London's top anti-terror officer removed from post over role in police spying scandal
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Neville Lawrence, father of Stephen Lawrence, speaks outside the Home Office in London, Thursday March 6, 2014, after meeting Home Secretary Theresa May. British officials on Thursday ordered an official inquiry into how undercover officers handled the 1993 stabbing of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, a racist murder that shocked the country and shook its faith in the police. The judge-led investigation, announced by Home Secretary Theresa May, follows the official confirmation by prominent lawyer Mark Ellison that an undercover officer had been dispatched to monitor Lawrence’s family, effectively acting as a police spy in the parents’ camp as they fought to expose official indifference to their son’s murder. (AP Photo/PA, Philip Toscano) UNITED KINGDOM OUT NO SALES NO ARCHIVE (The Associated Press)
London's top counterterrorism police officer has been removed from his post after he was implicated in a report that concluded the force spied on the family of a murdered teenager — a case that exposed police racism and incompetence.
The Metropolitan Police said Friday that Cmdr. Richard Walton had been transferred following publication of a report on the killing of Stephen Lawrence, who was fatally stabbed in a racist attack in 1993.
No one was convicted of the murder for almost 20 years.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The report found that an undercover policeman spied on Lawrence's relatives during a public inquiry into the force's botched handing of the case.
Walton was one of the police officers making submissions to the inquiry, and met with the undercover officer while it was underway.