British Prime Minister David Cameron has called for an immediate investigation into reports that police have spied on the family of a murdered black teenager to smear their reputation.<\/p>\n
A former undercover officer Pete Francis told The Guardian<\/i> on Sunday that his superiors ordered him to “hunt for disinformation” on the family and friends of Stephen Lawrence, who was stabbed to death at a London bus stop on April 22, 1993, to undermine his family\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s campaign for a fair investigation into the crime.<\/p>\n
The tireless campaigning, especially by Lawrence\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s mother, to persuade officials to lead a thorough public investigation into the teenager\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s murder, finally bore fruit in 2012 when his white murderers were given life sentences.<\/p>\n
“I had to get any information on what was happening in the Stephen Lawrence campaign. They wanted the campaign to stop. It was felt it was going to turn into an elephant,” Francis told the paper.<\/p>\n
“Throughout my deployment there was almost constant pressure on me personally to find out anything I could that would discredit these campaigns,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Cameron said in reaction that the “absolutely dreadful allegations” on police trying to undermine a family they were supposed to help should be investigated.<\/p>\n
The Macpherson inquiry into the notorious murder found in 1999 that the Metropolitan Police was “institutionally racist” in its response to the killing.<\/p>\n
It said the Lawrence family were deliberately abused by the police who withheld information and denied the murder.<\/p>\n
Ex-Scotland Yard chief Paul Condon has denied giving any authorization or condoning any smear campaign against the Lawrence family.<\/p>\n
AMR\/HE<\/p>\n