Police spying on Stephen Lawrence family ‘rewarded by those at the top’ – mother

Police were “not only sanctioned” to spy on Stephen Lawrence’s family after his murder but also “rewarded by those at the top”, his mother has told a public inquiry.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence has also alleged that the Home Office was involved in the surveillance which is being investigated at the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

Speaking on Baroness Lawrence’s behalf as the hearing continued on Wednesday, her lawyer Imran Khan KC said: “Baroness Lawrence has now discovered that during the course of her grief, she was quite undeservedly and unlawfully spied upon by those meant to serve and protect her, and that this was not only sanctioned but rewarded by those at the top.”

The latest stage of the mammoth inquiry, which began in 2015, started on Monday with three days of opening statements.

Examining the work of Met’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) between 1993 and 2007, the inquiry will look at whether there was “conscious or subconscious racism” in the deployments of SDS undercover officers.

Mr Khan told the inquiry Baroness Lawrence said she was “keenly sought out” by a previous home secretary when the inquiry was announced in 2015, who “was at pains to assure her that they were not involved and had nothing to do with the activities alleged”.

“It confirmed to her that the home secretary of the day was involved in the matters under investigation at this inquiry,” Mr Khan said.

The inquiry was announced by then-home secretary Theresa May after former SDS officer Peter Francis turned whistleblower.

Mr Khan said Baroness Lawrence “remains appalled by the admitted egregious and unlawful conduct of Peter Francis” but “commends his change of heart and admission of wrongdoing and urges others who are to give evidence to follow it”.

She rejected the apology made by Peter Skelton KC, representing the Met Police commissioner, to Stephen Lawrence’s family on behalf of the force.

Mr Khan said: “The apology by the Met Police through their counsel on Monday was insensitive, impersonal, devoid of contrition and Baroness Lawrence roundly rejects it.”

One undercover officer known as HN81, cover name David Hagan, is refusing to give oral evidence to the inquiry, and is set to apply for a judicial review, arguing that it has no power to compel him to do so because he lives overseas.

HN81 and Mr Francis both infiltrated the Movement for Justice in the late 1990s when it supported the justice campaign by Mr Lawrence’s family, and parts of their evidence conflict.

Baroness Lawrence said Mr Hagan’s plan to take the inquiry to court is “utterly disgraceful” and said the inquiry and its decisions have “favoured secrecy over public accountability”.

“Indeed key police officers, such as HN81 Hagan, who should be required to face the full glare of public scrutiny, and who (Baroness Lawrence) wants to confront … will be able to hide in cowardly fashion behind anonymity,” Mr Khan told inquiry chairman Sir John Mitting.

This stage of the inquiry follows a parole hearing for one of Stephen’s killers, David Norris, which concluded on Friday.

Giving evidence last Tuesday, he expressed remorse for his role in the killing for the first time, but refused to reveal the names of the other members of the racist gang who killed Stephen.

Stephen’s mother said Norris is a coward and she does not believe his remorse is genuine.

“This man (David Norris) was shamelessly seeking to pull the wool over the eyes of the parole board by saying he was no longer a racist and was sorry for what he did,” Mr Khan told the inquiry.

“Neither of these statements could be further from the truth.

“As offensive as this may sound, what Baroness Lawrence saw and heard last week at the parole board has echoes of what she has repeatedly heard from the Met Police: that they’re no longer racist and only spied on her accidentally.”

She warned of “history repeating” and highlighted the BBC’s investigation into officers at Charing Cross police station and current commissioner Sir Mark Rowley’s response.

Mr Khan said: “When Stephen Lawrence was murdered in (19)93 and the MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) was found to be institutionally racist, the then-commissioner Paul Condon, now Baron Condon, having been made a life peer in 2001, also refused to accept institutional racism, or indeed resign.”