PM calls for investigation into claims undercover police officer was part of operation to smear family of murdered teenager
David Cameron has called for an immediate investigation into claims that a former undercover police officer was part of an operation to smear the family of Stephen Lawrence, saying he was deeply concerned about the allegations.
Labour has also called for an urgent enquiry after a police officer who spent four years living undercover in protest groups told the Guardian that he participated in an operation to spy on and attempt to smear the family of the murdered teenager, the friend who witnessed his fatal stabbing and campaigners frustrated at the failure to bring his killers to justice.
A No 10 spokesman said: "The prime minister is deeply concerned by reports that the police wanted to smear Stephen Lawrence's family and would like the Metropolitan police to investigate immediately."
Former home secretary Jack Straw said that he was calling for the Independent Police Complaints Commission to look into the matter immediately, and said the revelations had to take priority over a current enquiry into undercover policing.
"I am appalled by these revelations, which go to the heart and ethics of the police service, or the lack of both," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "I am now going to refer to these allegations to the IPCC; these are really serious allegations," he said. "We need to know who ordered this, how far up it went and why not a word of any of this was disclosed in any form either to me, the home secretary, or to the Macpherson enquiry."
The former practices of undercover police officers are the subject of an investigation called Operation Herne, which is being overseen by Derbyshire's chief constable, Mick Creedon.
A Met spokesman added: "Operation Herne is a live investigation, four strands of which are being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, and it would be inappropriate to pre-judge its findings."
But Straw said: "My sense is these allegations are so serious and of a different order than those that relate to other undercover officers. The IPCC have to prioritise. That there ought to be a full scale investigation by the IPCC I am in no doubt."
Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, called the allegations "shocking and appalling", and also called for an enquiry.
"We have long known that the Metropolitan police investigation into Stephen Lawrence's murder in 1993 failed badly and reflected racism within elements of the police at the time. There have also been concerns that corruption within the investigation was never fully pursued," she said. "These are very serious new claims about the conduct of the police at the time, and it is vital we get to the truth about what happened."
The police who had secured the prosecution of two men for the murder of Stephen Lawrence earlier this year had done important work, but the new revelations could not be ignored, she said. "These allegations – even though they relate to 20 years ago – are shocking and will be very upsetting for Stephen Lawrence's family and friends. Victims need to be able to have full confidence in the vital work the police do each day to keep them safe and get them justice."
Peter Francis, a former undercover police officer-turned-whistleblower, said his superiors wanted him to find "dirt" that could be used against members of the Lawrence family, in the period shortly after Lawrence's racist murder in April 1993.
He also said senior officers deliberately chose to withhold his role spying on the Lawrence campaign from Sir William Macpherson, who headed a public inquiry to examine the police investigation into the death.
"I had to get any information on what was happening in the Stephen Lawrence campaign," Francis said. "They wanted the campaign to stop. It was felt it was going to turn into an elephant. Throughout my deployment there was almost constant pressure on me personally to find out anything I could that would discredit these campaigns."
Lawrence's mother, Doreen, said the revelations were the most surprising 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. Nothing can justify the whole thing about trying to discredit the family and people around us."