This summary covers the fourth week of Tranche 2 hearings of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), which continues to examine the activities of the Metropolitan Police’s secret political unit, the Special Demonstration Squad, from 1983-92. It was the final week of ‘Tranche 2 Phase 1’. Phase 2 hearings will begin in October, covering the officers from the same period, 1983-92, who were sgnificantly involved in animal rights campaigns.

The UCPI is an independent, judge-led inquiry into undercover policing in England and Wales. Its main focus is the activity of two units who deployed long-term undercover officers into a variety of political groups: the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS, 1968-2008) and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU, 1999-2011). Spycops from these units lived as activists for years at a time, spying on more than 1,000 groups.

Introduction

The final week of Tranche 2 Phase 1 hearings dealt with the deployment of officer HN78 Trevor Morris, who used the stolen identity of Anthony Lewis, a child who died, as well as his own alias, ‘Bobby McGee’.

If you want to know more about Morris and his extreme narcissim, we recommend you listen to the episode of the Spycops Info podcast: We Need to Talk About Carlton King.

On the Monday 29 July we heard the powerful testimony of two women, referred to as ‘Bea’ and ‘Jenny’ for privacy reasons, who Morris had deceived into intimate relationships. The proceedings were audio-only, with voice modulation for the afternoon session to protect the witnesses’ identities.

There was one day break and then Wednesday started with a summary of evidence provided by the family of Anthony Lewis, who died as a child and whose identity was stolen by HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’.

Morris then began giving live evidence on Wednesday, and continued into Thursday and Friday.

Observations

The courage of ‘Bea’ and ‘Jenny’ in coming forward and sharing their experiences was deeply moving. The use of a voice modulator to disguise ‘Jenny’s voice made the evidence it challenging to follow at times, but the emotional impact of her words remained clear. Both testimonies highlighted the long-lasting trauma inflicted by the abuses of these undercover operations. This was underscored further by the experience of the Lewis family.

Coming after these accounts, Trevor Morris’s own evidence was shocking, revealing just how disgusting he really was. He was given two and a half days to dig his own grave, and his narcissism revealed itself in every answer as he strived to justify everything the basis of being special, protecting national security, and performing a dangerous job that deprived him of his family.

Morris claimed he felt ashamed of the ‘strong friendships’ he made while undercover, but still insisted it was necessary. He portraed himself as the real victim again and again. Complaining that the Inquiry existed at all, he spent time lamenting that he had been promised this day would never come and ‘no one will ever know who you are’.

He peppered his evidence with oblique references to the Securit Service and ‘red areas’ which were subject matters he had apparently been told not to mention, but repeatedly did.

The video feed (run by the Inquiry with a ten minute delay so they can cut any inappropriate revelations) was disrupted over and over again to deal with his breaches. So much so, that only 20 minutes of the afternoon of the final day was actually broadcast, and the transcripts contain ten redactions.

It is worth noting that Morris seemed obsessed with SWP officials Julie Waterson and Chris Bambury, claiming to know them well and to have been privy to their conversations. It’s therefore odd that the Inquiry hasn’t thought to call Chris Bambery to give evidence.

Contents

Monday 29th July (Day 15)
Live evidence: ‘Bea’
Live evidence: ‘Jenny’

Wednesday 31st July (Day 16)
Summary of evidence of the Lewis family
Live evidence: Day 1 of HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

Thursday 1st August (Day 17)
Live evidence: Day 2 of HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

Friday 2nd August (Day 18)
Live evidence: Day 3 of HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

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Monday 29th July 2024 (Day 15)

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

Live: Testimony of ‘Bea’

Background

Bea told us of her lifelong commitment to activism, reflecting that ‘if you are not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.’ She said:

‘I am proud of the fact that I have played my small part in trying to make a more just society, a more fair and equal one, and been involved in many campaigns that I think are absolutely relevant and important and wanted to make the world a better, fairer place.’

Bea explained she had always been a protester but at that time probably less than at other times because her children were still small. When asked to say how much time she dedicated to activism she said, ‘maybe 10 per cent. I have a life as well.’

Bea explained her personal circumstances:

‘I had just separated from my ex-husband six months previously. I moved to Hackney, didn’t really know anybody there… So I had just become a single mother… I was like completely consumed, really, with bringing up my children on a very small income.’

Joining the Socialist Workers Party (SWP)

In March 1992, Bea joined the SWP, shortly after starting part-time work in their print shop. She was at a vulnerable point in her life, and described joining the SWP as finding her tribe:

‘I had found a group of people who felt the same way that I did and were actually getting things done.’

The SWP provided both political and social support:

‘I felt like I was part of the community. It was wonderful, really. So it gave you emotional support as well as giving you an outlet for campaigning and wanting to make the world a better place.’

She did a remarkable job promoting the SWP, claiming:

‘It changed my life in many ways, because I felt I was able to be an active member of society again and be able to be active in campaigning and in generally trying to promote social justice.’

