A man acquitted of the murder of Daniel Morgan has spoken about how his life has been ruined by the 24 year “nightmare”.

Glenn Vian, 52, was accused of wielding the axe which killed private detective Mr Morgan in the car park of the Golden Lion pub in Sydenham Road, Sydenham, on March 10, 1987.

The South Croydon resident says he was at home looking after his three small daughters the night of the murder, while his wife was out at work.

Over the past 24 years, Mr Vian has had his home bugged for 12 years, has been arrested three times and spent two years in prison on remand.

He has lost his job working in construction and said his family has been badly affected by the stress of having a murder charge hanging over his head.

He said: “I don’t think me and my brother would have been arrested if my sister had not been married to John Rees.

“They could not put John as doing it and we were supposed to be the muscle.

“There were 63 witnesses in the Golden Lion pub and no one could put us there.

“All of the evidence was based on hearsay and second hand information. There was no forensic evidence, no ID and no fingerprints.”

Mr Vian said he first heard about the murder from his mother.

“When I heard about the murder I was shocked – I heard it from my mother, John had rung her about it.”

He knew Daniel well and had helped out with some detective work at the agency in the past.

He said: “I never got involved in the bailiffing work they did but I helped decorate the office and also helped Daniel fit an extension at his home, where I met his wife and his kids.”

He said he always knew the case against him was not strong enough to go to court and believed he would eventually be cleared.

It was his belief in his innocence which sustained him through prison. In 2008, Mr Vian said armed police burst through his front doors and arrested him for a third time.

He was subjected to three days of questioning before being charged with murder and taken on remand to Wandsworth Prison where he would remain for the next 18 months before being moved to higher security Belmarsh prison for another five months.

“Wandsworth was not too bad, Belmarsh was completely different, I could not go anywhere without an officers and I was confined in a 20ft space. You lose touch with reality in prison and you just focus on surviving every day,” he said.

While in prison, he missed the birth of two of his grandchildren but was comforted by regular family visits.

“My little granddaughter liked to come and see me, she thought I lived in a castle.

“I did not want to see my family in Belmarsh, I did not want to look at them through metal bars.”

“I have been depressed and my family have taken it so hard. It has affected my wife really badly and it has been very hard on them, especially when I was inside, I think it was harder for them than it was for me. They struggled financially as well.”

There were at least three surveillance investigations launched during the course of the various murder inquiries.

Police bugged the offices of Southern Investigations in Thornton Heath and purchased the house next door to Glenn Vian, drilling holes in the wall to plant bugs.

A “For Auction” sign now hangs outside the empty house next door to Mr Vian, he believes detectives used it as a base for 12 years to bug his house.

He said he first discovered a bug in 2002.

He said: “I found a microphone in the back garden when I was pruning the ivy hedge in 2002. I had no idea we were being bugged.

“Once we found one, we figured there would be more.

“You would have thought if they have been bugging me for that long, if there was anything to prove I was a bad character, they would have it.”

It has not been revealed if police gleaned any information from the bugging of Mr Vian’s home, however it has emerged that police heard Rees outlining a plot to plant cocaine on a woman in the process of divorcing her husband so he could get custody of their child.

Rees was arrested and sentenced to six years in jail for conspiring to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Vian said he always knew the case would never get to court but added: “I regret it has not gone all the way, in a way I want my day in court for the truth to come out. We never had our say in court.

“I feel dreadful for Danniel’s family, they have not seen any justice and I think they deserve that.”