EXCLUSIVE: The party that selected a dead woman to be their candidate for mayor in Croydon is once more having questions asked about its checks on candidates and officials. By STEVEN DOWNES

He’s back…: motoring lobbyist Peter Morgan, who has become camera shy in recent times

Still without a mayoral candidate for the local elections which are less than six months away, the Reform party in Croydon has meanwhile handed personal details of its members to a man who almost four years ago was arrested, later released without charge, during a police investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse.

Coulsdon motoring lobbyist Peter Morgan has over the past 30 years become notorious in Croydon political circles for being so toxic that he was once even kicked out of UKIP, the Reform predecessor party which was described as a “bunch of fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists”.

Morgan was also expelled as a member of the Conservative Party (at least once).

But now Peter Morgan has resurfaced, apparently as a leading figure in the local branch of grifter Nigel Farage’s party.

And Reform members have contacted Inside Croydon to express their serious concerns about Morgan and what they describe as his “bat-shit crazy” ideas.

Inside Croydon revealed how, at the beginning of this year, Farage’s party HQ had imposed a mayoral candidate on Croydon, Sharon Carby, from Bradford. The only problem was that 70-year-old Carby had died in September 2024…

Inside Croydon has been unable to confirm whether the Croydon branch of Reform UK will be holding a seance later this week to select a replacement for Carby.

Double trouble: two police forces, Surrey and the Met, were involved in the 2022 search of a man’s home in Coulsdon and the woods nearby

However, what we have been able to confirm from the Metropolitan Police is that a joint investigation with Surrey Police from January 2022 into allegations of historic child abuse is still on-going.

Nearly four years ago, this website reported that the man, said to be in his 60s, was arrested “on suspicion of rape”, according to a Met statement.

He was later released on bail and was not charged.

Neighbours on Cordrey Gardens, where Morgan lived, spoke of their concerns as his house and garden were cordoned off by police tape and treated as a crime scene while being searched. Blue sheeting screened the rear of the house during the search.

The arrest was believed to be connected with a large number of officers who conducted a search of woods near How Lane. Allotments nearby were also searched by police.

The police said that they received the allegations of “non-recent sexual abuse”, dating to the early 1990s.

The continuing investigation is being undertaken by the Met’s specialist Child Abuse Investigation Team.

“The allegations relate to two males who were both children at the time of the alleged abuse. Both males are being supported by specially trained officers,” a spokeswoman for the Met told Inside Croydon in 2022.

Separately, Morgan was also subject of a report to Croydon police over the use of the internet and websites that he maintained, which were described as “both sinister and illegal”. Some of the website content dates back more than a decade.

Peter Morgan has never commented on the arrest, and has not responded to previous approaches. Reform UK in Croydon refuses to answer questions from Inside Croydon.

Keen campaigner: Croydon South Tory MP Chris Philp (right) was in the past often seen with Peter Morgan in Selsdon, Purley or Coulsdon

But Morgan’s conduct at meetings of Croydon Reform has already rung alarm bells for some members.

Morgan today is a good deal more camera-shy than previously, when he would often be photographed alongside Conservative councillors in Coulsdon or Purley, or even with Croydon South MP Chris Philp on a weekend canvassing session.

In recent weeks, Morgan has been recognised on Reform’s high street stalls in the local area.

In emails to Croydon Reform members, he has signed himself as “Peter Morgan REF London data analyst”, which suggests he may have a broader remit than just Croydon.

“Peter shouldn’t be anywhere near politics regardless of the level. He is dangerous,” was the firm opinion of one Reform member to contact Inside Croydon..

“He has been allowed by the powers-that-be to run a policy forum and a campaign meeting for Croydon South.”

The campaign meeting was staged at the Old Coulsdon Retirement Centre on October 28.

“I’ve witnessed his authoritarian approach to running these meetings,” one party member said. “He is rude and intimidating and seemingly unable to accept a differing opinion to his own.

“While I agree that heated debate does happen between people in politics. Peter takes this to a whole other level. He can be nasty.”

Due diligence: Nigel Farage’s party is allowing Peter Morgan to handle members’ data

The member recalls how Morgan sought to belittle a local party committee member as  “a small, weak socialist sympathiser”, after they had disagreed with Morgan’s transport ideas.

Morgan is a former maths teacher, and local Reform members describe him as being obsessed with people’s data.

“Morgan collects contact details from members at each available opportunity and then harasses them, on an almost daily basis, with meaningless emails about his own interpretation of publicly available data.”

Morgan’s claim to be a “data analyst” for Reform, and his access to members’ personal details, however, once again raises serious concerns about the effectiveness, or lack of it, of Farage’s party’s due diligence over its officials and candidates.

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