Bea clarified the SWP’s approach to social change as a belief that ‘change comes from below and is not imposed from above.’

She also addressed the concepts of revolution and democracy:

‘socialism from below is absolutely democratic. More democratic than our current parliamentary system can be particularly without proportional representation.’

Regarding the SWP’s goals, Bea explained:

‘obviously it was a revolutionary party, but I am not sure how many of us actually believed that we were on the brink of revolution.’

She strongly refuted claims of violent intentions emphasizing the SWP’s focus on community engagement:

‘if the news that the nursery was going to be closed locally, we were very quickly able to organise people to campaign for that.’

Relationship with HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

Bea recounted meeting Morris at her first SWP meeting:

‘it was probably afterwards we all went down to the bar where the meeting was, and everyone was talking to everyone. I think we struck up a bit of a bond quite quickly.’

She described her state at the time:

‘I was in probably the most vulnerable point of my life. I had left a relationship, a marriage… where there had been domestic violence ultimately just six months before.’

Bea detailed the development of the relationship:

‘He seemed very keen.. But he didn’t jump on top of me, I mean I didn’t jump on top of him either. You know, it was a talking, sort of friendly sort of relationship to start with and, you know, entirely consensual.’

The relationship progressed quickly. For the first few months he spent three or four nights a week at her flat. She said Morris didn’t really interact with her children, ‘I don’t remember sort of doing family things with him.’

She said he’d mostly come around in the evening and leave in the morning. He told her his marriage had failed due to infidelity with his wife’s sister, implying it was a traumatic experience. This was a fabrication and reiterates an established pattern of undercover officers inventing disturbing backstories and leveraging them to elicit sympathy, create emotional closeness and avoid difficult questions.

Bea also explained that he did disappear one time, a few months into the relationship:

‘We were supposed to spend the weekend together, and in those days there was no mobile phones or anything, just a pager.’

This disappearance led Bea to question who Morris really was, though she didn’t suspect he was an undercover officer at that point.

The relationship changed over time.

‘He told me that the relationship was over. Because of a sexual indiscretion of his which I won’t repeat… We kind of split up and then just drifted back together again, but in a more casual way.’

Eventually, in the summer of 1993 she met another comrade in the Socialist Workers Party and started a relationship with him, and stopped seeing Trevor Morris.

Regarding Morris’s lying to her about his relationship status, Bea was unequivocal:

‘I would not have got into a relationship with a married man.’

Morris’s Infiltrations and the Welling Protest

Regarding Morris’s political engagement, Bea noted:

‘He was quite naive in some ways… he wasn’t sort of well read about, he didn’t really have a great understanding of the left. But he was very interested in the day to day things, you know, the campaigns, the demonstrations, the Anti Nazi League particularly because he put a lot of his time into the Anti Nazi League.’

Bea’s testimony also revealed a pattern of self-aggrandisement among undercover officers with Morris exaggerating his role and importance within the organization and claiming to be closer to decision-makers in the SWP than he actually was. This aligns with similar behaviour observed in other undercover officers.

Bea pointed out:

‘He never did the kind of things that the leaders would do, like write books and, you know, lead meetings, do meetings at Marxism [conferences]. He had no sort of particular intellectual or political experience.’

Bea described Morris as often dressing in a stereotypical leftist manner, like a parody. He had a pager, which was unusual at the time, and was secretive about his past. Bea also noted a peculiar detail about Morris’s behaviour at demonstrations, noting that the only person she ever knew who went to demonstrations with a weapon was Morris, who carried a sharp umbrella.

Bea provided a vivid account of the 1993 Welling protest against the British National Party, highlighting a sudden shift from peaceful demonstration to chaos:

‘the junction was cut off by a row of sort of heavily armed riot squad sort of police officers, and police horses… suddenly there was sort of fear and pandemonium, and Julie Waterson, who had a megaphone, was asking people to sit down… I just remember running… climbing a wall and jumping in the cemetery and just being immensely relieved because it was terrifying.’

This account underscores the intensity of the situation and the over-policing that Bea attributes to Morris’s exaggerated reports:

I do hold him responsible…. he seems proud of doing this, of being responsible for this.’

Morris’s Exit and Discovering His True Identity

Following the standardised approach used by the Special Demonstration Squad by the mid-1990s, Morris sent Bea a letter with a foreign postmark.

‘I was then really surprised to get a letter from him sent from Egypt in 1995, saying that he had gone to Egypt… in retrospect it was bizarre, because he said he was sort of working in the bazaars in Egypt and that he wanted to save some money and travel round Africa.’

Bea didn’t believe at first that Morris was an undercover cop when a friend showed her photos on Facebook. The Inquiry contacted her in 2019, which left her shocked, shamed, and paranoid. The revelation deeply affected her:

‘I felt stupid that I hadn’t realised, even when there were all these pointers… I feel that there was trespass in my house. There was trespass into my family. My privacy, my right to privacy was completely overridden. I believe that the intimacy between us was un-consensual on the grounds that the person that I was with was not the person who I believed them to be.

