By Kim Chisnall
A newly released report has found it is very likely New Zealand teacher and activist Blair Peach was killed by British police during a demonstration in the 1970s.
Mr Peach’s friends and relatives have been campaigning for 30 years for the report to be published.
Mr Peach was killed by a severe blow to the head during a 1979 rally against racism, outside a meeting of the Ultra Right Party in West London.
The newly released documents confirm even police knew there had been a cover up.
Raids found a stash of likely weapons in certain officer’s lockers, but their names still haven’t been revealed.
Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said the report made for uncomfortable reading.
Nevertheless, he unequivocally accepted the report’s findings – that police officers were most likely responsible for the death of Mr Peach.
But that stopped short of what Mr Peach’s family in New Zealand wanted.
For Mr Peach’s then-girlfriend, Celia Stubbs, the report vindicates the view she has held for 31 years; that police closed ranks to protect one of their own.
“The police told untruths and lies and covered up for each other,” she said.
“It’s very clear that’s why there was never a prosecution.”
Police are convinced there never will be. They have released the report now on legal advice that no charges can be brought.
“It still remains a matter of the deepest regret to us that the core issues of what happened to Blair Peach, to cause his tragic death, we were not able to firmly conclude,’ Commander Mark Simmons, Metropolitan Police Head of Professional Standards.
Perhaps not firmly enough for a jury, but in both New Zealand and Britain, the court of public opinion now knows it’s finally got a confession.
3 News