Met spied on Lawrence family

24 June 2013

Journalist Paul Lewis, presenter of tonight's Dispatches.

 

***Any use of information in this release must credit “Channel 4 Dispatches/Guardian” ***

 

Through the personal testimony of a former Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) officer, a joint investigation by Channel 4 Dispatches and The Guardian examines the ethically dubious tactics of a clandestine unit within the Metropolitan police and reveals the names of high profile targets they spied on.         

Peter Francis, who spent four years living undercover,  is the first officer from the Metropolitan Police’s SDS to publicly speak out.  He alleges:  

• SDS undercover police officers were asked to find evidence that could be used to publically discredit the family of Stephen Lawrence and the campaign
• Evidence obtained by the Family Liaison Officers who was in the Stephen Lawrence’s house was passed through the special branch to the SDS
• SDS targeted Stephen Lawrence’s best friend Duwayne Brooks, gathering intelligence linking him to a disturbance at an anti-racist demonstration. Brooks was subsequently charged with criminal damage and violent disorder
• Senior officers deliberately chose to withold his role spying on the Lawrence campaign from the Macpherson Inquiry

The investigation also hears from:  

• Stephen Lawrence’s mother, Doreen, and former Home Secretary, Jack Straw both spoke of their shock at hearing about the allegations

In an exclusive interview with Channel 4 Dispatches/The Guardian, former SDS officer, reveals the shocking story of Britain's secret police who were tasked with infiltrating political campaigns and protest groups.

 

Spying on the Lawrence Family

Peter Francis claims he was initially tasked with infiltrating anarchist groups.  But after the murder of Stephen Lawrence in April 1993 he says he was deployed to infiltrate anti-racist movements in London. 

During this period he claims part of his mission as an undercover anti-racist activist was to gather intelligence that could potentially be used to discredit the Lawrence family, their campaign for justice and any other groups supporting this campaign. 

At the request of his managers, Peter joined Youth Against Racism in Europe - ardent supporters of the cause.

Gathering intelligence on individuals behind or associated with movements became part of his SDS role.

Peter Francis says:  “I was also asked, the same as all other campaigns, could I find out anything else that can be used to maybe get the public to not have as much sympathy for the Stephen Lawrence campaign as in what it truly had.”

“Is there anything the police could possibly use through… the media to start maybe tarring the campaign.”

In the weeks after their son’s death, Doreen and Neville Lawrence complained that the police were not doing enough to catch his killers.

 

Evidence obtained by Lawrence’s Family Liaison Officers was passed to the SBS

The murdered teenager’s mother Doreen said that in 1993 she was always baffled why family liaison officers were recording the identities of everyone entering and leaving their household. She said the family had always suspected police had been gathering evidence about people visiting her home to discredit the family. “We’ve talked about that several times but we never had any concrete [evidence], ” she said.
There is no suggestion that the family liaison officers knew the purpose of the information they collected.

Peter Francis claims evidence obtained by the Family Liaison Officers who was in the Stephen Lawrence’s house was passed on by the Met Police, through the special branch to the SDS.

Peter Francis “The family liaison officer who was in the Stephen Lawrence’s house was taking all the details of all the family members who were there, all the visitors who actually gave their details… This was then passed to the area special branch, the area special squad then passed through the special branch to the special demonstration squad and we were asked to comment on these individuals. Whether or not in their words they were politicos or what, who they were.

There’s no suggestion that the Family Liaison Officers knew the purpose or destination of the information they collected.

 

SDS target Stephen Lawrence’s best friend Duwayne Brooks

Francis also describes being involved in an ultimately failed effort to discredit Duwayne Brooks, a close friend who was with Lawrence on the night he was killed and the main witness to his murder.

Peter Francis says: "So instead of just regarding him [Duwayne Brooks ] as a victim caught up in a life changing event the SDS then puts in its resources which is basically us which into looking into him to see if there’s a possible way we can, smear’s the best way, the campaign via a different direction.."

The former spy found evidence that led to Brooks being arrested and charged in October 1993 before the case was thrown out a by a judge.

 

Vital Evidence held back from Macpherson Inquiry 

The far reaching consequences of the Macpherson report crucially did not touch on undercover policing tactics. 

Peter Francis claims vital information was held back from the inquiry, despite his attempts to make Special Branch come clean at the time.

Peter Francis says: “So when I actually informed them, it went first to the DI Robert Lambert, It then went to Superintendent in the Special Branch who is in charge of the overall decisions. …it then actually went up to Command of Special Branch who came out to see me…it can be encapsulated roughly along the following lines is if the public was to find out you were undercover there they’d still be battling on the streets for about a year to come so the whole idea is to prevent disorder, if we go in there and say we were undercover in there it will reignite disorder that hadn’t taken place with Lawrence for quite a while.”

“I was convinced the SDS should come clean,” he said.

 

Doreen Lawrence and Jack Straw reaction to allegations: 

Lawrence’s mother Doreen said the revelation was the most suprising thing she had learned about the long-running police investigation into her son’s murder: “Out of all the things I’ve found out over the years, this certainly has topped it.” She added: “Nothing can justify the whole thing about trying to discredit the family and people around us.”

Jack Straw, the former home secretary, who ordered the 1999 Macpherson Inquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence, said: “I’m profoundly shocked by this and by what amounts to a misuse of police time and money and entirely the wrong priorities”.

 

Response from the Met Police

In response to these allegations the Metropolitan Police on behalf of Sir Paul Condon told Channel 4 Dispatches:

‘’…… I am certain that in my time as Commissioner I never authorised, condoned or was aware of the alleged activities of Peter Francis or any other officer being allegedly tasked to seek intelligence to discredit Mr and Mrs Lawrence or Duwayne Brooks.

Nor was I aware or would I have authorised or condoned any withholding of information of any kind from the Judicial Inquiry which became known as the Macpherson Inquiry. Such action if it took place would have been clearly wrong and in direct contravention of my instructions to the Metropolitan Police to cooperate fully with the Inquiry.”

 

Notes to Editor

The Police's Dirty Secret: Channel 4 Dispatches, Monday 24th June at 8pm

 

Programme Hashtag:  #PoliceSecrets

 

The surveillance is also revealed in a new book: ‘Undercover: The True Story of Britain’s Secret Police’, which will be published this week by Guardian Faber and written by Guardian journalists Paul Lewis and Rob Evans.Paul Lewis, co-author of the book and presenter of tonight's Dispatches programme (8pm, Channel 4), is available for interview about these revelations.