‘I was horribly used and it was just so wrong in many, every way. In every way. It was indefensible.’

She elaborated on her feelings of betrayal

‘I felt shame because I had inadvertently provided cover for somebody who might have got friends of mine into trouble, who might have told lies about us, about me, about my friends. I didn’t want people to know. I felt it made me into a suspect myself.’

‘I felt maybe my phone was tapped. Any sort of suspicion that somebody may have been inauthentic made me wonder who they were, or wonder if they were working for the police.’

The concerns extended to her family, ‘we were all worried about being followed, or people knowing where we were.’

The revelation had a profound effect on her children as well:

‘It was radicalising for them… they know now from a much earlier age that that’s how, you know, that this shit happens.’

Although she initially felt more angry with the British state than with HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’ himself, Bea explained that

‘my anger for Bobby has grown since then… my initial reaction was oh my god, his wife, what must she have gone through, what must she still be going through. And his own children and him…

‘and I re-read the statement and understood the part that he had played in the social justice campaigns in Welling, particularly in Welling because he has stated exactly what he told his minders about Welling and I was there and I know what happened. That he has been brainwashed in a way to believe that his allegiance is to the establishment and the state, and the status quo as opposed to his class and his community and his family.’

The impact of discovering Morris’s true identity was so profound that Bea ultimately decided to move abroad. She explained:

‘If the state will go to the extent of sanctioning infiltration at this level of decent people trying to make society better, whilst ignoring organisations on the far right where real hatred and real danger lies, then how, how corrupt is that society?’

 

Live: Testimony of ‘Jenny’

Jenny described the political climate that drove her activism:

‘the mid to late 80s were very, very difficult times. We had Margaret Thatcher in power. We had what felt like a steady roll back of the rights that we had… nuclear war was the big fear at the time. Apartheid was a terrible catastrophe that many of us felt really passionately about.’

Between 1984 and 1987, Jenny was involved in a number of different campaign groups.

‘I never felt one thing was more important than anything else, I felt equally strongly about feminism and social justice and ending oppression of people at work and defending trade union rights and being opposed to racism.’

Socialist Worker’s Party Aims and Methods

Jenny disputed Morris’s claims that the SWP had violent intentions and emphasised the focus on mass mobilisation:

‘it was about mobilising as many people as possible to deliver change by strength of opinion and strength of numbers… It wasn’t a single issue movement. It was very broad based and it sought to build a mass movement to tackle all of these issues and many more. And to work towards a more just society.’

Jenny also addressed the issue of a potentially violent revolution:

‘There might be some need to engage very directly when vested interests defend their vested interests. But in practical terms, yes, that was a long, long, long way off.’

Relationship with HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

Jenny vividly recalled her first encounter with Morris, describing him as ‘straight from central casting’:

‘The door of the kitchen burst open and this figure came in like a cannonball… He had a black beret, he had the biggest beard ever.’

She also noted the red stars pinned to his beret.

‘Having not seen him before, after that night he was suddenly everywhere. So on every demonstration I went to he was, every social and fundraiser there he was. Sometimes he was there as a DJ. Sometimes he would just make a beeline for me and my friends.’

She described him as larger-than-life, funny, and well-liked, which made it particularly difficult for people to suspect him of being an undercover officer. ‘I would never have guessed it was Bobby Lewis in a million years.’

She did however find it unusual that Morris didn’t engage in theoretical political discussions. She also noted:

‘He was really good at observing… It felt like he was really good in reading the mood of the march whereas the rest of us would be more interested in talking to our friends or waving a placard or shouting whatever people around us was shouting, and he was constantly looking back, seemed to be observing the crowd.’

Jenny recounted a specific incident that stood out when Morris started throwing the eggs at British National Party members and hit a police officer in the process before running off.

Morris stood out because he had a car, which was unusual at the time for a member of the SWP. He was also the first person she knew who had a pager. She observed his efforts to get close to SWP leadership:

‘Trevor Morris would brag about how he got close to the leader of the SWP Tony Cliff by giving him lifts after meetings.’

The Sexual Encounter and Its Context

Jenny recounted that in July 1995, after a period of being less involved in activism, she had impulsively visited a bar in central London after the annual Socialist Workers Party conference. Morris was there and greeted her enthusiastically.

While having drinks together (Jenny drank while Morris did not, he was mostly teetotal), Morris told her that he was trying to reunite with his wife and planned to move to Spain for a fresh start (which differed from what he told others about going to Egypt or Germany).

When they left the pub, Morris offered Jenny a lift, and during the journey, he suggested they go back to his bedsit for a cup of tea and to continue their conversation. Jenny agreed, partly because Morris said this would be the last time they’d see each other.

At his bedsit, Jenny noticed a lack of personal belongings, with only a tube of Ponds Cocoa Butter visible. They talked for a long time on the sofa, with Morris gradually moving closer to Jenny and becoming flirtatious. He initiated a kiss, which Jenny reciprocated, and they ended up sleeping together.

