Victim's family call for inquiry

The family of murdered private detective Daniel Morgan called today for a judicial inquiry after the latest blow in their fight for justice.

A spokesman said: "His family have seen that the criminal justice system is simply not fit for purpose to address the crime with which they have been required to live over the last two-and-a-half decades.

"So they have been left with no option but to call upon the Home Secretary today to order a full judicial inquiry into the handling of the case by the Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service."

Mr Morgan's brother Alastair said: "For almost a quarter of a century, my family has done everything democratically and legally possible to secure justice for Daniel.

"For much of this time, we have encountered stubborn obstruction, and worse, at the highest levels of the Metropolitan Police.

"We have found an impotent police complaints system. And we have met with inertia, or worse, on the part of successive governments.

"We have been failed utterly by all of the institutions designed to protect us.

"We have seen for ourselves a criminal justice system which has proved incapable of coming to terms with the murder or the subsequent criminality of those charged with enforcing the law."

But he said those responsible for the present inquiry and prosecution had done their best "to redress the catastrophic failures of earlier investigations".

He added: "Despite their best efforts, there has been no public scrutiny of the evidence available in relation to Daniel's murder."