London Evening Standard
MET commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe yesterday said the damning report on police spying and alleged corruption in the Stephen Lawrence case was the worst day of his career and he pledged to reform the force.
Speaking to the Standard, he stressed it was “awful” to see Stephen’s parents Neville and Doreen struggling to hold back tears as they responded on Thursday to a string of shocking revelations 21 years after their son was murdered.
With the Met’s reputation under fire over the latest findings, the “Plebgate” storm and the phone hacking scandal, Sir Bernard emphasised his duty to ensure “trust and confidence” in the force.
Failings that had been highlighted over the use of an undercover officer, who passed personal information on Stephen’s parents back to Scotland Yard, and corruption claims would have to be “met head-on”, he added.
“This was a devastating report for the Metropolitan Police and one of the worst days that I have seen as a police officer,” he said in his first response to Thursday’s Ellison Report.
“To see Neville and Doreen Lawrence struggling through their tears was awful. The Met has come to know them well and I have enormous respect for their quiet dignity and powerful determination to see justice, which I share.
“I cannot rewrite history and the events of the past but I do have a responsibility to ensure the trust and the confidence of the people of London in the Met now and in the future. This will need a considered response to meet head-on the concerns that have been expressed in Thursday’s report.”
But Stephen’s father warned of his fears that a new inquiry, ordered by the government, would not find the full truth about the killing of his son.
Lawrence stressed he was “very wary” about the likelihood of the quest for justice and truth over Stephen’s death finally being achieved.
He spoke of his doubts after the publication of the Ellison Report shocked MPs and peers.
Home Secretary Theresa May told the Commons that allegations of corruption against one officer who had worked on the Lawrence case, detective sergeant John Davidson, had not been brought to the attention of the Macpherson Inquiry. The former officer denies the allegations.
However, Mark Ellison QC, who carried out the latest investigation, branded this lack of disclosure by the Met a “significant failure”. He added that a Met 2012 review and a 2006 report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission into the allegations were inadequate. His inquiry also found an undercover officer infiltrated groups linked to Stephen’s parents, evidence on alleged police corruption was shredded and records of the secret Special Demonstration Squad which carried out the “spying” had been destroyed.