In the morning, Jenny gave Morris a gift of a book called ‘My Traitor’s Heart’. They parted on good terms, with Jenny wishing him well and giving him a hug before they went their separate ways. This was their only sexual encounter, and Jenny had no further contact with Morris after this meeting.

Jenny emphasised that she would never have consented to sleep with Morris if she had known he was an undercover police officer. She described the encounter as manipulative, given that Morris used his fake identity and impending departure to create a situation where they slept together.

Coming as it did, at the very end of his deployment, this sexual encounter could have no possible operational value, and appears to have been an entirely gratuitous abuse of Morris’ position for his own gratification.

Discovering Morris’s True Identity

Jenny discovered Morris’s true identity through a Facebook post shared by a friend, just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. The timing left her feeling particularly isolated as she grappled with this revelation.

She described the experience:

‘I was lazily scrolling through on an afternoon and it hit me between the eyes like a freight train.’

The revelation profoundly impacted Jenny:

‘Something I was very certain about was no longer true… I now question everybody I know. I think about people’s motivations, I wonder who they really are.’

She described her physical reactions:

‘I was walking through the middle of my town and there was a police helicopter nearby and on a rational level I know that this is really stupid but on a really basic level of fear and panic.’

She talked of her longer term struggle:

‘I feel massive amounts of paranoia, shame, guilt. It’s not something that I like to talk about at all. I am really grateful that I got to meet the other women and the other core participants who understand from the inside how this is.’

Jenny elaborated on the ongoing destabilising effects:

‘I have a shortlist in my head of probably four people from my past who I wonder were undercover officers. And because I have had no disclosure I guess I am going to wonder to the end of my days about who was and who wasn’t who they said they were.’

Reflections on Abuses by Undercover Police Units

Jenny powerfully characterised the officers’ actions:

‘I think sex without consent is rape. I did not consent to sleep with officer HN78. I did not consent to sleep with Trevor Morris. He used his fake identity to manipulate me and at least one other woman into sleeping with him, where none of us would have slept with him. And he’s lied and he’s fudged and he’s not giving straight answers and I don’t feel he’s being held to account.

‘But beyond him is a police structure and powers of authorisation and the Metropolitan Police and this didn’t just happen to me, this didn’t just happen to ‘Bea’, this has happened to 60 women.

She also expressed her feelings about Morris’s actions:

‘I feel dirty and disgusting and used. And what I feel on a larger level is that he slept with me because he could. Because he was working for a body of the state that had no checks and no balances in place to stop this behaviour.’

Jenny expressed feeling sorry not only for herself and other deceived women but also for Morris’s wife and children, highlighting the wide-reaching impact of these undercover operations.

She also stressed the wider responsibility of the authorities:

‘beyond him is a police structure and powers of authorisation and the Metropolitan Police, and this didn’t just happen to me… this has happened to sixty women at least!’

Jenny pointed out significant contradictions between Morris’s statements to Operation Herne and his later statement after she came forward. These inconsistencies further undermine Morris’s credibility and suggest he was more concerned about being caught than genuinely remorseful for his actions.

She also notes that Morris claimed, in his written statement, that he couldn’t remember her name, leading her to wonder how many similar encounters he had during his deployment.

‘I think there was a whole culture either don’t ask don’t tell, or these men were egging each other on and bragging about their exploits and I think all of us would really love to know which.’

She also called for accountability:

‘I don’t want any woman to go through this again. It has to stop.’

Wednesday 31 July (Day 16)

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

Morning Session

Summary of Evidence of the Lewis Family

Marbel Lewis, the sister of the deceased child Anthony Lewis, provided a powerful witness statement, endorsed by another surviving sister, Judy Lewis, also a core participant.

The statement, read aloud by a lawyer, described how their parents and another sister found it too painful to engage with the Inquiry, and that they hoped their participation would lead to some answers and accountability for the wider family.

Marbel told us that Anthony was the first child of Hyacinth and Clinton Lewis, a happy boy with sickle cell anaemia. Despite his illness, he aspired to be a doctor but died at seven from complications on 31 July 1968. His death deeply affected the family and continues to impact Marbel, a nurse who finds it distressing to care for sick children.

In June 2019, Marbel’s sister was informed that HN78 Trevor Morris used Anthony’s name and birthdate during his deployment from 1991 to 1995.

Anthony’s family believes race played a role in selecting his identity for use by a Black SDS officer infiltrating anti-racist groups. They wonder if Morris researched their family background as he reportedly claimed that his family also originated from Jamaica.

She spoke of racism within the Special Demonstration Squad, and racist officers protecting racist groups, questioning how a Black officer could spy on anti-racist groups while protecting racist ones.

The family believe the infiltration undermined efforts to combat racism, shattering the family’s trust in public institutions, including the police, and made her family, as Black individuals, feel less secure.

