Watson set to raise axe murder under parliamentary privilege

LABOUR MP Tom Watson is preparing to raise allegations under Commons privilege about the killing of private detective Daniel Morgan.

Morgan was found murdered in a south London pub car park with an axe in his head 25 years ago. His family has been campaigning to bring his killers to book ever since.

Morgan worked for Southern Investigations, an agency that ran a number of information-gathering activities for newspapers including the News of the World. His partner in the firm, Jonathan Rees, was one of three suspects who were cleared of murder when a trial collapsed in March last year. The Met admitted corruption and a cover-up in their ranks.

The murder of Mr Morgan in 1987 was raised at the Leveson inquiry into media standards and ethics on Tuesday in evidence from former Metropolitan Police detective and BBC Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames.

Ms Hames told the inquiry that Southern Investigations had "close links" to Alex Marunchak, the News of the World's crime editor in the late 1980s. She said this was the reason she and her then husband, Det Chief Supt Dave Cook were put under surveillance by the paper.

In a statement, she said: "I believe that the real reason for the News of the World placing us under surveillance was that suspects in the Daniel Morgan murder inquiry were using their association with a powerful and well-resourced newspaper to try to intimidate us and so attempt to subvert the investigation."

Watson, who has been a scourge of News International since the disclosure of the hacking scandal at the News of the World, is getting ready to raise claims about Morgan's death in a 4pm debate today in Westminster Hall.

Watson, a member of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee which questioned Rupert Murdoch in person, has met Daniel Morgan's family. He will be able to air their theories about the murder without fear of legal action because he is protected by Parliamentary privilege. ·