Police Under Fire For Using Dead Children's IDs

Concerns about the use of dead children's names as fake identities for undercover police have been "swept under the carpet", it has been claimed.

The Metropolitan Police came under fire as it released details about the use of 42 deceased children's identities by covert officers.

A newly published report said the bereaved families had not been told because it would put police at risk, although Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe apologised for the "shock and offence" the tactic caused.

Sir Bernard said: "It was never intended or foreseen that any of the identities used would become public, or that any family would suffer hurt as a result.

"At the time this method of creating identities was in use, officers felt this was the safest option."

He said he did not foresee the force confirming or denying which identities were used because to do so would potentially endanger officers who had signed up as undercover police "with the expectation that we would always protect their identity".

Sir Bernard apologised over the 'shock' the tactic caused

But Jules Carey, solicitor for Barbara Shaw who fears that her son Rod Richardson's name was used, said: "The families … deserve better than this.

"They deserve an explanation, a personal apology and, if appropriate, a warning of the potential risk they face, in the exceptional circumstances, that their dead child's identity was used to infiltrate serious criminal organisations.

"Ms Shaw has told me that she feels her complaint has been 'swept under the carpet' and she has instructed me to appeal this outcome."

He said the public had no reason to be reassured by the "hotchpotch" investigation into the deployment of undercover officers.

The identities taken by covert officers were of children born between 1940 and 1975 and it came to be accepted as "standard practice", Tuesday's report revealed.

It said the practice could have been more widely used outside Scotland Yard's Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), by police officers and possibly the security services.

Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon, who is leading a probe into the activities of police moles, said that while the relatives deserve an apology, revealing the names used "would and could put undercover officers at risk".

The report said there was a need for undercover officers to create identities that could "withstand invasive scrutiny by their target".

So far, investigators have found 106 covert names that were used by the SDS between 1968 and 2008, 42 of which are believed to have been based on the details of dead children.

Another 45 were fictitious, and the rest have not yet been categorised.

The force has apologised directly to one family who found out their child's identity had been used.

The earliest confirmed officer to have used such an identity was in the field between 1976 and 1981, the report said.

The practice was phased out from 1994 in the SDS, but potentially used by the NPOIU up to 2003.

Officers are unlikely to face criminal charges for using the identities.

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