Scotland Yard has publically apologised for police corruption which lead to failures to bring the murderers of Private Investigator Daniel Morgan to justice.

Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin offered a full apology to the family admitting police corruption was “significant” in failing to bring his killers to justice.

He spoke at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority in City Hall this morning (March 31).

The family of the murdered PI have battled for 24 years for justice.

Mr Morgan, who was a partner in a Thornton Heath based agency called Southern Investigations was found dead with an axe lodged in his head in the car park of the Golden Lion Pub in Sydenham on March 10, 1987. His agency employed moonlighting police officers.

It was believed he was killed as a result of his investigations and his murderers were shielded from justice at the time by corrupt police officers.

Last month the latest case against three people accused of killing the investigator collapsed after the CPS could not guarantee a fair trial.

His family have called for a judicial inquiry into Mr Morgan’s murder.

Acting Commissioner Godwin told the MPA the CPS and the police are carrying out a review into the errors surrounding the case. However, he said a judicial inquiry might “slow things down” and said it is a matter for the Home Secretary to consider.

A statement from the family which was read out by Jennette Arnold at the meeting called on the MPA to support their calls for a judicial review.

Mrs Arnold read: “Twenty-four years after Daniel’s murder, the Met has finally admitted that their first investigation of this crime was crippled by police corruption.

“We were aware of this within three weeks of the murder.

“Through two decades and more of public protests, meetings with police officers at the highest ranks, lobbying of politicians and pleas to the media, we have found ourselves lied to, fobbed off, bullied, degraded and let down time and time again. What we have been required to endure has been nothing short of torture.

“After a collapsed prosecution and millions spent from the public purse, a full judicial inquiry into the handling of this case by the Met is even more urgently required.

“We therefore return to the MPA today to seek support for our call for a full judicial inquiry, mindful of words uttered by Assistant Commissioner John Yates at a meeting with Kit Malthouse and Boris Johnson in February 2009: ‘This case is one of the most deplorable episodes in the entire history of the Metropolitan Police Service. This family has been treated disgracefully’.”

Deputy Mayor for policing Kit Malthouse told the MPA he was meeting with the family this afternoon to discuss a way forward.

Mr Morgan's former business partner William Rees, 56, of Weybridge in Surrey, Glenn Vian, 52, of south Croydon, and Garry Vian, 50, of no fixed address, were acquitted of his murder earlier this month after 18 months of legal argument.