The mother of a student found dead in the Thames says she wakes up screaming from nightmares caused by police spying on her family nearly three decades ago, according to The Standard.

The Standard writes: "Sukhdev Reel sees "eyes following me everywhere and a hand on my throat" in her sleep as she recalled the intrusion Metropolitan Police chief Sir Mark Rowley now admits was "wholly indefensible"."

Ricky, 20, drowned in mysterious circumstances following a racist attack on a night out in Kingston.

Two white youths attacked Mr Reel and his friends, a group of young Asian men, who ran away in different directions on October 15, 1997.

His body was pulled from the river a week later, but no one was ever arrested or charged.

The Met's covert Special Demonstration Squad spied on relatives who started a peaceful campaign called Justice for Ricky Reel in the belief he'd been murdered.

David Hagen – an officer known as HN81 – gathered information about them and their supporters as they travelled nationwide trying to expose apparent failings in the original investigation.

On one occasion, Hagen drove Mr Reel's mother Sukhdev from a McDonald's in Stratford back to the family home – an address she wanted to keep private.

Grieving Mrs Reel, who gave evidence at the ongoing Undercover Police Inquiry, told The Standard: "After this one particular meeting, a 'supporter' asked me if I wanted a lift home. I didn't ask for it.

"He was an undercover officer. Every time I think of Hagen recently, I remember Sarah Everard who was tricked by Met officer Wayne Couzens to get into his car and killed in 2021.

"When I go to bed at night, I see eyes following me everywhere and a hand on my throat. I am choking. I'm screaming in my sleep and people are waking me up. I don't know what happened in that car."

The shadowy SDS surveillance squad posed as anti-racism campaigners in the late 1990s.

Officers reported back on the families of racist murder victim Stephen Lawrence, 18, and Mr Reel as they sought answers.

Retired council worker Mrs Reel told The Standard: "It started within months and lasted for years. They weren't investigating the case, they were investigating us.

"Twenty-eight years later, we're finding out why Ricky's case was never solved. Lots of things now make sense.

"When Ricky first went missing, he was with three Asian friends. On the way to Kingston, they were attacked. It was the police who told us Ricky was subjected to a racist attack, but they said we had to wait 24 hours to file a report.

"You don't need to be a genius to work out if four people have been attacked, three are safe and one is missing, that that person's in danger."

At Kingston Police Station, Mrs Reel said an officer suggested her son might have run away because they were forcing him into an arranged marriage or was gay.

An open verdict was recorded at the Brunel University student's 1999 inquest.

The family want a public inquiry and a fresh Scotland Yard probe. They believe people, including now retired detectives, know more and loyalties may have changed over the years.

During their campaigning, the Reels were given the address of a suspect possibly involved in the initial assault.

But the inquiry heard when police visited this person they told the family: "These are white, educated people, their house is clean, they can't be racist."

Hagen attended campaign meetings and went to memorial events.

A Special Branch document dated September 1998 revealed "secret and delicate source material" was gathered by the SDS and "a note produced for the information of the Commissioner" and other senior officers.

Mrs Reel added: "Initially, when the Met did tell us what happened with they spying, they said it was 'collateral intrusion' and there's nothing to worry about as they weren't targeting me personally."

Mr Reel's sister, Tish, said the force publicly claimed the bungled investigation into Stephen's April 1993 murder in Eltham, southeast London four years earlier was "an anomaly".

But the lawyer added: "Ricky's case came along and showed, in fact, this was a pattern within the Met to deal with families of race murder victims and dismiss crimes if they weren't white.

"They spied on us because of the support our campaign garnered and that it could be 'the next Stephen Lawrence' and embarrass them. This is an embedded culture, it's institutional and Ricky's death didn't support the Met's narrative that lesson had been learned."

According to The Standard, the Reel family are angered that while police say they "didn't have resources" to investigate further, more than £13.2 million has been spent on Madeline McCann's disappearance at the age of three from Praia da Luz, Portugal in 2007.

"No one case is more important than another," said Ms Reel. "The slap in the face for us if while they said they didn't have the manpower, they did find it to spy on our family for years."

Mike Schwarz, head of the public inquiry team at Hodge Jones & Allen, who represents Mrs Reel, said: "All my client ever wanted was justice for her son.

"But instead of properly investigating his death the Metropolitan Police used its resources to spy on his grieving family.

"This unconscionable behaviour has left the family even further traumatised.

"I would urge the Met, even at this very late stage, to launch a new, thorough investigation to find out the truth about how Ricky died and finally deliver the family the justice they so desperately deserve."

Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jon Savell said: "The Commissioner acknowledges that the reporting on the Ricky Reel family campaign was unnecessary, unjustifiable and wholly indefensible.

"It displayed a collective failure of ethical judgement and the Met sincerely apologises.

"We continue to support the current Tranche of the Undercover Policing Inquiry and recognise the powerful evidence provided by Mrs Suhkdev Reel and Ms Tish Reel.

"It has given the Met Police an even greater understanding of what occurred and the serious errors that were made.

"We are committed to continue learning from the human toll of the SDS.

"We understand that this has had a lasting impact.

"Our intentions remain to offer a comprehensive and personal apology to the family of Ricky Reel following the conclusion of the relevant evidence."

The inquiry continues. A campaign page dedicated to seeking justice for Mr Reel has been created.