THE spycops inquiry into undercover policing at the Met has reconvened, with their infiltration of race justice campaigns and “conscious or subconscious racism” in the force front and centre.

The inquiry will hear from activists in campaigns infiltrated by the squad, including families of murdered Stephen Lawrence, and Sukhdev Reel, whose son Ricky died in what she believes was a racist attack.

The public inquiry was announced by Theresa May in 2015, after former Metropolitan Police Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) officer Peter Francis blew the whistle on a team that not only spied on groups, but entered into sexual relationships while undercover.

Mr Francis himself had posed as an anti-racism campaigner to spy on the campaign to bring the racist murderers of Stephen Lawrence to justice.

In a move Stephen’s father Neville described as “bewildering and insulting,” when the Macpherson public inquiry into both Stephen’s murder and the corruption, racism and incompetence in the police investigation into his death was underway, Mr Francis says he was instructed to attend alongside the family to gather information to smear them.

Another officer, using the name David Hagan, admitted being involved in the scuffles outside the Macpherson inquiry as the five prime suspects attended, forcing the grieving Neville and Doreen Lawrence to make public appeals for calm.

Mr Lawrence told the inquiry it is “particularly troubling that an officer who sought to justify surveillance on the grounds of public disorder actively contributed to it.”

In his opening statements, on behalf of the Met Police Commissioner, Peter Skelton KC, offered apologies to justice campaigners for the spying that affected them, as well as the bereaved families whose children’s details were used as cover identities without their permission, and the women who deceived into relationships with officers, branding their experience “a gross violation of privacy and human rights.”

He admitted: “There was a collective failure to exercise ethical judgement about the purpose of undercover policing and the propriety of reporting on family justice campaigns.

“This is reflective of an ‘us against them’ culture that prevailed within the MPS at that time, which didn’t properly distinguish between legitimate intelligence targets, such as groups committed to inciting serious public disorder, and illegitimate targets such as grieving black and Asian families who were complaining about injustice and the actions of the police.”