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Mother whose dead child's identity was stolen by spycops died before finding the truth, inquiry hears

A BEREAVED mother who fought for 10 years to gain answers after discovering that her dead child’s identity was stolen by an undercover police officer has died before finding out the truth, the inquiry into the scandal heard today. 

After the macabre tactic was exposed, Barbara Shaw played a central role in the bereaved families’ pursuit for information and accountability from the Metropolitan Police. 

The identity of Shaw’s son, Rod Richardson, who died two days after he was born in 1973, was taken by an undercover officer, who used it to spy on anti-capitalist activists. 

Ms Shaw made an official complaint to the Met in 2013, but she had to wait until 2016 for the force to issue an apology as it admitted that an officer had appropriated her child’s identity. 

At least 42 officers are known to have stolen elements of dead children’s identities for use while undercover, including names, dates of birth and even details of their lives.

The officers served in two secret police units, the Met’s Special Demonstration Squad and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, which together spied on more than 1,000 political groups over 40 years. The units are currently being investigated by the Undercover Policing Inquiry, which restarted this week. 

Bereaved families, including Ms Shaw, have previously told the inquiry of their horror at discovering that their loved one’s identities had been stolen and of their need for answers. 

However, the inquiry heard today that Ms Shaw had passed away in May 2021. 

Fiona Murphy, representing bereaved families, told inquiry chairman Sir John Mitting: “It is, of course, desperately sad that Mrs Shaw has not lived to hear the evidence from the managers, nor to hear your conclusions. 

“Many of the other family members are also of advanced years. They have clung to the hope of answers, only to have to have those answers elude them by the pace of the inquiry’s work. 

“They seek answers within their lifetimes about why their loved one’s identities were taken and the extent to which their personal lives were violated.”

The probe has been repeatedly criticised for its slow pace and is not expected to conclude for many years, despite having started work in 2015.

Ms Murphy added that evidence given to the inquiry so far had “further crystallised for the families the absence of any necessity for adopting or maintaining this practice and indeed the very existence of the [Special Demonstration Squad].”

Two weeks after Shaw passed away, the Crown Prosecution Service told the family it had found sufficient evidence to prosecute the undercover officer who stole Rod’s identity on the grounds he had broken the law when making a false statement to obtain a passport, the inquiry also heard.

However the CPS did not pursue a prosecution, deeming it not in the public interest as the officer’s actions were in accordance with the training and working practices of the police at the time.

The current round of hearings, which focuses on evidence from spycop managers, is of particular importance to the families who hope it will shed more light on the origins of the practice, its adoption and how it came to be normalised, Ms Murphy said.

The families are urging the inquiry to conclude that the theft of their relatives' identities by police was unlawful.

“There is now significant evidence available to the inquiry that senior officers either appreciated the very real harm to families and chose nevertheless to run that risk or that they were callously oblivious,” Ms Murphy said.

“Wherever the truth lies those managers were in dereliction of their duties when they authorised and or condoned the practice without any critical reflection upon the risk of real harm.”

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