JUSTICE Secretary Kenny MacAskill has been asked to check that the scandal of Metropolitan Police undercover officers stealing children's identities never happened in Scotland.

The revelations involving the Special Demonstration Squad of the Metropolitan Police prompted demands for assurance that the use of family tragedies to create undercover identities had not happened here.

The period during the 1970s and 1980s when this abuse happened as the Met tackled animal rights and other groups also coincided with the poll tax struggle and other areas of mass protest, prompting some to ask whether the abuse happened here.

Scottish Labour's Shadow Justice Secretary Lewis Macdonald MSP said: "The use of the identities of dead children without the knowledge or consent of their parents is a revelation that will cause a great deal of concern, and the public will want to know whether this practice was as widespread in Scotland as it has been in England. I will writing to Kenny MacAskill to ask him to make clear if these methods have been used in Scotland, and if so on how many occasions."

Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP said: "We need an investigation into whether this tactic was used by special branches within police forces in Scotland. The Justice Secretary should move swiftly to seek assurances that this is not the case."