"A former senior police officer at the centre of the controversy over the surveillance of the campaign to expose the killers of teenager Stephen Lawrence is taking legal action that would prevent him being questioned at a public inquiry. The officer, who is facing allegations that he called black campaigners monkeys, is intending to resist an order by the undercover policing inquiry that would require him to give oral evidence."
"A whistleblower has accused the officer, who is known only by the codename HN86, of being a thoroughly and overtly racist man, the inquiry has heard. Peter Francis, a former undercover officer, has testified that HN86 said, when referring to black justice campaigners, the monkeys were being organised and we had to stop it before all the monkeys in London got out of their trees."
"Doreen Lawrence, Stephen's mother, has told the inquiry that HN86's legal action to avoid the full glare of scrutiny is shameful and utterly disgraceful. The latest phase of the inquiry, which opened on Monday and is headed by the retired judge Sir John Mitting, is examining why undercover officers in the Scotland Yard unit spied on the Lawrences' campaign in the 1990s."
The former senior officer who ran a covert Scotland Yard unit is pursuing legal action to resist an order to give oral evidence at the undercover policing inquiry. He is accused of instructing a police spy to gather information to discredit Stephen Lawrence's family and undermine their campaign for justice. A whistleblower described him as thoroughly and overtly racist, and a former undercover officer testified that HN86 likened black campaigners to monkeys and said they had to be stopped. The officer denies the allegations. The inquiry, led by Sir John Mitting, is examining why the special demonstration squad spied on the Lawrences' 1990s campaign. The Metropolitan police apologised.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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