Overview

• Counsel to the inquiry David Barr KC said race will be a central focus and the panel will hear "deeply moving, at times harrowing" evidence from those surveilled, including Stephen Lawrence’s parents and Sukhdev Reel.
• The inquiry is examining deployments by six Special Demonstration Squad officers from 1993 to 2007, including Peter Francis and David Hagan (HN81), with Francis due to give evidence in December.
• Hagan admitted involvement in scuffles outside the Macpherson Inquiry, which Neville and Doreen Lawrence had urged supporters to avoid, prompting concern that disorder was exacerbated by an undercover officer.
• Neville Lawrence welcomed the chance for public scrutiny of surveillance he called "bewildering and insulting," while the Met denied ordering a smear operation but, through counsel, acknowledged serious wrongdoing by some officers and unnecessary reporting on family justice campaigns.
• The Metropolitan Police has commissioned the College of Policing to independently review post‑2013 work on the Lawrence case, and a parole decision for convicted murderer David Norris is expected in about two weeks following last week’s hearing.