Live: HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’ is the only Black Special Demonstraton Squad (SDS) officer in this tranch (covering 1983-1992).

He began giving live evidence on Wednesday 31 July, describing his background in C Squad before joining the SDS, claiming he wasn’t initially aware of the unit or ‘the Hairies’ as they were known. He believed he would have previously received SDS intelligence without knowing where it came from.

‘I knew it was from a secret and delicate source, which meant potentially an agent.’

He was approached to join the SDS while on E Squad and had an induction meeting with his wife and two officers, HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ and HN86 (cover named not published). He denied there was any mention of sexual issues during discussions about pretending to be single in mixed company. His wife initially opposed his role, saying it would take ‘an inordinate amount of time.’

Safe House Training and Guidance

At the safe house before deployment, Morris felt underprepared despite discussing fieldcraft with other undercover officers:

‘Not because of the role of the organisation in preparing you, but because you cannot prepare for the task.’

He said sexual advances or activities were not discussed. When questioned about adhering to the police code of discipline while undercover, Morris said, ‘I don’t think that was ever broached,’ and he implied that he thought different rules might apply to ‘a Special Branch intelligence only operation.] He was shown a 1993 Code of Conduct for Special Branch Officers which he said he hadn’t seen, but that he worked to its ‘spirit’.

Building an Undercover Identity

Morris wanted to use his DJ name, Bobby McGee, but was instructed to adopt a deceased child’s identity, Anthony Fitzgerald Lewis, instead:

‘I think they probably said something like you need to use the Jackal system.’

When the SDS was founded in 19868 officers chose their own cover names but in the early 1970s, soon after the book and film The Day of the Jackal included the theft of dead children’s identities, SDS officers started to do the same. They refererred to the process of finding an identity this way as ‘the Jackal run’.

Perhaps predictably, several years later this led to an officer (HN297 Richard Clark ‘Rick Gibson’) being confronted with ‘his’ death certificate by suspicious comrades. Despite this, SDS offiers continued doing it for another 20 years or so until the online era made it too easy for others to check an identity.

The last known instance was in 1999. HN596/EN32 ‘Rod Richardson’, one of the first offiers in the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, was trained by old school SDS officer HN2 Andy Coles who hadn’t realised identity theft was obsolete.

When HN78 Trevor Morris was asked about concerns over stealing identities, he replied

‘it wasn’t perceived as wrong, and every other agency utilised that same system.’

Asked if he chose this identity because Anthony was likely Black (based on his cause of death involving sickle cell anaemia), Morris claimed he couldn’t remember. He said

‘I didn’t require that. I wanted the identity that I had, that I was comfortable with.’

He said he did not research Anthony’s family and also denied claiming Jamaican heritage, suggesting that he probably told people he was from the Windward Islands. The Lewis family, who found his use of their son’s identity morally repugnant, pointed out contradictions in claims, which Morris shrugged off with a comment about his bad memory.

Targeting and Tasking

Morris’s early reports covered an array of left-wing and anti-fascist groups in Hackney and Stoke Newington. He explained ‘the net is cast very wide’ and his targeting was ‘ad hoc and depending upon what was happening.’

Morris was expected to report on strategists, leaders, and potentially violent individuals, aligning his work with the Security Service’s interests.

Infiltrating the Socialist Workers Party

Morris focused on infiltrating the SWP, initially ‘playing hard to get’ to encourage recruitment. He joined the Hackney South branch, eventually becoming a committee member.

He described his approach as ‘kind of protesting, being a Black nationalist rather than a left-wing socialist.’

Morris was questioned about reports on individual SWP members, particularly women. He highlighted the significance of a militant fire woman’s trade union activities and described another woman as ‘a sad case’ who he said epitomised the party’s unsavoury recruitment policies, and said he reported this because she might have been ‘groomed’.

Justifying his reporting of SWP official Julie Waterson as ‘aggressive’, he clarified:

‘If you needed moving around on a picket or whatever, she would physically move you around if you didn’t move around.’

When questioned about why these early reports were mostly about women, Morris suggested there must have been reports on men as well, speculating, ‘I am possibly still looking at who’s active.’

The Anti Nazi League and Morris’s Involvement

Morris reported on the SWP’s plans to relaunch the Anti Nazi League (ANL) in late 1992. A report dated 18 December 1991 detailed the SWP’s plans to relaunch the ANL ‘to counter the rise of Nazism in Europe and prevent it getting a toehold here.’

Morris suggested that the SWP wanted to relaunch the ANL to attract supporters from the Anti-Racist Alliance, which was gaining traction among Black people.

Contrary to several witness statements suggesting he was only a rank-and-file member, Morris claimed to be an ‘organiser’, detailing responsibilities like speaking, attending demonstrations, and organising people from Broadwater Farm for the Welling demonstration.

