Correspondence

Letter from Cressida Dick, Metropolitan Police Service, to the Home Secretary and Mayor of London, dated 17 March 2022 (accessible)

Updated 15 June 2023

Cressida Dick
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis
Metropolitan Police Service
New Scotland Yard
Victoria Embankment
London
SW1A 2JL

To

The Rt Hon Priti Patel MP
Home Secretary
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

The Rt Hon Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London
City Hall, The Queen's Walk
London
SE1 2AA

17th March 2022

Dear Home Secretary and Mayor,

I write today to provide you with the Metropolitan Police’s response to the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel report. As you know the Panel’s report was a significant report for the Met that made a number of recommendations and set out a range of findings. Over the last 9 months, we have carefully considered the report, acted on the recommendations and led engagement with national policing partners.

I want to say again, it is a matter of great regret that no one has been brought to justice for the murder of Daniel Morgan and that our mistakes have compounded the pain and suffering felt so acutely by his family. As you are aware, I wrote directly to Daniel Morgan’s family last year to apologise and I have written to them again today to share the Met’s response and reiterate that we are deeply sorry.

The Panel made 23 recommendations in total, including nine for the Met. We accepted all nine recommendations and have successfully completed them. However, our work does not stop there, over the course of the next year we will be working to ensure that the changes we have made are fully embedded through a number of delivery plans with a particular focus on training and internal communications. This will ensure that officers and staff are aware of the changes we have made to guidance and processes, the context of those changes and the importance of ensuring that they are firmly embedded in business as usual across the Met.

The enclosed report provides an overview of the activity we have undertaken in response to the Panel’s report, which, I hope, demonstrates our determination to maximise the Panel’s detailed observations about our policies and practices over 35 years.

To highlight just some of that activity, as a direct result of the Panel’s report we have:

• Reviewed the current family liaison protocols. The Independent Panel report highlighted some very real concerns regarding the relationship a senior officer had with the Morgan family. The MPS can confirm all family liaison officers (FLOs) are appropriately trained and accredited under nationally agreed standards.

• Reviewed 547 investigations that had been conducted over a three-year period and concluded there are no instances when the SIO is on secondment to, or employed by, another agency.

• All 337 FLO deployments from January 2021 to October 2021 were reviewed. No examples of an officer performing the dual role of SIO and FLO were identified. A dip sample was then completed of 1129 FLO deployments which took place between Jan 2016 and Jan 2021 - a total of circa 60 deployments. No examples of an officer performing the dual role of SIO and FLO were identified.

• Introduced a policy and practice change to ensure governance processes are in place to allow the Commander of Specialist Crime to assess potential conflict of interest in the case of any retired officers or Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) returning as a civilian member of police staff.

• We have produced new guidance for officers and staff when dealing with a data breach supporting them to understand the recovery options available including recovery by agreement and recovery by court action.

As you will be aware, two of the Panel’s recommendations related to potential investigative opportunities relating to forensic reviews. Unfortunately, neither of these forensic examinations has led to any new investigative leads. However, you may remember that AC Ephgrave commissioned a wider forensic review of the case last year and this review remains ongoing at this time. We will continue to consider any potential avenues that could lead to a successful prosecution.

In addition to acting on the recommendations, we have also considered the report’s wider findings and reflected on the Panel’s concerns. While I have been clear that that we do not agree with all the Panel’s findings we have sought to engage with their criticism of the Met in a constructive way to maximise the learning from this report. This has included reviewing and developing the process and guidance we have in place to support how the Met engages with Inquiries and Inquests. We have also sought to critically reflect with the support and challenge of a professional reference group on the reports other themes including those relating to professional standards and corruption.

Building on our learning from other significant reports for the Met, we have played a key leadership role in bringing together national policing and other key partners to respond to the panel’s report. As part of this, I hosted two events at New Scotland Yard bringing together very senior representatives of the organisations who had recommendations made to them to ensure we worked collaboratively and are able to demonstrate our collective response to the Panel. I am grateful to those that attended, including both from the Home Office and from MOPAC, and those that have provided updates that we have included in our response today.

In addition to responding to the Panel’s report, we have also facilitated HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMCIFRS) inspection of the Met following the panel’s report. As you know the inspection is now complete and HMICFRS are due to publish their report shortly. We are committed to considering and acting on their report and any recommendations quickly. We will of course keep you up to date on our response once the report is published.

I would be delighted to offer you a further briefing on our response to the Panel’s report should this be of interest.

Yours Sincerely,

Cressida Dick

Commissioner