28.07.11 PRESS RELEASE
MET ACTING COMMISSIONER DECLINES TO ANSWER QUESTIONS ABOUT NEWS OF WORLD SURVEILLANCE OF MURDER INVESTIGATOR

Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan police, Tim Godwin, today declined to answer questions put by the family of murdered private investigator Daniel Morgan. The questions concerned surveillance by NotW journalists of Detective Chief Superintendent David Cook and his family in 2002, whilst Mr. Cook was investigating the notorious 1987 axe-murder.

The issue was raised at a meeting in New Scotland Yard between Rebekah Brooks (then editor of NotW), the Met’s Director of Public Affairs, Dick Fedorcio, Cdr. André Baker and D.C.S. Cook in January 2003.

“Mrs. Brooks was affected by a loss of memory about the meeting when examined recently by a Commons Select Committee” said Daniel Morgan’s brother Alastair today.

The questions were top of the agenda at today’s meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority.

In response to a question put by the family’s representative Jennette Arnold, the Commissioner replied that there had been some media publicity about the meeting and that he had asked Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick to look into this. Issues arising from the meeting were currently the subject of investigations by Operations Weeting and Elveden.

“We were disappointed that we couldn’t get any concrete answers” said Alastair Morgan. “Now we’ll have to wait for answers. We are becoming increasingly concerned over recent revelations of close relationships between senior journalists at NotW and two of the defendants in the recently collapsed murder prosecution.

On 31st March this year, the family received a public apology from Mr. Godwin over police corruption in the first investigation into Daniel Morgan’s murder. The Metropolitan Police Authority then voted unanimously in support of a the family’s call for a full judicial inquiry into the police’s handling of the murder.

Please see below for the questions the family put to Mr. Godwin.

Contact details:

Alastair Morgan: 020 7608 3124
Mobile: 07917 698 109
Facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100002666422343
Twitter @AlastairMorgan

QUESTIONS FOR ACTING COMMISSIONER TIM GODWIN
AT MEETING OF MPA ON 28TH JULY 2011

1) Can you confirm that D.C.S. David Cook was targeted and placed under surveillance by NoW photographers and vans following his appearance on BBC Crimewatch on June 26th 2002 in connection with his investigation into the murder of Daniel Morgan?

2) Can you confirm that on 27th June 2002 Mr Cook was warned by the MPS that they had intelligence indicating that:

a) The surveillance had been arranged by Alex Marunchak on behalf of Sidney Fillery and Jonathan Rees, two of the suspects under investigation by Mr. Cook?
b) Fillery had been in touch with Marunchak who had agreed to ‘sort Cook out’?
c) A few days later Surrey Police contacted Mr. Cook to tell him that a person claiming to work for the Inland Revenue had contacted their finance department asking for Mr. Cook’s home address so they could post a cheque to him with a tax refund, and that their finance team refused to release the information because they were suspicious?

3) Can you confirm that subsequently Mr. Cook together with Mr. Dick Fedorcio and Commander André Baker met Mrs. Rebekah Brooks of NotW to discuss concerns that Mr. Cook had been placed under surveillance by NotW?

4) Can you confirm that Mrs. Brooks was specifically told of concerns that Alex Marunchak had arranged for the NoW photographers and vans to be used to place Mr. Cook under surveillance?

5) Can you confirm that Rebekah Brooks defended Marunchak on the grounds that “he did his job well”?

6) Can you confirm that Mrs. Brooks stated that the reason for placing Mr. Cook under surveillance was because he was thought to be having an affair with Jacqui Hames? Did the MPS find it credible that a newspaper with a reputation for investigative journalism wouldn’t have made basic checks that would have shown that Mr. Cook was married to Ms. Hames before going to the expense of hiring vans?

7) Was Mrs. Brooks told that Rees and Fillery were suspected of being involved in Daniel Morgan’s murder?

8) What, if anything did the police ask Mrs. Brooks to do about their concerns? What did Mrs. Brooks say she would do about the information she’d been given? And what, in the end, was done, if anything?

9) Were notes taken at the meeting? If so, can we please be given a copy of them?

6) Can you confirm the date of this meeting and where it took place?

7) Was D.A.C. Andy Hayman - who was in overall charge of the police investigation into Daniel Morgan’s murder - informed of this meeting and the matters raised in it?

8) If so, what action, if any, did he take?

9) Can you confirm that the MPS are in possession of a statement from a former employee of Southern Investigations stating that Rees and Marunchak were defrauding NotW as early as March 1987? Can you give details of how the fraud worked? Was Mrs. Brooks made aware of the fraud at this meeting or at any other time?

6) Can you confirm that Jonathan Rees’s corrupt relationship with Marunchak went back at least as far as March 1987?

12) Was the MPS concerned that Mr. Cook had been targeted in order to interfere with the Daniel Morgan murder inquiry?

17) Why didn’t the MPS conduct a formal inquiry into a senior officer on a controversial murder investigation being put under surveillance?

18) Is it true that the MPS’s decision to take no further action reflected Mr Fedorcio’s desire to avoid friction with NotW?

19) How close was Mr. Fedorcio’s relationship with Mrs. Brooks?

20) Were concerns about any other private investigator or journalists brought up at that meeting? If so please provide details.

21) Is it true that it’s now known Glenn Mulcaire managed to get Mr. Cook’s home address, his internal payroll number at the MPS, his Date of Birth and the mortgage payments Mr. Cook and his wife were paying? Did any of this information come from the MPS’s own records? What, if anything, was done about this?

22) Is it true that there is evidence showing that Glen Mulcaire obtained Mr. Cook’s personal details on the instructions of NotW on executive Greg Miskiw’s instructions?

28 July 2011
Alastair Morgan