Full Transcript for Case Unsolved: Daniel Morgan

Jonathan Reese, who he had been drinking with that night. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:51.120 Reese had an alibi of sorts. 00:02:51.280 --> 00:03:03.360 He had left the pub at the same time as Daniel, and was seen at nine thirty PM in a pub called the Beulah Spa in Crystal Palace with Paul Goodridge, who worked as a bodyguard. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:09.039 Rhys owned a company called Southern Investigations, which also employed Daniel. 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:19.360 On the third of april nineteen ninety seven, six men were arrested and questioned about the murder, but the police released them, saying they didn't have enough evidence to charge any of them. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:27.199 It would later emerge that among the six who were arrested were Rhys and his brothers in law, Glenn and Gary Vyan. 00:03:28.560 --> 00:03:38.719 But most fascinating of all was one of those men was a man called Sid Fillery, Detective Sergeant Sid Fillery. 00:03:38.960 --> 00:03:48.400 And get this, he had been put on the murder investigation himself, until his bosses realized that he knew Reese and probably the VN brothers as well. 00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:59.520 In fact, it would later emerge that Sid Fillery had been moonlighting from the Met, working for Southern investigations which had close connections with sections of the tabloid press. 00:03:59.840 --> 00:04:11.280 In may nineteen eighty seven, a man called Brian Madgan, who knew Daniel well and used to employ employ him, told the Met he believed Daniel was trying to sell a story about police corruption. 00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:22.639 The following year an inquest was held, and Kevin Lennon, who had been an accountant for Southern investigations, gave evidence that Reese and Daniel had fallen out. 00:04:22.959 --> 00:04:27.279 He said he believed Reese was determined to have Daniel killed. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:30.800 At that same inquest Reese denied the accusation. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:38.240 Mr Lennon's evidence was slightly tarnished when it emerged he himself had been convicted of tax fraud. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:47.199 Later in nineteen eighty eight, Fillery left the Metropolitan Police altogether and started working full time for Southern investigations. 00:04:48.079 --> 00:04:59.120 With no sign of anyone being charged with a murder, Hampshire police were brought in to conduct a probe into the original investigation to see if they could unearth evidence of police corruption. 00:04:59.360 --> 00:05:05.279 Nothing came of it, but in february nineteen eighty nine two people were charged with a murder. 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:08.240 They were Reese and Paul Goodridge. 00:05:08.480 --> 00:05:09.279 Remember him? 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:14.480 The bodyguard who had been drinking with Reese in the pub in Crystal Palace shortly after the murder. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:20.319 Goodridge's girlfriend Jean Wisden was also charged with perverting the course of justice. 00:05:20.639 --> 00:05:25.360 But three months later, charges were dropped against all three. 00:05:25.680 --> 00:05:30.079 In march nineteen ninety, Hampshire Police produced their report. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:33.439 It was claimed Alistair a whitewash. 00:05:33.680 --> 00:05:48.480 It said there was no evidence to back up any of the claims against Reese or Fillery and I quote, no evidence to suggest any member of the murder investigation team took deliberate action to prevent the murder being properly detected. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:50.399 That was it. 00:05:50.720 --> 00:05:52.160 For a few years. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:06:05.199 Throughout the nineteen nineties, Reese and Fillery worked closely with the News of the World, carrying out investigations into celebrities and others who Rupert Murdoch's famous newspaper had chosen to target. 00:06:05.839 --> 00:06:18.480 In may nineteen ninety seven, the Labour Party won a landslide election victory, booting out the Conservatives, and Alistair Morgan's local MP, Chris Smith, suddenly became a cabinet minister. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:21.920 Suddenly, Alistair had a bit of political heft. 00:06:22.560 --> 00:06:29.920 Chris Smith was assured by the then Commissioner of the Met, Sir Paul Condon, that Daniel's case would be reviewed. 00:06:30.240 --> 00:06:39.920 The Met did then bug the Office of Southern Investigations, and what they picked up would send Reese to jail, but not for murder. 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:47.759 This story within a story begins with a man called Simon James, who was desperate to get custody of his son. 00:06:48.240 --> 00:06:57.920 James came to Southern Investigations with his problem, and Reese cooked up a plan to frame Simon James' wife, Kim, a model. 00:06:58.480 --> 00:07:06.800 They would obtain large a large amount of cocaine, plant it in her car, and then tip off their friends and the police. 00:07:07.120 --> 00:07:08.639 It almost worked. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:19.360 But the bug uncovered the plot, and Reese, James, and Detective Constable Austin Warns were all convicted of perverting the course of justice. 00:07:20.480 --> 00:07:23.120 Reese was jailed for seven years. 00:07:23.759 --> 00:07:30.800 But the bugging operation had failed to uncover anything which incriminated Reese when it came to the Daniel Morgan murder. 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.959 The police and the Morgan family were back to square one. 00:07:35.680 --> 00:07:42.160 In 2001, the Met launched a new investigation called Operation Abelard, but it got nowhere. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:53.600 Although Abelard was led by Detective Chief Inspector David Zinzan, the man doing most of the work was Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook, a well respected Scotsman. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:08:00.000 DCS Cook was portrayed by Robert Carlyle in the recent ITV drama The Hack. 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:10.319 DCS Cook was, by general agreement, a straight as a die cop who was determined to get to the bottom of the case and get Daniel's killers convicted.

