Undercover Police Spied On 17 Grieving Families

Seventeen families were spied on by undercover police officers who operated largely unchecked by management, a report has found.

The officers were said to have gone too far in investigating relatives of murder victims involved in family justice campaigns such as Jean Charles de Menezes and Stephen Lawrence.

And it found police on the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad routinely made illicit recordings of conversations and kept information they should not have had.

One reference in the secret police records even referred to a grieving relative planning to go to a funeral although "there was no intelligence to indicate that the funeral would have been anything other than a dignified event".

Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon, who published the report, said: "Unless the information could have prevented crime or disorder it should not have been retained."

A police spy was placed in the Lawrence family camp

He found: "Operation Herne has identified emerging evidence that in addition to the Stephen Lawrence Campaign, a number of other justice campagins have been mentioned within SDS records.

"Seventeen such justice campaigns have been identified so far. These range between 1970 and 2005, and are as a result of deaths in police custody, following police contact and the victims of murders."

He said officers were in the process of being informed they had been targeted by undercover officers.

The mother of murdered student Ricky Reel, whose family was targeted by undercover officers after her son was killed, has called for a public inquiry after learning of the findings of the review.

The family of the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, who was shot dead by police in the aftermath of the 7/7 terror attack, are considering legal action after being told references to their campaign were found in the records of the secret unit.

The report was highly critical of the management of the SDS, which operated from 1968 to 2008,  adding it had failed to ensure "proper processes and controls".

It said: "It is quite clear that maintaining the secrecy of the unit and protecting the identity of the officers was of paramount importance to all involved - and in being so focused on this aspect the management of the SDS, of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch and ultimately the Metropolitan Police Executive Leadership of the day collectively failed."

The SDS was set up to infiltrate protest groups but officers on the squad have come under fire for stealing the identities of 42 dead children to use as cover and for "tricking" women into sexual relations in order to carry out their work. It was disbanded in 2008.

A report on the case of the murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence earlier this year found the Metropolitan Police had placed a "spy" in the Lawrence family camp during the inquiry into the police handling of the investigation.

Peter Francis, of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), claimed that from September 1993, he had been tasked with "smearing" the Lawrence family campaign.

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