18 March 2020
It has emerged that Metropolitan Police officers shredded files relevant to the ongoing, and long-stalled, enquiry on the infilitration of political groups and justice campaigns.
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"A secretive Scotland Yard intelligence unit shredded a large number of documents after a public inquiry was set up into the undercover infiltration of political groups, a watchdog has found.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced on Wednesday that it had found that documents had been destroyed despite an instruction that they had to be preserved.
The watchdog found that an unnamed officer would have faced a disciplinary hearing on a charge of gross misconduct if he or she had not already retired from the Metropolitan police. Any officer found guilty of gross misconduct would be likely to be sacked.
The watchdog said a number of former managers had refused to cooperate with its inquiry. It said the investigation had uncovered serious failings within the intelligence unit."
UK: Undercover policing inquiry: secretive Met unit shredded files (The Guardian, link)
See: Materials that may have been relevant to undercover policing inquiry were shredded by Metropolitan Police personnel (IOPC, link)
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