00:08:10.639 --> 00:08:19.439 He was also married to Jackie Haymes, a Metropolitan Police officer who doubled up as a presenter on the TV show Crimewatch UK. 00:08:20.079 --> 00:08:31.199 In June 2002, Crimewatch ran a cold case appeal by DCS Cook, seeking information from the public which might help catch Daniel's killers. 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.559 A fifty thousand pound reward was offered. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:49.279 In August 2003, the Crown Prosecution Service told DCS Cook there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Reese, the Vianne brothers, or James Cook for the murder or any other offences. 00:08:49.919 --> 00:08:53.360 But the dogged DCS Cook was not done. 00:08:53.840 --> 00:09:01.200 He organized the bugging of Glen Vianne's home in South London and also obtained key evidence from an informant. 00:09:01.759 --> 00:09:12.960 In April 2008, Jonathan Reese, his brothers in law Glenn and Gary Vianne, and an associate James Cook were charged with Morgan's murder. 00:09:13.360 --> 00:09:26.720 While former police officer Sid Fillery was charged with perverting the course of justice, but when the trial reached the Old Bailey it hit legal problems, largely due to that informant. 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:34.879 The murder case against Cook was thrown out first, then charges of perverting the course of justice against Sid Fillery. 00:09:34.960 --> 00:09:44.000 The saga dragged on for ages, and I remember going on going to several legal hearings at the Old Bailey throughout two thousand nine, twenty ten. 00:09:44.559 --> 00:09:53.600 Finally, in march twenty eleven, the prosecution were forced to admit defeat, and Reese and the Vianne brothers walked free. 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:57.200 Afterwards Reese said I should never have been prosecuted. 00:09:57.519 --> 00:10:01.120 My sympathy goes out to Daniel Morgan's family, he added. 00:10:01.440 --> 00:10:05.519 You can imagine how those words sounded to the Morgan family. 00:10:05.840 --> 00:10:10.639 Alistair said My family is devastated by this news. 00:10:10.960 --> 00:10:13.279 We just put some flowers on the grave. 00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:15.440 It's just horrible, he added. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:32.080 The Daniel Morgan trial collapsed on Friday the eleventh of march twenty eleven, but the end was looming fast for the News of the World, the paper which had paid Jonathan Reese and Sid Fillery so much money over the years for their work on its celebrity exclusives. 00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:47.440 That same day, the eleventh of march twenty eleven, Nick Davis, an investigative journalist with a Guardian, wrote a long and detailed article about the dark arts of journalism, employed by the News of the World. 00:10:47.679 --> 00:10:59.840 In it he stated that Jonathan Reese was paid one hundred and fifty thousand pounds a year by the News of the World and quoted him as saying no one pays like the News of the World do. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:07.120 The News of the World or the Screws as it was universally nicknamed in Fleet Street was wobbling. 00:11:07.440 --> 00:11:13.279 And then on the fifth of july twenty eleven, Nick Davis landed the knockout blow. 00:11:13.519 --> 00:11:15.840 He published a world exclusive. 00:11:16.159 --> 00:11:22.080 The News of the World had hacked the phone of missing schoolgirl Millie Dowler. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:29.919 In march two thousand two, Dowler, who was thirteen, had gone missing on the way home from school in Walton on Thames. 00:11:30.399 --> 00:11:39.360 Her remains were later found and eventually serial killer Levi Belfield was arrested and convicted of her murder. 00:11:39.679 --> 00:11:48.559 But for several months in the spring of 2002, the Dowler family had hopes she was still alive, and had perhaps just run away from home. 00:11:48.799 --> 00:11:54.240 It was during that time that they learned that her voicemail messages had been listened to. 00:11:54.480 --> 00:12:01.360 It gave them false hope that maybe Millie was alive and had listened to the numerous messages they had left for her. 00:12:01.919 --> 00:12:11.519 But the person listening to the messages was actually Glenn Mulker, a private investigator like Jonathan Reese, who worked for the News of the World. 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:30.960 Mulker specialized in hacking into phones, and he had done it on the orders of someone at the News of the World, in the hope of gleaning some tidbit about Millie Dowler, which the paper could sell as a world exclusive, like they had done so many times before, concealing the real source of their information. 00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:43.600 The Millie Dowler revelation, which Rupert Murdoch's News International Group did not deny, was just the tip of the iceberg of industrial scale phone hacking by the News of the World. 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:50.720 Several of the paper's biggest advertisers announced they would no longer put ads in the News of the World. 00:12:50.960 --> 00:13:01.759 Suddenly Rupert Murdoch pulled the plug on what had been Britain's biggest selling newspaper, a paper that sold almost three million copies a week at the time. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:06.320 The edition of the tenth of july twenty eleven would be its last. 00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:23.039 It would later emerge that in the summer of 2002, shortly after Cook had appeared on Crimewatch making that fresh appeal in the Daniel Morden case, the News of the World had hired people to put Cook and his wife, Jackie Haymes, under surveillance. 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:30.639 Jeff Mulcare had also obtained personal information about Jackie Haymes, including her police payroll number. 00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:43.519 The paper's managing director, Rebecca Brooks, would later claim the News of the World had been following up a tip-off that Haimes, a famous face from Crimewatch, was having an affair with a police officer called Cook. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:47.279 Clearly that was not the case as they were already married. 00:13:47.519 -->

