Final Report of the Morris Inquiry: The Case for Change

LESSONS FOR THE FUTURE
occasion. It is these four cases we are using to identify the ‘lessons to be learnt’.
They are all cases which have attracted a significant amount of interest from the
media and the public.
10.9 Our decision not to deal with the other five cases in detail should not be
taken to mean that we do not think that the MPS has anything to learn from the
way these cases were handled. Quite the reverse, we believe that there is merit in
examining all cases once they are concluded and attempting to identify lessons for
the future. We dealt with this specifically when we referred to Employment Tribunal
cases earlier in our report.
10.10 Indeed, the details of the experiences of the individuals involved in all nine
cases and the recommendations they made, together with those of the other 66
individuals who made submissions to us, have proved invaluable in assisting us in
reaching our conclusions and in drafting this report.
10.11 Turning to the four cases we deal with in this chapter, we received evidence
in relation to the high profile cases from the individuals involved, staff organisations
and other commentators.
10.12 We have carefully reviewed all the evidence we have received, including the
submissions of the individuals involved, other documents available to us and the
reports of the independent investigators we engaged. We are mindful of the fact
that we are necessarily considering the cases with the benefit of hindsight and have
tempered our conclusions accordingly.
10.13 Our comments on each of the four cases begin with a summary of the facts
surrounding the investigation. This is drawn from the work of our independent
investigators and other evidence. We then outline criticisms of the way each case
was handled. We do not outline all the criticisms we have heard but only those we
consider are justified. Finally, we set out the lessons which we consider can be
learnt as a result of the way each case was handled.
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