Scotland Yard said: “The Met received a letter of claim dated 4 February 2020 on behalf of six claimants"
(Picture: Getty Images)Relatives of dead children whose identities were stolen by undercover officers have launched legal action against the Metropolitan Police.
Police spies infiltrated political groups using birth certificates to create fabricated identity records, such as driving licences and passports.
Victims include Rod Richardson who died two days after his birth at a south London hospital in 1973.
Kevin Crossland, five, who was killed alongside his mother and sister in a 1966 plane crash in Yugoslavia on their holiday flight from Luton.
Severely disabled Neil Mason died aged six in 1969, according to the Guardian.
The family of 18-year-old Michael Hartley, who fell overboard while working on a trawler 1968, recently discovered his identity was used to infiltrate the Socialist Workers Party and the Revolutionary Communist Group between 1982 and 1985.
The legal action alleges the Met misused private information and intruded into personal grief, causing distress and damaging their mental health.
The tactic of using dead child's identities is described in Frederick Forsyth's 1971 novel The Day of the Jackal.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “The Met received a letter of claim dated 4 February 2020 on behalf of six claimants.
“The claims relate to the historical use of deceased children’s identities by undercover officers.
“The Met is investigating the claims and is unable to comment further at this time."