00:14:02.159 I will leave you to speculate about why in 2002 the News of the World was carrying out surveillance on a senior police officer who was investigating Jonathan Reese, one of the paper's main editorial subcontractors. 00:14:02.639 --> 00:14:16.480 Anyway, the News of the World collapsed and Rebecca Brooks was put on trial along with Andy Coulson, the paper's former editor, who had gone to work as director of communications for the then Prime Minister, David Cameron. 00:14:17.279 --> 00:14:23.120 Brooks was acquitted of all charges, but Coulson was jailed. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:29.679 Cameron then put Lord Levison in charge of a public inquiry into the press. 00:14:30.000 --> 00:14:42.240 Lord Leverson I know better know as Brian Levison, who was the prosecutor in the Rose West trial, which I covered way back in the mid nineties. 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:47.519 There were originally meant to be two phases of the Levison Inquiry. 00:14:47.759 --> 00:14:59.039 The first phase looking at the culture and ethics of the British newspaper industry, heard from alleged phone hacking victims, and took evidence about whether self regulation was working. 00:14:59.360 --> 00:15:04.080 The second phase was supposed to look at connections between the press and the police. 00:15:04.559 --> 00:15:21.919 The first phase lasted from november twenty eleven until november twenty twelve, but in january twenty seventeen, with no sign of the second phase, Daniel Morgan's family asked the then Prime Minister Theresa May to confirm that phase two would go ahead. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:32.879 Just an aside, the following month, february twenty seventeen, I was in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires on holiday when I noticed a familiar face in a bar. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:36.480 I strolled up to him and said, Are you Nick Davis? 00:15:36.799 --> 00:15:37.440 He was. 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:41.279 It turned out he was also on holiday there. 00:15:41.519 --> 00:15:46.320 We ended up spending a whole evening drinking beers and discussing journalism and life. 00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:56.159 Nick Davis was played by David Tennant in the ITV drama The Hack, and I think he did an excellent job of portraying Davis and his mannerisms. 00:15:56.480 --> 00:15:58.240 But back to the narrative. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:07.840 In twenty eighteen, Theresa May's government, which was mired in the Brexit fiasco, scrapped plans for the second phase of the Levison Inquiry. 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:13.279 The National Union of Journalists, of which I am a member, condemned the decision. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:28.000 Three years later, in june twenty twenty one, the Daniel Morgan Independent Panel published a report which said the Metropolitan Police had been institutionally corrupt in its handling of the Morgan case. 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:37.440 I'll go into a lot more detail about the panel and what it found in my Substack Totalcrime. 00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:59.759 The NUJ welcomed the panel's report and said, I quote, the National Union of Journalists believes the failure to enact part two of the Levison Inquiry means that to date the relationship between the police, politicians and the media has never been examined or publicly scrutinized. 00:17:00.159 --> 00:17:08.480 A month after the independent panel's report was published, Alistair Morgan was asked about the case at the London Assembly's Police and Crime Committee. 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:24.400 The exhaustion and stress showed in his face as he said We've been through five investigations, one of which lasted six years, and one which I have latterly been told was not actually an investigation into my brother's murder. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:40.240 We've also been through an inquest, a two year high court disclosure medal, the longest pretrial hearing in British criminal history which lasted nearly two years before the collapse of the last prosecution, and then on top of that, we've had this eight year inquiry. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:48.880 The only way I can describe all of this is to say that the Met has colonized my life for the last three and a half decades. 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:58.079 Five years later, people are still talking about the Daniel Morgan case and recording podcasts and writing substacks about it. 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:04.319 When I contacted him last year, Alistair told me he was not in a position to talk about the case. 00:18:04.720 --> 00:18:15.440 So will we ever get to the truth about Daniel Morgan's murder, which took place in nineteen eighty seven, around one hundred years after the Jack Ripper murders? 00:18:16.960 --> 00:18:24.720 Or will the Sydenham axe murderer go free and unidentified just like the Whitechapel Ripper a century before?