Secret consultation documents finally released after the Morning Star’s two-year freedom of information battle show the Home Office misrepresented public opinion, claiming support for policies that most respondents actually strongly criticised as dangerous and unfair, writes SOLOMON HUGHES

THIS YEAR, March 25 would’ve been Blair Peach’s 79th birthday. Except on April 24 1979 he was killed by a police officer with what was then called the Special Patrol Group (SPG) in south London’s Southall after returning from an anti-racist demonstration.
Peach’s story is unfortunately not an isolated one — he wasn’t the first young anti-racist demonstrator killed “for a simple gesture of solidarity,” as one Southall resident put it, and he is by no means the last.
But Peach’s story is a remarkable one, because it is one that has left such an extraordinary legacy, one which finally opened up conversations about police brutality — especially within the excessively violent SPG — and the lack of accountability from a police force when their officers abused their power.



![]Superb: Liv Hill as Angie and Katherine Kingsley as Marlene]( https://msd11.gn.apc.org/sites/default/files/styles/low_resolution/public/Top%20Girls.jpeg.webp?itok=4WXo05j7)