A former Scotland Yard anti-terrorism chief had a case to answer for misconduct after meeting an undercover officer accused of snooping on the Stephen Lawrence family, the police watchdog said today.
Commander Richard Walton, who retired before misconduct proceedings could take place, met the undercover officer known as N81 while the Macpherson inquiry into the teenager’s murder was taking place in 1998.
The 18-year-old student was stabbed to death by racist white youths in Eltham in 1993 and the inquiry was launched into failures in the police investigation.
Today the Independent Police Complaints Commission said the Met’s reputation could have suffered “immense damage” had the meeting become public knowledge.
It said Mr Walton had a case to answer for discreditable conduct for actions that could have brought the force into disrepute.
However, the IPCC also concluded there was no evidence that N81 passed information about the Lawrence family or their campaign to Mr Walton at the meeting, nor that Met submissions to the inquiry were altered as a result of the meeting.
The Met said in a statement it rejected the IPCC findings saying there was no evidence that Mr Walton’s intentions in arranging the meeting were improper.
The force added : “The IPCC findings acknowledge the meeting may have been legitimate and that the evidence suggests Mr. Walton had been asked to attend by a senior officer.
“They give these as reasons why Mr. Walton does not have a case to answer for gross misconduct. We believe that if the evidence points towards the meeting being legitimate or there is insufficient evidence that it was not legitimate then there could be no finding of misconduct, gross or otherwise.”
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