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has also offered an ‘unreserved apology’ to Mr Morgan’s family – but says he does not accept the force is institutionally corrupt.

Mr Morgan’s family has called for Ms Dick to resign after five police inquiries and an inquest failed to find whoever killed him with an axe in a pub car park in south-east London in 1987.

Released today, the new 1,200-page report accuses the Met of being more concerned with protecting itself as an organisation than acknowledging any failings.

Speaking at a press briefing at New Scotland Yard on Tuesday, Ms Dick said: ‘I would like to acknowledge, both personally and on behalf of the Met, the extraordinary resilience and determination of Daniel Morgan’s family in their pursuit of the truth and for the conviction of those responsible for his murder.

‘It is a matter of great regret that no one has been brought to justice and that our mistakes have compounded the pain suffered by Daniel’s family. For that I apologise again now.

‘I have been personally determined that the Met provided the Panel with the fullest level of co-operation in an open and transparent manner, with complete integrity at all times.

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‘I recognise this is a powerful and wide-ranging report. We will take the necessary time to consider it and the associated recommendations in their entirety.’

Ms Ephgrave added that the force had made ‘many mistakes and many errors’ in the case in the past 34 years.

But he insisted allegations of institutional corruption ‘do not reflect what I see every day’.

The Met’s initial probe into Mr Morgan’s death was blasted in the new document, which said the murder scene was left unguarded and unsearched and no alibis were sought for all the suspects.

A team from Hampshire Police joined the investigation amid fears of corruption – but this move was ‘compromised when a senior Met officer was appointed to work with them’.

Police corruption was ‘not confined to the first investigation’, lead author Baroness Nuala O’Loa found.

Dame Cressida was also criticised for her refusal to allow the panel team access to a police data system.

It read: ‘The family of Daniel Morgan suffered grievously as a consequence of the failure to bring his family to justice, the unwarranted assurances which they were given, the misinformation which was put into the public domain, and the denial of failings in investigation, including failing to acknowledge professional competence, individuals’ venal behaviour, and managerial and organisational failures.

‘The Metropolitan Police also repeatedly failed to take a fresh, thorough and critical look at past failings.

‘Concealing or denying failings, for the sake of the organisation’s public image, is dishonesty on the part of the organisation for reputational benefit and constitutes a form of institutional corruption.’

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