Met officers did not examine if spying was justified, inquiry finds

Unit infiltrating leftwing groups in 1960s and 1970s never assessed if they presented threat to nation

None of the senior police officers in charge of long-term operations to infiltrate leftwing groups in the 1960s and 1970s examined whether the intrusive surveillance was justified, a public inquiry has found.

The inquiry – headed by a retired judge – added that there was a strong case for concluding that a covert Metropolitan police unit that sent long-term undercover officers to infiltrate political groups should have been disbanded decades before it was.