United Kingdom: police accused of using the identity of dead children

A second life that their loved ones would have gone well. In the United Kingdom, four families are taking legal action in early December against the Metropolitan Police Service, more commonly known as the Met or Scotland Yard, after serious charges. As explained by the Guardian, which reveals the case, the victims share their extreme emotion after discovering that the Met was using the identity of a deceased relative as part of undercover missions. However, they were never consulted or even informed of these practices.

Among the victims are a stillborn boy, a 5-year-old who tragically disappeared in a plane crash, a 6-year-old boy who died of illness and a teenager who died by drowning. According to the complaint, the Met is accused of using private information and intruding into the bereavement of families with consequences for their mental health.

A widespread practice since the end of the 1980s

Agents would have used the identity of the teenager who disappeared in 1968 to infiltrate various left-wing organizations in the 1980s. Rod Richardson, who died at birth, resurfaced in the 2000s in the guise of an undercover spy within an organization of anti-capitalist militants. It was this deception that started everything, brought to light by the Guardian, supported by the organization in question. The families of the remaining victims were made aware of the practice as part of a large-scale investigation which targeted Scotland Yard’s methods of infiltrating more than a thousand political groups since 1968.

According to the Guardian, the practice has been rampant for the past 30 years and at least 42 undercover agents have allegedly created false identities based on details of the lives of dead children. The Metropolitan Police Service reacted in a statement, saying it had launched an investigation without giving any further reaction.