Name of officer who spied on Lawrence campaign revealed

THE IDENTITY used by a police mole who infiltrated a campaign group which backed the fight for justice for Stephen Lawrence has been released for the first time.

“David Hagan”, referred to as HN81, was named on the Undercover Policing Inquiry website as having infiltrated groups including Movement for Justice.

It is understood that this is the first time Stephen’s father, Neville Lawrence,

has been told the name used.

Neither he nor Stephen’s mother, Doreen, commented on the publication.

The officer joined the group in the late 1990s, around the time that the public inquiry began into the events surrounding Stephen’s death in Eltham, south-east London, in April 1993, staying as a member for two or three years before he disappeared.

During the inquiry, he controversially met with then acting detective inspector Richard Walton, who was working on Scotland Yard’s final submissions to the probe, and passed on information including that Stephen’s parents had separated.

In 2014, a damning report on undercover policing by barrister Mark Ellison QC alleged that the meeting had the effect of “potentially undermining the inquiry and public confidence”.

Watchdog the Independent Office for Police Conduct found that Mr Walton would have faced disciplinary proceedings over the meeting had he not been allowed to retire in 2016.

Mr Lawrence launched a legal battle to stop him leaving the force but this was unsuccessful.

HN81 also infiltrated groups including the Socialist Workers Party and Class War and Movement Against the Monarchy, as well as gathering information on the family of Ricky Reel, who was murdered by racists in 1997.

Duwayne Brooks, who was with Stephen Lawrence on the night he died and was also targeted by undercover officers, has asked the Metropolitan Police for full, uncensored copies of all the reports “Hagan” wrote about him.

He said: “How much of my confidential legal advice did he leach out of me? Which campaigns for justice did he infiltrate and perhaps subvert?

“Trying to remember after 20 years unnecessary delay is hard, and makes holding the police accountable that much harder.”