UK police to publish report on NZ activist's death

British police are to finally publish a report this week into the death of New Zealand teacher and anti-racism activist Blair Peach at a demonstration in west London in 1979, which is expected implicate former officers.

The Press Association reported prosecutors have completed a review of the document and passed their findings back to the Metropolitan Police.

Relatives of Mr Peach have been campaigning to obtain a secret internal review of the killing for many years.

Some 2000 pages of documents are expected to be released, including the previously secret police report drawn up months after Mr Peach's death which concluded that the blow which killed him was likely to have been struck by a police officer on duty, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

Six officers have been identified as the ones likely to have struck Mr Peach but they have all been unable - or unwilling - to identify the guilty party. All the men have since retired from the force.

It was understood a copy of the report has already been passed to solicitors representing Mr Peach's partner Celia Stubbs.

A shadow has hung over the death of Mr Peach, 33, since he was hit over the head at a demonstration against the National Front in Southall, in 1979. Members of the force's Special Patrol Group were suspected of hitting him with a rubberised police radio or a lead-filled cosh.

- NZPA