Met apologises for spying on police justice campaigns in 1980s and 1990s

The Metropolitan Police has apologised for the “indefensible” use of undercover officers to infiltrate anti-racism police justice campaigns in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Peter Skelton KC, acting on behalf of the force at the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), said many of the political and social groups spied on at the time were unnecessarily targeted.

And he repeated apologies to women who were deceived into relationships with undercover officers without knowing their true identity.

One officer in the shadowy Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), Bob Lambert, fathered a child, who has since received a payout from the force.

Making his opening statement at the start of the latest stage of the UCPI, Mr Skelton said: “The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) wishes to acknowledge that in many cases, the value of the intelligence produced during long-term, open ended deployments by SDS officers did not justify the duration and depth of their intrusion into the private lives of those with whom they had contact.”

A woman whose dead brother’s name was adopted by an undercover officer without the family’s permission, has told the inquiry of her fury that his identity was used by a police spy who infiltrated an anti-racism campaign.

It is particularly indefensible that many of the anti-racism campaigns mentioned in SDS reports were seeking justice for members of the black and Asian communities in London and were attempting to hold the MPS itself accountable

Groups that were spied on included the Broadwater Farm Defence Campaign, the Hackney Campaign Against the Police Bill, the East London Campaign Against Racist Attacks and Police Harassment, and a justice campaign for Colin Roach, who died in a police station.

Mr Skelton went on: “It is particularly indefensible that many of the anti-racism campaigns mentioned in SDS reports were seeking justice for members of the black and Asian communities in London and were attempting to hold the MPS itself accountable for the way in which it policed those communities.

“The MPS accepts the corrosive effect this type of discriminatory policing has on public trust and apologises unreservedly for this.”

The action was an example of “unacceptable political policing”, the inquiry heard.

He said that the force accepts corporate responsibility for these failings, and that racism and discrimination remain “an enduring challenge” within the Met.

The current batch of hearings in the UCPI will hear of at least nine undercover officers who were involved in sexual relationships with women who did not know their true identities.

“The Metropolitan Police Service apologises to the women affected and to the public for these failings, and for the wider culture of sexism and misogyny which allowed it to happen,” Mr Skelton said.

He added: “Such conduct was a gross violation of the women’s privacy and human rights.

“It was abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong, the MPS apologises again unreservedly to the women whose lives have been and continue to be affected.”

He also apologised to the wives, partners and families of the officers, and for the failures of management to prevent it.

While there was a justifiable role for some use of police spies to avoid public disorder and crime, this was undermined by the misconduct of some of the officers and failures of managers to enforce standards, he said.

“Sexual relationships should not have occurred, reporting on justice and anti-racism groups who posed no criminal or public order threat should not have occurred and would not occur today.

“Open-ended long-term deployments which caused a level of personal intrusion that was out of proportion with their value, should have been reassessed and ended.”

The current batch of hearings, looking at the SDS between 1983 and 1992, are taking place up to early August and then for several months from late September.

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