Events as they unfolded following Daniel Morgan's murder in 1987, as five separate police inquiries fail to indentify his killers
The family of Daniel Morgan leave the Old Bailey after three men are acquitted of charges over the 1987 murder of a private investigator who was found with an axe embedded in his head in a pub car park. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA
10 March 1987
Daniel Morgan's body is found slumped by his BMW in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham, south London.Detective Sergeant Sid Fillery, of Catford police station, is assigned to the case. He fails to tell his bosses he moonlighted for Southern Investigations.
April 1987
Six people, including Fillery, Jonathan Rees – Morgan's former business partner – Glenn Vian, Garry Vian, and two other Met officers are arrested on suspicion of the murder. No charges are brought and all six are released.1988
Staff from Southern Investigations are called to give evidence at an inquest at Southwark coroner's court. Kevin Lennon, who worked as an accountant, tells the inquest he had watched Rees's relationship with Morgan deteriorate.Lennon says Rees told him six months before the murder that he had found the perfect solution to the problem: "My mates at Catford nick are going to arrange it. Those police officers are friends of mine and will either murder Danny themselves or will arrange it."
Rees is asked if he murdered Daniel Morgan. He replies: "I did not." The inquest returns a verdict of unlawful killing.
July 1988
The Police Complaints Authority announces an inquiry into the handling of the case and the murder inquiry itself. Hampshire police are to take on the investigation.February 1989
Three people are arrested on suspicion of the murder, including Rees. He and another man are charged with the murder.May 1989
Charges are dropped due to lack of evidence. Both men sue Hants police. Fillery obtains a medical discharge from the Met and joins Rees as his partner at Southern Investigations.November 1997
The Met's then commissioner, Sir Paul Condon, promises to review the case again.1998-99
As part of the third police inquiry, anti-corruption officers from Scotland Yard plant a bug in the Southern Investigation office where Rees now works with Fillery. The bug unearths a plot by Rees to plant cocaine on an innocent woman so that her estranged husband could get custody of their child. Anti-corruption officers move in and Rees is arrested.2000
Rees is convicted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and is jailed for seven years.2002
In the fourth police inquiry bugs are used again to record conversations in a suspect's car and at Glenn Vian's house. The Met puts forward evidence on a number of individuals in respect of the murder but the Crown Prosecution Service decides not to prosecute.2005
The Met's then commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, admits the first inquiry involving Fillery was "compromised".A fifth inquiry, led by Detective Chief Superintendent Dave Cook, is begun in secret.
2006
As part of fifth inquiry, bugs are used at Glenn Vian's home, generating a vast amount of material.April 2008
Rees, the Vian brothers and James Cook are arrested on suspicion of the murder. Fillery is arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice.October 2009
Legal arguments begin at the Old Bailey.February 2010
A key supergrass is dismissed as a witness by the trial judge and the prosecution of Fillery stayed.November 2010
Trial judge drops second supergrass and clears James Cook.January 2011
A third supergrass is dropped as a witness when police are accused of withholding evidence which proves he is a registered police informant.March 2011
The director of public prosecutions decides to pull the case.http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/11/daniel-morgan-axe-murder-case-timeline
