The Undercover Policing Inquiry has confirmed that a Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) undercover officer who worked in the National Public Order and Intelligence Unit used the cover name of ‘Rod Richardson’, which was based on the identity of a deceased child.
We acknowledge this tactic has caused Ms Shaw, whose deceased son Rod Richardson’s identity was used, huge hurt and offence. The MPS will make every effort to meet with Ms Shaw, if she wishes, to apologise to her in person and explain how this came to be. It is only right that any apology is given privately to her.
The MPS understands the anger that the use of this tactic has caused, and the desire for answers that a number of families have. As part of the Commissioner’s commitment to fully understanding the impact and scale of the use of deceased children’s identities he asked Operation Herne to investigate this as a priority. This was the subject of Operation Herne’s first report in July 2013.
On the release of that report, the Commissioner publicly apologised for the shock and offence caused by the use of this tactic.
The MPS has made clear in our submission to the Public Inquiry that where an undercover officer, who has used a deceased child’s identity, is to be publicly named by the Inquiry, we would want close relatives to be notified in advance of the name being made public. In these circumstances, we welcome the opportunity to give a personal apology to relatives.
To ensure that there is no unnecessary delay in the process of the Inquiry informing relatives where the Chair rules that an officer’s cover name should be made public, the MPS is working to identify who those relatives may be. Of course, no assumptions can be made that all families want the same level of disclosure or the information to be placed in the public domain.
The MPS continues to cooperate fully with the Public Inquiry and this, importantly, includes considering how to allay the fears of those families whose child’s identity was not in fact used. This, as the Inquiry has recognised, is a complex issue.