The new judge of the long-delayed inquiry looking into police infiltration of political and social justice groups in England and Wales since 1968 was heckled when he announced the real names of undercover officers "will generally not be published".

Mr Justice Mitting made the announcement at a pre-hearing for the inquiry which was ordered three years ago by then home secretary Theresa May, having succeeded Sir Christopher Pitchford as chairman following his death earlier this year.

Justice Mitting said in a statement read to a packed court room that the undercover name of officers deployed to spy on fringe political groups and trade unions would be disclosed in most cases, and that senior police figures would be "expected to account for their decisions".

But he added: "Except in cases in which the conduct of an undercover officer has given rise to a moral right on the part of those with whom he or she has interacted during the deployment to know the true identity, the real name of the undercover officer will generally not be published."

He cited the officers' health, well-being and a wish to maintain privacy as a reasons for considering protecting their true identity or their cover identity, and also for reasons of national security.

Dave Smith, a trade unionist spied on in the 1980s for his efforts to improve safety on construction sites, shouted: "There's a lot about the human rights of the undercover officers, but precious little about the people who have been spied on.

"The question of national security is absolutely outrageous."

He continued: "It ends up that the people guilty of wrong doing get away with it, and the people who are victims [of spying] get no justice whatsoever."

Mr Smith said that he and others deemed core participants in the inquiry had been refused access to their police records and the information gathered on them by undercover officers.

"Unless we find out, unless all the cover names are exposed, then we will be coming back again and again until we get justice."

Helen Steel, who had an intimate relationship with an officer after he infiltrated London Green Peace in the 1980s, condemned "the bank of lawyers" protecting the police and the state compared to the much smaller legal team representing the core participants.

"This is a total inequality of arms," she said.

The inquiry was announced after claims surfaced that Scotland Yard had spied on campaigners fighting for justice for murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

It will also investigate incidents of undercover officers from the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad having sexual relationships with women involved in campaign groups, and had used the names of dead children to create fake identities.

Ms Steel branded the actions of officers who had had intimate relationships with the women they were gathering intelligence on as "state rape".

Although the inquiry was convened three years ago, the process has been dogged by delays and as yet no evidence has been heard.

Substantive hearings are not expected to begin until the second half of 2019.

At its outset, Mrs May tasked the inquiry with assessing the adequacy of ''justification, authorisation, operational governance and oversight of undercover policing; selection, training, management and care of undercover police officers; and ... the statutory, policy and judicial regulation of undercover policing''.

The investigation will include a review of forces' duty to disclose the existence of undercover operations during criminal trials, and an assessment of the scope for miscarriage of justice where they are not disclosed.

Any possible miscarriages of justice uncovered by the inquiry will be referred to a panel of senior members of the Crown Prosecution Service and the police, which could refer the case to the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

In his statement on Monday, Justice Mitting outlined his commitment to making sure women who had relationships with officers get the truth about the state's involvement.

"Each [of these women] is entitled to a true account of how and why they came to be induced to conduct an intimate relationship with a man deployed for police purposes with an identity and background which was not his own," he said.

"Each is entitled to know whether his superior officers knew of the relationship and, if so, whether they sanctioned and encouraged it and, if not, what they did about it."

He also criticised the delays in providing answers to the Lawrence family, despite three separate investigations into allegations of police spying.

"It is not difficult to understand that this has compounded the anguish already caused to them by the racist murder of their son and the manner in which it was investigated by police," he said.

This article first appeared in the Times and Star a regional newspaper in the northwest of England.