LAWRENCE: NEW POLICE SCANDAL
Top officer allowed to retire early... so he escapes probe into claims he covered up spying on Stephen’s family
A POLICE chief accused of covering up the Stephen Lawrence spying scandal is dodging disciplinary action by retiring early.
The official watchdog concluded this week that Richard Walton, who heads Scotland Yard’s anti-terror unit, has a case to answer for misconduct.
It is alleged he was involved in a secret plot by a disgraced undercover unit to gather intelligence on the family of murdered Stephen in the late 1990s.
The unit’s reports included confidential details, including that the teenager’s parents, Doreen and Neville, had separated.
But Commander Walton intends to quit on Wednesday and cannot face sanction unless Scotland Yard makes him stay on.
He is on £110,000 a year and will be eligible for a lump sum pension payout of around £300,000 and index-linked income of £55,000 a year.
The recommendation for disciplinary proceedings came from the Independent Police Complaints Commission following a 19-month investigation.
And last night Baroness Lawrence urged Met chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe to suspend Mr Walton, pending the outcome of any action. In a statement, she told the Daily Mail: ‘I find it upsetting to think that Commander Walton might be able to retire without being held to account.
‘With the exception of one detective, nobody has been looked into for corruption or wrongdoing and no one has been charged in relation to anything that has happened in Stephen’s case.
‘We’re coming up to 23 years since Stephen’s murder and all the failings of the original investigation are still hanging around for my family. He shouldn’t be allowed to retire just when the IPCC says there’s a case to answer.’
Her lawyer Imran Khan has written to Sir Bernard urging immediate action.
Baroness Lawrence’s comments will pile pressure on the top officer, whose four-year reign at the Met has been dogged by controversy.
In June 2014 the IPCC launched an investigation into Mr Walton and two former senior officers over allegations that they were involved in a secret plot to spy on Stephen’s family. The watchdog said it would probe the allegedly ‘discreditable conduct’ of the trio. Mr Walton had been ‘temporarily’ moved from operational duties as counter-terror chief in March 2014.
That was after he was accused of giving ‘inconsistent accounts’ to a review by Mark Ellison QC into the undercover operation.
The report alleged that Mr Walton and the two other officers, Bob Lambert and Colin Black, were involved in a plot to gather ‘fascinating and valuable intelligence’ from an undercover officer who was spying on the Lawrence family and their supporters. At that time, Mr Walton was an acting detective inspector helping to draft the Met’s defence of its failure to properly investigate the teenager’s racist murder in south-east London in 1993.
Mr Ellison said in his report that the intelligence could be seen as giving the Met a ‘secret advantage’ over the family during the Macpherson public inquiry which was examining the force’s handling of the Lawrence case.
According to the Ellison review, Mr Lambert arranged the meeting between Mr Walton and undercover officer N81 in a garden in north London in August 1998.
Mr Black, the then Special Branch operations commander, was also aware of the clandestine meeting, according to Mr Ellison.
Reports from N81 to his unit, the
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disgraced Special Demonstration Squad, included personal details of the Lawrence family.
The resulting scandal was the catalyst for a public inquiry into undercover policing.
Sarah Green, the IPCC deputy chairman, said in June 2014: ‘Mark Ellison’s review highlighted a number of extremely serious matters which strike at the heart of public confidence in the police … In view of the seriousness of the matter and the significant public interest, I have determined the IPCC should conduct an independent investigation.’
The investigation concluded this week with the recommendation that Mr Walton face proceedings.
But back in December 2014, Sir Bernard had decided to reinstate Mr Walton to full operational duties in the terrorism command, SO15, despite him still being under investigation.
Sources confirmed that the IPCC did not believe Mr Walton had committed a criminal offence and it had not submitted a file to the Crown Prosecution Service.
The watchdog would only say: ‘The investigation is complete and a report has been given to the Metropolitan Police Service.’