He reported on various ANL events, including the ‘Battle of Waterloo’ in September 1992, referring to members’ instructions and their apprehension about physical confrontation, as well as the ANL’s leadership, decision making processes and fundraising efforts. This included a financial appeal signed by Bernie Grant, Arthur Scargill, and Peter Hain. He explained the importance of reporting on such activities; ‘without finances you can’t do anything.’

SWP’s Approach to Public Disorder and Conflict

Morris described the SWP’s relationship with public disorder as ‘extremely complicated’. He explained their participation in events to maintain visibility:

‘If you’re not present there and others are there and take the glory for being there, you’re missing out.’

He said the SWP’s viewed the police as ‘class traitors’ first, and ‘racist’ second. He defended his assessments of figures like Lindsey German and Chris Bambery. He spoke of Bambery’s admiration for Trotsky’s ‘martial endeavours'” explaining, ‘I am alluding to street activity, and, to be fair, to the day of the revolution’.

Morris claimed that the SWP’s Malcolm X rallies had been an attempt to recreate the Los Angeles riots in the UK, noting, ‘That’s why we brought in Bobby Seale to speak. He was from the Black Panther movement for self-defence, in the 60s.’

Reporting on Other Political Activities

Morris was unrepentant in justifying reporting on the Union of Jewish Students because of ‘entry-ism’, and also defended reporting on serving MPs, citing national security:

‘The Special Branch is a national security organisation that doesn’t slide away from the fact that an MP is involved in something. You just report what there is.’

He said he saw ‘hundreds’ of reports on MPs inside Special Branch.

Very significantly, he justified a report on a civil servant in the SWP that focused on the individual’s sexuality and frequenting of gay clubs:

‘It’s a ploy, or was a ploy, of many intelligence agencies… to try to entrap people in such places.’

This chimes with the evidence of HN90 ‘Mark Kerry’ that the SDS would collect information that could be used to blackmail people into becoming informants.

Discussing anti-apartheid activities, Morris said:

‘It is fair… it’s reporting because, you know the knowledge. I was on the South African desk… and BOSS, Bureau for State Security of South Africa, was very active in London.’

He seemed to think this was a justification, however, he is implying that the police could have been providing intelligence to the notoriously corrupt South African intelligence services who were reponsble for violence in London including bombing the ANC offices.

Impact on His Personal Life

Morris claimed he had never registered with a GP during his deployment and that his managers were aware of the extensive time he was spending in his cover identity but expressed no concern about the effect on his family life.

He explained that he spent most of his time at his cover address:

‘Basically I lived that life as my real life and my proper life was relegated… I wouldn’t laugh at home, because I have a distinctive laugh. I wouldn’t walk the streets with my children. I wouldn’t go to my children’s schools, I never went to the, any of the, you know, festivities, be it Christmas, be it New Year, be it Easter, be it sports day, be it whatever. I never went.’

Thursday 1 August (Day 17)

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

Day 2 of Live Evidence from HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

The session opened with a report by Morris from 27 July 1992, concerning a leaflet distributed at the Hackney Show by human rights organisation Liberty. The report listed the contents of the leaflet and the plans to launch a local branch.

Morris claimed he didn’t remember it, but went on to explain how reports like this would be used by Special Branch. He started with a brief history of the unit, noting with pride that ‘Britain ran a third of the world’, and frequently used the phrase ‘et cetera, et etera, et cetera’.

David Barr KC, Counsel to the Inquiry, interrupted him, asking him to stay focused.

Morris retorted ‘it’s not always necessarily straightforward’ and went on to justify spying on Liberty by claiming:

‘Liberty is working within an area where others attempting to get into those areas may well be’ and that ‘fissures and fractures’ in communities could ‘undermine the fabric of our nation.’

Another report, from 11 October 1992, detailed an Anti Racist Alliance (ARA) film showing at the Rio Cinema in Dalston. This report included a speech by Marc Wadsworth, and a leaflet from the Hackney Community Defence Association about police corruption and an upcoming public meeting.

Morris claimed that members had shown him documents about police corruption and that his motivation for writing reports on them was to stamp out police corruption.

Barr pointed out there was no record of Morris passing on any such information on, but despite so often referring to his inability to recall things, on this occasion Morris insisted he was sure of his memory.

Reporting on Family Justice and Defence Campaigns

Morris reported on the Rolan Adams family campaign, the Newham Monitoring Project, the Wilson Silcott Defence Campaign, the Stephen Lawrence family campaign, the Justice for Brian Douglas campaign, and the Justice for Joy Gardner campaign, among others.

He agreed that racist murder was horrific, but nevertheless sought to justify all his spying and reporting, talking about ‘street activity’ and possible public disorder, the fact that the Anti-Nazi League supported the Rolan Adams family.

He claimed that the presence of the SWP in any of these campaigns was a ‘national security issue’.

A report from 6 June 1995 on SWP involvement in a demonstration by the Justice for Brian Douglas campaign claimed SWP and Militant only sent Black comrades, showing they ‘used Black issues for their own right.’

