Met Police sued by families of dead children whose identities were used by officers
7 December 2020, 12:11
The families of four dead children whose identities were used by undercover officers are suing the Metropolitan Police.
The controversial practice was used by officers who infiltrated protest groups and political movements for 40 years from 1968.
The victims include five-year-old Kevin Crossland, who was killed alongside his mother and sister in a plane crash in Yugoslavia in 1966, and Michael Hartley, a teenager whose body was never found after he fell from a trawler in 1968.
The other two children are Neil Martin, a severely disabled boy who died a month after his sixth birthday in 1969, and Rod Richardson, who died days after being born in 1973.
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Scotland Yard's secretive Special Demonstration Squad and its successor, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), were responsible for carrying out the practice.
Some 42 cases have been found where dead children's names were used to provide cover identities for officers until 2003.
Six members of the families of the four children have now launched action against the Met.
The force said in a statement: "The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) received a letter of claim dated 4th February 2020 on behalf of six claimants.
"The claims relate to the historical use of deceased children's identities by undercover officers.
"The MPS is investigating the claims and is unable to comment further at this time."
