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Now the #SpyCopsInquiry hears from Heather Williams QC, speaking for Neville Lawrence OBE
Williams: It took nearly 20 years to convict just 2 of Stephen Lawrence's killers. It's a murder that scarred the conscience of a nation, committed solely for racial hatred.
Williams: The 1998 Macpherson inquiry found the police investigation was deeply flawed, steered by a collective failure due to institutional racism. It let the killers escape justice, & compounded the family's trauma
Williams: Macpherson inquiry showed authorities weren't on the Lawrences side, instead they were themselves investigated by police, as if somehow Stephen was to blame for his own murder.
Williams: Neville say far too little tangible progress has been made. He has been failed not only by the investigation into Stephen's murder, but by the lack of impact of the Macpherson recommendations. So finding he was spied on takes his low opinion even lower
Williams: We know intel on Neville was passed up the chain by police, and that a #spycops officer attended the Macpherson inquiry as a fake activist & then reporting back. The existence of this was kept secret from Macpherson. None of this can be excusable.
Williams: How can the public have confidence in policing of Black communities if resources are used like this against them? It appears to many that, to police, black lives don't matter
Williams: Neville doesn't have confidence in the #SpyCopsInquiry. He wants to participate in an inquiry capable of finding the truth and stopping it repeating in future
Williams: Neville, like so many victims of spycops, has had almost no disclosure of documents.
There is a technical problem and the hearing is taking a ten minute break.
The Met didn't just spy on the Stephen Lawrence's family's campaign at in the immediate aftermath of the murder. Five years later, as the Macpherson Inquiry was heading towards its conclusion, the Met had a spy in the Lawrence family camp.
He met with Richard Walton who was part of the the team who were providing the Commisisoner's response to the Inquiry, feeding them information on the family's thinking. The meeting was brokered by #spycops boss Bob Lambert.
In 2016, the truth about the #spycops undermining Mapherson was revealed. Walton, by then, was head of spycops. He resigned to avoid disciplinary charges https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/stephen-lawrence-senior-metropolitan-police-officer-who-met-accused-lawrence-family-spy-will-face-no-action-a6907201.html
Williams: In 2013 we learned from @realspycop that #spycops had targeted black justice campaigns, inc the Lawrences, & family liaison officers were gathering intel. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/23/stephen-lawrence-undercover-police-smears
Williams: The SDS #spycops said in Nov 1968 that it was there to provide info on public order, and to find intel. 20 years later it said it was concerned with terrorism & politically motivated crime. The grieving, devastated Lawrence family were none of this.
Williams: There was no excuse for snooping around Lawrences, whether directly or otherwise. But #spycops wanted intel for 'other Special Branch customer use'.
Williams: #spycops were circling the Lawrence family, looking to smear them instead of catching their son's killers. The 2014 review found files that could have proven things either way had been destroyed. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stephen-lawrence-independent-review
Williams: The 2014 Ellison report did find "A level of indignation & a thinning of patience with the Lawrence family" among the police
Williams: the Met said they had no records indicating Special Branch involvement in the Lawrence complain, but absence of evidence is far from evidence of absence. The family liaison officers were asked to stay away, & we now know they were gathering intel on the family
Williams: Macpehrson found the Lawrences were treated unfavourably because of their race. Ellison found #spycops officer 'Dave Hagan' spied on the family campaign at a time when the family were taking legal action against the Met. https://powerbase.info/index.php/N81
Williams: Hagain reported personal details as well as the Lawrence family's campaign planning. Senior officer Bob Lambert got Hagan to meet senior officer Richard Walton who was crafting the Met's submissions to Macpherson
Williams: There was no excuse for this meeting, which is why they kept it secret, & #spycops' existence was never mentioned to the Macpherson inquiry. In 2016 the IPCC condemned this meeting. Walton resigned to avoid disciplinary proceedings https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12180750/Former-Met-boss-retired-days-after-report-found-he-had-case-to-answer-in-Stephen-Lawrence-probe.html
Williams: Dave Hagan was praised by senior officers for his intel on the Lawrence family campaign. Why would the Met keep #spycops secret if, as they claim now, nothing untoward was going on. But they know it would have caused outrage in the Inquiry across the country
Wiliams: The Met effectively made disorder more likely, in contravention of their supposed purpose.