He also reported on a speaker tour by Bobby Seale of the Black Panthers. He called Seale ‘fantastic’ and a hero. He suggested that there might have been a Special Branch officer or an agent of the Security Service at the Bobby Seale event, but he attended because he was in the area, implying that his presence, spying and reporting at the event was not necessary. He justified spying on Black protesters by referencing current white racist violence in Southport.

The Mark Ellison review on the Stephen Lawrence campaign showed extensive reporting by Morris on the campaign, focusing on demonstrations related to it. Morris claimed the SDS didn’t take an interest until it became a ‘cause célèbre’.

When asked about whistleblower SDS officer Peter Francis’ admission of gathering evidence to smear the Lawrence family he replied:

‘Nonsense. That’s not what we are about. We are about gathering intelligence not smearing individuals. That’s a Security Service job, let them do that.’

By then, Morris had clearly realised he was speaking out of turn. He suggested they ‘scrap that last bit’. He was asked if he could definitively say whether the Security Service was seeking to smear the Lawrence family, then the Inquiry cut the live feed of the hearing.

 

The morning ended with examination of a report by Morris into the Justice for Joy Gardner Campaign.

Mature student Joy Gardner had her north London house raided by immigration officials in June 1993. When she resisted attempts to put her in a 4-inch wide restraint belt with attached handcuffs she was shackled, gagged, and 13 feet of adhesive tape was wrapped round her head. She rapidly suffered respiratory failure and died four days later without regaining consciousness.

Three police officers were charged with manslaughter. Though four pathologists agreed on the cause of death, police found one who would give an alternative cause, and no officers were convicted. The use of gags was banned shortly after, but no admission has ever been made that it was part of the cause of Joy’s death.

One of HN78 Trevor Morris’s reports at the time referred to Gardner as ‘the Jamaican illegal immigrant’ and reported on speeches by Bernie Grant MP and Linda Bellos.

Another of his reports described a meeting and recorded speeches by Lee Jasper, Neville Lawrence, Bernie Grant MP, and Nicky Johnson of the SWP. Resolutions passed at the meeting called for a public inquiry, the Police Complaints Authority report to be made public, setting up a ‘Human Rights Commission for Blacks’, and more legal campaign actions.

Morris felt they were entirely correct, feeling the anger himself. The Joy Gardner case moved Morris, especially hearing that she was ‘trussed up like a slave’.

That didn’t stop him from claiming that the Justice for Joy Gardner meeting could destabilise London, the UK’s most prosperous city, and repeatedly reporting intentions to ‘riot’. At one point David Barr KC pointed out that he was referring to a large demonstration organised by people who didn’t want trouble. Morris claimed his reporting added ‘context’, saying ‘they don’t understand the mood.’

He reported that the Joy Gardner verdict didn’t surprise Black youths, while older middle-class Blacks felt cheated and angry, and the political activists would try to incite riots.

Barr then read out a section of a report by Morris about a Justice for Joy Gardner meeting:

‘Most Black people are familiar with the horrors of the slave trade. They do not share the benign image of Black workers singing in the fields of a southern plantation, but they see the atrocity and the horror and the anger…

‘The police have a special role in the relationship between Blacks and whites. They are seen as the visible arm of the State. Many young British Blacks are descendants of immigrants who came to Britain from the Caribbean. The parents and grandparents of the young British Blacks have memories of the colonial police in the Caribbean who upheld a system that was apartheid in all but name. Blacks who joined the police were seen as stooges of the white ruling elite who curtailed the rights of Blacks to freedom of movement or to development, decent housing, employment or education.

‘When Blacks migrated to Britain it was unfortunate that many were treated with suspicion, disrespect, and hostility by the British police. It is this common experience of parents and children of ill-treatment at the hands of the police which has moulded the difficult relationship between the Black community and the police today.’

Having this report read to him caused Morris to break down, leading to a long uncomfortable silence in broken only by the sound of Morris quietly crying, until the Inquiry Chair, Sir John Mitting, awkwardly suggested they break for lunch.

Special Branch and National Security

Despite apparently realising the awfulness of his role before the break, Morris came back having fully recovered his arrogant and narcissistic persona.

David Barr KC, Counsel to the Inquiry, read him the recent unreserved apology by the Metropolitan Police for spying on justice campaigns for Black and Asian communities.

Morris dismissed the apology, saying that unfortunately the Commissioner had no experience in Special Branch and suggesting that the Commissioner simply didn’t understand the remit.

We also saw evidence that Morris’s reporting with was shared with French police, and a report on a planned protest at the Greek Embassy was distributed directly to the Met’s Public Order Operational Command Unit for comment. Morris said it would normally be sanitised.

1993 Welling Demonstration

Morris submitted a significant number of reports in the run up to the Welling demonstration on 16 October 1993 when thousands of antifascists protested at the offices of the British National Party.

