Police spied on activist’s widow for two decades, inquiry is told
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THE partner of an anti-racism campaigner who died after being coshed by an unidentified policeman said she feels “violated” after being spied on by officers for 20 years.
Celia Stubbs, 80, told Undercover Policing Inquiry officers had abused their powers, to protect themselves. Teacher Blair Peach,
died aged 33 after being coshed during a protest against National Front election candidates in Southall, west London on April 24, 1979.
Ms Stubbs said the “improper surveillance” on her was particularly unpleasant because it took place when she was grieving and campaigning for justice.
“The killing of Blair Peach is an important episode of alleged police misconduct of the most serious kind that remains unresolved.
“I believe my case and the circumstances of my surveillance shed light on a significant aspect of how the police behaved in response to Blair’s killing.
“They abused their surveillance powers. They deployed them not to protect the that the public from harm but to protect themselves from facing justice. “They wanted to know what I was doing and what others who were helping me were doing, with the obvious inference that they did so to ensure that they stayed one step ahead of our campaign to hold Blair’s killers to account.”
Giving evidence, Ms Stubbs said: “I just don’t understand why I was spied upon. I’d certainly like to know how it’s going to be used.”
She said police targeted her in the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the death of Mr Peach: “It is hard to describe how violating this is.” A 1979 Metropolitan Police Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) report maintained that monitoring the campaign let officers be deployed to areas of potential unrest. The independent public inquiry into undercover policing in England and Wales since 1968 is due to report in 2023. It was adjourned until this morning.