Blair Peach Inspector denies responsibility
Alan Murray was the 29-year-old Inspector in charge of the Special Patrol Group (SPG) called in to disperse anti-fascist demonstrators on the day Blair Peach was killed.
The youngest but most senior member of the elite unit, he was the first officer out of the police vehicle, followed by five fellow officers, a sergeant and four PCs.
Mr Murray is the only one to have identified himself as part of the SPG operation. But he denies in any way being responsible for the death of Mr Peach or ever even seeing the New Zealander.
According to the Met report into the incident, one member of the unit, identified only as Officer E, was “almost certainly” the one who landed the fatal blow.
He was described as “young and forceful” and was found to have lied about his whereabouts to investigators.
He also refused to take part in early identity parades and grew a beard, altering his appearance, according to the report.
The report concluded: “Officer E is aware of what actually occurred”.
Mr Murray acknowledged that he was "almost certainly" Officer E, but denied all the accusations
He said: “I have always acknowledged that the likelihood was that I was the prime suspect but I absolutely deny my culpability and that of the men in my vehicle to the best of my knowledge.
“I do not have eyes in the back of my head and we were in a riot but I maintain that we had nothing to do with that tragic incident.”
He added: “I have accepted that I was the first man out of the vehicle and that appears to be what witnesses saw, but I do not even remember seeing Blair Peach, who was a distinctive looking person.”
Labelling the Met report a disgrace, he said: “Cass’s report is pure fabrication to justify his failure to identify the perpetrator of this act.”
Angry at the handling of the initial report into the incident, Mr Murray resigned from the Metropolitan Police, receiving a certificate for exemplary conduct in his career. He spent several years working for his brother’s jewellery business before retraining as an accountant.
In the 1990s he began studying for a PhD and is now a lecturer in Accounting and Corporate Responsibility at Sheffield University.
None of the other SPG officers have been named. Some of the others are also understood to have left the Met shortly after the 1979 incident, with one serving until 2004, when he retired on a full pension. One became a local council museums boss, while another is thought to have retired to Spain.