A former Scotland Yard intelligence chief should face a new investigation into alleged perjury, the mother of Stephen Lawrence has said, after the unearthing of documents claiming he was corrupt.
The concerns centre around former Metropolitan police commander Ray Adams, a senior officer in the area where Lawrence was stabbed to death in 1993. The BBC says a Met document from 2000 shows officers concluding Adams was corrupt.
The conclusion follows claims by an informant. The Met document contains claims Adams was cleared by a police corruption inquiry in the 1980s after false evidence was given by a man linked to the family of one of Lawrence’s killers.
Adams denied all wrongdoing and said he played only a minor role in the first flawed Lawrence murder investigation, which led to his killers escaping justice for nearly two decades.
Imran Khan KC, the solicitor for Doreen Lawrence, said: “We believe there may be grounds for two criminal investigations for perjury or perverting the course of justice as result of this document.
“The first is about the witness allegedly providing false testimony. The second is whether Adams told the truth at the Macpherson inquiry, about who he knew, and about corruption.”
Adams was questioned at the 1998 Macpherson public inquiry into the failings that let Lawrence’s killers escape justice, in which he denied all wrongdoing.
Police said they would explore detail about the new claims before deciding whether any investigation was merited.
Khan added: “Baroness Lawrence has said that no officer has ever been held to account for their failures. This is an opportunity for a former officer to be held accountable.
“If the Met want to recover trust and confidence, this is the opportunity for commissioner Sir Mark Rowley to take action, where there appear to be reasonable lines of inquiry.”
Bob Quick, former head of anti-corruption at the Met, said: “Adams was under suspicion at a number of points in his career, and particularly towards the end. After he left, his name surfaced in a number of corruption operations. Intelligence was available but not the hard evidence for a prosecution.”
The Met said past inquiries had unearthed no evidence of wrongdoing: “The independent officer for police conduct has also carried out a separate inquiry into whether in 1998, senior officers in the MPS did not disclose all relevant information about allegations of corruption to the Macpherson inquiry. This inquiry may also have relevance to the allegations referenced in the BBC’s report.
“The IOPC found no indication that any officer may have committed a criminal offence.
“The Met’s directorate of professional standards will be writing to the BBC to request access to any material in their possession that supports allegations of police corruption. We will review such material, alongside the outcomes of the above IOPC investigations and any previous relevant anti-corruption investigations conducted by the Met, to determine whether any further action is required.”
After retiring from the Met in August 1993 for medical reasons, Adams was hired by Rupert Murdoch’s NDS company.
A government-ordered review into longstanding claims corruption had shielded Lawrence’s killers, conducted by barrister Mark Ellison KC, said: “Adams was the subject of two major corruption allegations during his service with the [Met] … In addition, Adams was the subject of 11 other complaints between 1965 and 1985 all of which were either unsubstantiated, withdrawn or not proceeded with.
“The position regarding Mr Adams, as we have found it in this review, is substantially as it was at the time of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry – there is no evidence providing any reasonable grounds for suspecting that he acted corruptly in the Lawrence murder investigation.”
The Guardian reported on the questions surrounding Adams, now 81, in 2012. He has always maintained his innocence.
