Daniel Morgan Independent Panel

It is recommended that the Crown Prosecution Service's additional guidance should be amended to include a requirement that the Prosecutor should consider whether the information was disclosed with a view to one or both parties securing future profit from the use of that material. Moreover, the additional guidance should also be amended to note that the advantage to the parties disclosing the document(s) may not be purely financial but, as in the case of former DCS David Cook and Michael Sullivan, could be reputational and could have improved their employability in the future.

The Home Office stated in June 2023 that the Crown Prosecution Service had updated its guidance in February 2022, setting out a list of factors to consider when assessing a suspect's overall criminality and motivation, including confirmation that advantage "need not be financial but could include other forms of anticipated personal gain" (Home Office response, Jun 2023). The record holds no update since the Home Office's response of June 2023 (Home Office response, Jun 2023).

The Panel is concerned that the policies and procedures relating to the use of informants by law enforcement agencies still allow scope for corrupt practices, and it recommends that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner takes this into consideration during inspections.

The Panel recommended that informant inspections take corruption risks into consideration. In June 2023, the Home Office stated that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office independently oversees these powers and conducts annual inspections to ensure compliance by law enforcement agencies (Home Office response, Jun 2023). The department explained that inspectors conduct interviews with handler and controller staff and scrutinise authorisation paperwork to ensure individual agencies mitigate risks (Home Office response, Jun 2023). It noted that handling risks associated with covert human intelligence sources is a key focus, though corrupt practices were not mentioned (Home Office response, Jun 2023).

It is recommended that Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services conduct a thematic investigation of the operation of the practices and procedures introduced following the adoption of the Code of Ethics in 2014 to determine whether sufficient resources are available to ensure appropriate protection of those police officers and police staff who wish to draw alleged wrongdoing to the attention of their organisations.

The Panel recommended a thematic investigation into protections for police whistleblowers. In June 2023, the Home Office reported that HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) had inspected corruption within the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and published findings in March 2022, though whistleblower protections were not mentioned (Home Office response, Jun 2023). The department noted that Baroness Casey's review of the force in March 2023 found that the inspectorate's recommendations were repeatedly not acted upon (Home Office response, Jun 2023). It also recorded that while the force accepted all of those recommendations, it had not met all of them by the March 2023 deadline (Home Office response, Jun 2023).

In the interest of transparency and public accountability, all public institutions should be under a duty to cooperate fully with independent scrutiny bodies created by Government, such as the Panel.

The Panel recommended placing all public institutions under a duty to cooperate with independent scrutiny bodies. In June 2023, the Home Office stated that it introduced a statutory duty of cooperation for serving police officers in February 2020, alongside measures for former officers, but it did not mention other public institutions (Home Office response, Jun 2023). In March 2022, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services found that a non-statutory inquiry could not demand access to material and systems in the same way (HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, Mar 2022). The record holds nothing dated later than the response of June 2023 (Home Office response, Jun 2023).

In order to avoid most of the delays and difficulties inherent in this case, and in so many other unsolved cases, there is a need for a review of the processes for archiving historic material with a view to creating a system which can produce national and local documents as required.

In June 2023, the Home Office stated that a new Code of Practice, together with guidance on archiving records in the public interest, would set guidance for preserving records and advice on managing them to prevent obsolescence (Home Office response, Jun 2023). The department noted in June 2023 that chief officers should ensure their forces have systems and processes in place to identify records meeting the criteria for permanent preservation (Home Office response, Jun 2023).

It is recommended that, whenever a major incident remains under investigation or inquiry, documents should be retained in digitised form, subject to appropriate security measures and made available to those who subsequently and justifiably require access to them.

The Home Office stated in June 2023 that a new Code of Practice and complementary guidance on archiving records would advise police forces on managing appropriate records to prevent obsolescence and preserving those in the public interest (Home Office response, Jun 2023). The department added that chief officers should ensure their forces maintain systems and processes to identify records meeting the criteria for permanent preservation (Home Office response, Jun 2023). The record holds no update since the department's response of June 2023 (Home Office response, Jun 2023).