Lawrence family relief as spy cops probe goes public

Chairman told race-related evidence will be 'harrowing'

- BY TOM PETTIFOR Crime Editor

A PUBLIC inquiry into undercover police who spied on the Stephen Lawrence justice campaign will hear “harrowing” evidence, the chairman was told yesterday.

The latest stage of the Undercover Policing Inquiry is examining the activity of the shadowy Metropolitan Police Special Demonstration Squad between 1993 and 2007.

It comes after Stephen's father, Neville Lawrence, welcomed the chance for evidence to be heard in public about how the battle for justice for his son was spied upon.

He said the surveillance by police moles who posed as anti-racism campaigners in the late 1990s was “bewildering and insulting”.