THE Metropolitan Police’s approach to tackling corruption is not fit for purpose, the police watchdog has found in a damning report on the Daniel Morgan murder.

Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services identified a “degree of indifference” by the Met to the risk of corruption in its report published today. 

The report was ordered after an independent panel last year found the Met institutionally corrupt for its failings over the Morgan murder.

The private eye was found with an axe lodged in his head in a pub car park in south-east London in 1987.

Corruption in the ensuing police investigation hampered efforts to bring his killers to justice. No-one has been convicted of the murder. 

The watchdog said it found substantial weaknesses in the Met’s approach, including inadequate vetting procedures for officers in posts such as child protection. 

The force was also found to have failed to properly supervise more than 100 people it had recruited with criminal offences or connections to lessen the risks they could pose. 

Hundreds of items, including cash and drugs, were unaccounted for and the procedures for keeping them safe were described as dire. 

Inspector of Constabulary Matt Parr said: “It is unacceptable that 35 years after Daniel Morgan’s murder, the Metropolitan Police has not done enough to ensure its failings from that investigation cannot be repeated.

“In fact, we found no evidence that someone, somewhere, had adopted the view that this must never happen again.”

However, the inspectors concluded that the Met was not institutionally corrupt and any hampering of the independent panel’s probe was not deliberate. 

The force welcomed the report and admitted: “There is a lot we need to improve on.”