Inquiry’s priority is to discover the truth

DISTRAUGHT parents hope the truth will be uncovered by the an inquiry headed by Sir Christopher Pitchford.

In his opening remarks to the inquiry last July, Sir Christopher said: “The inquiry’s priority is to discover the truth.”

In 2013, Sir Bernard HoganHowe, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, gave a general apology for the “shock and offence the use of this tactic has caused”.

The inquiry was set up by Home Secretary Theresa May to examine the police techniques and other alleged wrongdoings.

Peter Francis, a former undercover officer, stole the identity of a four-year-old dead boy. He infiltrated anti-racist groups for four years in the 1990s.

Another officer, whose fake persona was Pete Black, previously revealed how he felt he was “stomping on the grave” of the four-year-old whose identity he used.

“A part of me was thinking about how I would feel if someone was taking the names and details of my dead son for something like this,” the officer – who infiltrated anti-racist organisations – said.

Black said he always felt guilty when celebrating the dead child’s birthday. He was particularly aware that, somewhere, the parents of the boy would be “thinking about their son and missing him”.

To ensure he was 100% convincing when recalling details from his “upbringing”, Black even visited the child’s home town to familiarise himself with the surroundings.

“It’s those little details that really matter – the weird smell coming out of the drain that’s been broken for years, the location of the corner Post Office, the number of the bus you get,” he said.