My podcast addiction drives Craig insane. With no fewer than 25 podcasts stored on my iPhone, it’s forever pinging alerts that someone has dropped a new episode. Usually they sit in a queue until I manage to extricate myself from the kids for an hour or two, but Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder has me donning earphones the moment it lands every Thursday evening. Owing to the popularity of my post on the best podcasts for true crime addicts, it would be remiss not to highlight this one - particularly given us Brits are considered late adoptees of the podcast medium.
I’m in the 30s Club so this real-life murder happened when I was still wearing nappies, in the carpark of the Golden Lion pub in less than salubrious Sydenham, South East London. Daniel ran a private investigation company (Southern Investigations) with a seemingly iniquitous partner Jonathan Rees. The two had a volatile relationship and there exists a rumour that Daniel was engaging in secret meetings with the News of the World newspaper shortly before his death - with Daniel attempting to lift the lid on major corruption in the Metropolitan police force, perhaps implicating Rees in the process.
Speculation-aside, Daniel was struck three times with an axe in the back of the head. His Rolex was taken, but £1000 was recovered in his jacket pocket. The pocket of his trousers had been torn open and notes he had earlier been seen writing were missing, the implication being that someone sought to silence Morgan.
Writing about what follows next opens up the potential for spoilers. Instead I’ll simply say that the 10-part podcast series unabashedly calls out the murder suspects and lays bare their various links to the Met, detailing some 30 years of compromised investigations and intrigue. Years after the murder, Southern Investigations would become the “cradle of the dark arts”, as Guardian journalist Nick Davies has described them, and a seething hotbed of criminality.
This is not a whodunnit, it’s a story about the biggest cover-up in the history of British police, and how they got away with it. Peter Jukes, narrator of Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder
Every episode opens with the epithet that Morgan’s is the most investigated murder in British history, and yet you probably haven’t heard of it, inviting you to ask yourself why. Rather than cover the Met in glory, it reveals a shitstorm of corruption with moonlighting detectives, “failed” prosecutions, phone-tapping and email-hacking. Acting as a kind of unofficial screenplay to the much publicised Leveson Inquiry, it contextualises the paradoxical relationship between big business and justice, Murdoch’s stranglehold on the British press and a rather telling lacklustre response from Government.
It has been described by an assistant commissioner of the Met as “one of the most disgraceful episodes in the entire history of the Metropolitan police service” seemingly buried by its makers (the British Press). Yet this crowdfunded podcast (its biggest donor, Hugh Grant) puts paid to that - taking advantage of the public’s appetite for transparency and vigilante justice as exemplified by its American cousin Serial, and the activist group Anonymous.
The case remains unsolved, having been sifted through five inquiries (costing some £50m). Every time anyone is charged with the murder, their cases are promptly dropped.
With Jukes acting as an unofficial investigator, he narrates the ordeal with barely concealed contempt for its endless line of conspirators. Joined by Daniel Morgan’s brother Alastair Morgan, the two men’s quest for justice has not lessened over time. Alastair’s grief is visible beneath his frustration, serving to remind us that his brother’s death is still sat at the bottom of a very deep laundry basket. It is hoped their podcast will lead to a new judicial inquiry.
It’s a must-listen with episodes averaging around 40 minutes each. Binge-listen to the series on iTunes to catch up, or head to untoldmurder.com for a gallery of characters, press clippings and additional sources.
