Father who fears dead baby son’s identity was stolen by undercover officer accuses police probe of secrecy

A father who fears his dead baby son’s identity was stolen by an undercover police officer has accused a public inquiry of making it difficult for families.

Gordon Peters wants Metropolitan Police to tell him whether officers used his son Benjamin’s gravestone details to set up a false ­identity for an undercover officer. He and other parents are seeking to establish the truth at the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry. But with no live video link provided, he has been unable to follow the inquiry’s evidence – including that from his own lawyer.

“It is a dismissal of ­families’ feelings and role in this,” said former social work chief Gordon. “A decision was made not to set up a video link and I had to read it like the subtitles in a film. It’s not in the least inclusive or respectful. It is a continuation of the closed doors which the inquiry has been asked to investigate.”

A live stream of the inquiry is shown at a hotel in London to 236 “core participants” and the media. But Mr Peters, 76, says that, even if he qualified as a core participant, he would be unhappy going there because of the Covid pandemic. The inquiry has already faced criticism for allowing extensive anonymity for undercover police officers who have been called to give evidence.

The inquiry’s ban on live streaming is in contrast to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse and the inquiry into the Manchester bombing, which have carried proceedings on live stream despite sensitivities. Last month the actress Maxine Peake went on YouTube to read aloud evidence transcripts from the undercover policing inquiry in response to its refusal to live-stream proceedings.

The inquiry said the arrangements for families wanting to hear evidence might change in the new year: “The arrangements for the November evidence hearings are not intended to be a template for future hearings.”