Williams: Met's self-investigation into #spycops Operation Herne, started around 2012. It's 2014 it issued a report on allegations of spying on Lawrences, but found no proof of trying to smear the family https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/foi-media/metropolitan-police/priorities_and_how_we_are_doing/corporate/operation-herne---report-2-allegations-of-peter-francis-operation-trinity
Williams: The police still say 'we don't have evidence' of spying on evidence, but the Ellison Review showed that reports were destroyed & we must look deeper https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stephen-lawrence-independent-review
Williams: It would be unlikely that if #spycops were digging for dirt that they'd record such a foul instruction rather than give it on the nod. It means the Inquiry must rely on oral evidence, & expect the guilty to have selective amnesia
Williams: the 3rd Operation Herne report described the #spycops as being insulated from scrutiny https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/foi-media/metropolitan-police/priorities_and_how_we_are_doing/corporate/operation-herne---report-3---special-demonstration-squad-reporting-mentions-of-sensitive-campaigns
Williams: #spycops routinely hoovered up all knowledge, & it was retained, irrespective of whether it fell within their remit. What about the privacy rights of people whose details were gathered, like the Lawrences?
Williams: Numerous #spycops have confirmed they had no training on collateral intrusion & they took no account of the issue
Williams: the 2016 IPCC report said Lambert & Walton would face disciplinary charges if they were still serving. At this point, Lambert finally resigned from his academic posts
Walton is now in an opaquely funded right wing think tank that calls Extinction Rebellion extremists https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/dark-money-investigations/think-tank-wont-reveal-who-paid-for-report-calling-extinction-rebellion-extremists/
Williams: It's plain there was no legal authority or justification for #spycops intrusion on the Lawrence family.
Williams: #spycops targeting Lawrences ignored human rights, seemingly had no restraint in law or protocol
Williams: nearly 7 years in, we've had almost no info from the #SpyCopsInquiry. It appears to have done nothing significant towards its purpose. Dr Lawrence has had no substantive disclosure
Williams: The delays to the #SpyCopsInquiry increase the distress of victims. We're promised disclosure at an unspecified time, we cannot properly contribute until that is done
Williams: Dr Lawrence wants to know the full extent to which #spycops spied on him at the time of Stephen's death & afterwards. WHY did they do it? WHO authorised? WHAT were they looking for? WHO was it passed to? Was it kept? how long & who saw it?
Williams: How far up the chain of command was it approved? Was any thought given to the impact on the family? Or risk of discrediting a legit campaign for malign motives? What part did race play? A white family in the same position would not have been treated this way.
Williams: It can only be sorted with a full airing of relevant evidence, esp #spycops themselves as records are so scant. A systemic practice is likely to support the veracity of the allegations
William: Ellison Report focus on 1993 & 1998, not the time between that covered things like the inquest.
Why was Dave Hagan allowed to befriedn the family & attend the Macpherson inquiry? Was the Inquiry deliberately kept in the dark about #spycops?
Why was Dave Hagan allowed to befriedn the family & attend the Macpherson inquiry? Was the Inquiry deliberately kept in the dark about #spycops?
Williams: What did Hagan tell Walton at the 1998 meeting? Was it used at the Macpherson inquiry? Who else saw it? Who knew about the meeting? Did Hagan obstruct or influence a campaign or the Macpherson inquiry?
Williams: Lambert was Hagan's handler, speaking to him several times a day. Dr Lawrence wants to hear what he has to say, as should Hagan's other managers, tested orally & in public.
Williams: There was a lack of regulation of #spycops in the 90s, & clearly we still have a lack of effective safeguards today.
Williams: The Ellison report found SDS intel was routinely destroyed, without record of their existence or content. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stephen-lawrence-independent-review
Williams: The Inquiry should take control of all #spycops documents, inc anti corruption command, rather than trusting the police not to pre-sort the files to avoid incriminating themselves
Williams: The Inquiry granting anonymity to #spycops is deeply concerning, inc HN109 who was @realspycop's manager, HN101 who was also involved, HN86 the SDS boss 1993-6 who gave the order to find dirt on Lawrences, HN58 boss 1997-2001 so knew about the 1998 meeting with Walton.
Williams: If you give the family a cover name they can give evidence about that person, but with just an HN number that is impossible & we only get the officer's own account. Publicity is a powerful disinfectant.
Williams: We don't accept the need for anonymity of backroom staff who never went undercover.
Williams: Dr Lawrence has asked the Home Secretary by letter & the Chair in person to appoint a diverse panel, as the Macpherson inquiry had more than 20 years ago. There's a wider lack of confidence in Black communities about the application of justice.
Williams: To command confidence, the Inquiry needs a diverse panel. We need the fullest & most transparent Inquiry possible.
Williams: where there's evidence of racism, police must be held to account through the legal system if there's to be any confidence in that system.
Williams: Dr Lawrence has been failed badly by institutions over the years, and hopes that he will not be failed again at the #SpyCopsInquiry.
There will now be a break until 11.50, when we will hear from Imran Khan QC again, this time speaking for Michael Mansfield QC in regard to his involvement with the Stephen Lawrence case.
