I was asked to spy, find "dirt" that could be used against Stephen Lawrence's family – Undercover Police

According to SkyNews, the Prime Minister has said he wants an immediate investigation into claims the Metropolitan Police carried out an operation to "smear" the family of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The claims emerged in an interview with a former undercover police officer.
Peter Francis said he was told to find "dirt" that could be used against members of the Lawrence family, shortly after the 18-year-old was killed in a racist attack in April 1993, The Guardian reported.
He was also asked to target the friend who witnessed the murder and campaigners angry at the failure to bring his killers to justice, the newspaper said.
Downing Street said David Cameron was "deeply concerned" about the allegations and wants them looked into.
Home Secretary Theresa May is expected to make a statement on the claims in the House of Commons this afternoon.

Doreen Lawrence said the revelation 'tops' everything she knows

Mr Lawrence's mother, Doreen, told The Guardian that there was no justification for efforts to discredit her family following her son's murder.
Scotland Yard said it recognised the seriousness of the allegations and shared the concerns of the Lawrence family.
"The Met must balance the genuine public interest in these matters with its duty to protect officers and former officers who have been deployed undercover, often in difficult and dangerous circumstances," a spokesman said.
"At some point it will fall upon this generation of police leaders to account for the activities of our predecessors, but for the moment we must focus on getting to the truth."
The claims have surfaced as a result of a joint investigation into undercover policing by The Guardian and Channel 4's Dispatches programme, to be broadcast this evening.

The teenager's death sparked a change in how race crimes are investigated

Mr Francis, who reportedly posed as an anti-racist activist in the mid-1990s, said he came under "huge and constant pressure" to "hunt for disinformation" to undermine those arguing for a better investigation into the murder.
He told The Guardian: "I had to get any information on what was happening in the Stephen Lawrence campaign.
"They wanted the campaign to stop. It was felt it was going to turn into an elephant.
"Throughout my deployment there was almost constant pressure on me personally to find out anything I could that would discredit these campaigns."
Mr Lawrence, an aspiring architect, was stabbed to death by a group of up to six white youths in an unprovoked racist attack as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, southeast London.
In January 2012, Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty of being involved in the attack and sentenced to life imprisonment after a forensic review of the case found significant new scientific evidence on clothing seized from their homes following the murder.
Responding to Mr Francis' claims, Mrs Lawrence told the Guardian: "Out of all the things I've found out over the years, this certainly has topped it."
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper described Mr Francis' claims as "shocking and appalling" and called for the Home Secretary to seek a faster investigation into his specific allegations.