黑洞社区

Police officers did supply information on workers to the organisation running the infamous construction industry blacklist the police watchdog has disclosed, according to reports.

said police watchdog the Independent Complaints Commission has told lawyers representing victims of construction blacklisting that it had identified that it is 鈥渓ikely that all special branches were involved in providing information鈥� that kept certain individuals out of work.

The admission confirms evidence given the whistleblower Peter Francis, the former undercover police officer who revealed to the Guardian newspaper that police carried out surveillance of supporters of the Stephen Lawrence family,

According to the Observer, the IPPC鈥檚 disclosure has been disputed by a senior investigating officer for the inquiry into the activities of undercover police officers, known as Operation Herne.

In a letter, seen by the Observer, detective inspector Steve Craddock insists that the IPCC鈥檚 statement is incorrect and that he has seen 鈥渘o conclusive evidence鈥� that Scotland Yard shared information with the blacklisters.

However, the IPCC is standing by its correspondence, which it says was informed by discussions with the Metropolitan Police and that 鈥渄evelopments since that 鈥� are a matter for the Metropolitan Police鈥�.

In response to the Observer, a spokesman for Craddock said Operation Herne鈥檚 investigating officer was 鈥渁ware of the apparent contradiction and is looking into how that may have arisen鈥�.

She added: 鈥淥peration Herne will report on the 鈥榖lacklisting鈥� matter to the Metropolitan Police commissioner in due course.鈥�

The TCA blacklist was funded by 40 major firms and was discovered in 2009 after a raid by the information commissioner鈥檚 office.

Last week in a major development eight of those firms agreed to launch a compensation scheme aimed at workers who were impacted by the use of the blacklist.