Inquiry hears of distress over theft of dead man's identity by Met police

Two siblings have described their "unbearable" distress and pain after discovering that an undercover police officer stole the identity of their brother who had died at the age of 18.

- Rob Evans

The officer used the dead brother's identity as the basis of his fake persona while he spent three years spying on leftwing campaigners.

Frank Bennett told a public inquiry yesterday that he and his sister Honor Robson were horrified and disgusted after they found out that the identity of their brother had been used in such an "underhanded" way.

Michael Hartley died in 1968 when he disappeared from a trawler. His body was never found.

Bennett said his mother's grief at the death of her son had caused her to kill herself in 1977. "Michael was so precious to her, and the loss of him destroyed her life." Bennett gave evidence at the judge-led public inquiry that is scrutinising the conduct of about 139 undercover officers who spied on more than 1,000 political groups between 1968 and at least 2010.

One of the issues that is being examined is how officers routinely stole the identities of children. Before they started their infiltration, the spies trawled through birth and death certificates to find a suitable match.