David Barr KC identified three tiers of groups organising the Welling demonstration from Morris’ reporting:

• those wanting to stay away from the BNP HQ
• those wanting to go past it without trouble, and
• those like Anti-Fascist Action and Red Action that the others didn’t want involved

A report from 23 July 1993 on the building for the Welling demonstration hoped for 10,000 attendees, targeting schools for teenagers. A report on a planned demonstration at a BNP mass paper sale on Brick Lane for 26 September 1993 mentioned high tensions. Morris claimed he got this information from Chris Bambury.

A report from 22 September 1993 on a protest against the BNP paper sale on Brick Lane claimed eggs and potatoes were thrown at the BNP. Morris himself denied throwing eggs, citing his ‘fear’ that the racist police might have picked him up. He said it might be ‘Jenny’s’ recollection but insisted he didn’t throw eggs, again suddenly claiming to have an ‘exceptional memory’, seemingly having forgotten his previous claims of having ‘serious memory problems’.

A report from 29 June 1993 on the SWP and ANL’s involvement in the Unity demonstration at Welling commented that the ANL was interested in recruiting into the ANL and SWP.

David Barr KC pointed out that one could recruit people to the SWP and still be an anti-racist without contradiction. Morris agreed but said the SWP would see Obama as a traitor, then added that he wasn’t being cynical.

A handwritten note on a Security Service comment sheet mentioned the percentage of Black people on the Welling march. Morris claimed he would have reported that.

Perhaps most significantly, Morris claimed that the plan was to shut down the BNP HQ forever, listing all the groups involved, including the anarchists. Morris claimed it was the plan of the ANL and all the other organisations to physically attack the BNP HQ on the protest day. Barr suggested there might have been an element of bravado in what people said. Morris disagreed, saying they were planning on physically attack.

Morris reported that the SWP made 50,000 placards but expected 20,000 attendees. When pointed out the contradiction, Morris said they were just making sure they had enough placards made. Morris claimed all ANL members were ‘up for a fight; at Welling, including school children.

A report from 5 October 1993 on preparations for the 16 October 1993 demonstration claimed everything in the ANL was riding on a show of strength. Morris advised that the only way to avoid violence at Welling was a large, visible police presence in full riot gear at the assembly point.

When questioned about his contradictory reporting of SWP policy on physical combat with the BNP, Morris claimed that ‘in private’, many were planning for a fight. He then went on to offer a rambling history lesson about Trotsky leading the Red Army in street confrontations. When David Barr KC politely redirected him back to the streets of London, it drew laughter from the room.

Morris reported it was an open secret that Chris Bambury planned to attack and destroy the BNP bookshop on the day of the Welling demo. The concept of a “hitters” group of 60-70 was introduced. Morris claimed he heard this from SWP National Organiser Chris Bambury and others, planning a group like Red Action/ Anti-Fascist Action/ Away Team. One report suggested the plan was to ‘tear down’ the BNP HQ.

Morris couldn’t recall the exact words but was sure Bambury wasn’t using hyperbole, claiming he was ‘a committed activist’, though this seemed delusional. Barr noted Morris’s suggestion that Bambury was planning violence with the police and targeting children. Morris confirmed this, unaware of how ridiculous he sounded.

Given the extent of contradictory and incredible reporting about Bambury, it is quite notable that the Inquiry has not asked him for his own account.

A lot of Morris’s answers simply didn’t make sense. When asked about references to ‘coded’ communication, he replied:

‘you can see it for yourself – and you probably can take away from that what you wish to take away from it. But I know what I took away from it.’

Barr suggested that Morris had exaggerated in his reporting, including speculation that Dutch anti-fascists might have been tagged on entry into the UK. There was no evidence for this or any other information beyond Morris’s own imagination. There was no mention of arson in any reports from the time. The first mention of any arson plan was in a statement by Morris in 2013 to Operation Herne, the Met’s internal inquiry into the spycops scandal.

Morris claimed to have been a steward at the Welling demo. He couldn’t recall a sit-down protest by SWP official Julie Waterson but stressed that if he reported it, he saw it. He claimed the Youth Against Racism in Europe stewards fled early and that violence was started by a group of ‘crusties’ including anarchists and hunt sabs.

Morris claimed all injuries from the Welling demonstration were caused by bricks, suggesting Waterson was hit by a ‘friendly brick’, despite the police having settled a claim for beating her.

Friday 2nd August (Day 18)

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

Day 3 of Live Evidence from HN78 Trevor Morris ‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’

The final day of this round of hearings began with the Inquiry Chair, Sir John Mitting, giving his usual speech about the ten-minute delay in broadasting proceedings so that they an prevent inappropriate material being published. Then almost immediately there was a breach and the proceedings paused. Throughout the day, there were multiple breaches, causing the broadcast to be repeatedly suspended.

Morris was asked a few more questions about the SWP, and his reporting of their contacts in the Labour Party, including Bernie Grant MP, Jeremy Corbyn, Tony Benn MP, and Peter Hain. However, the vast majority of the day was concerned with his sexual behaviour.

Relationship with ‘Bea’

Morris admitted to having sexual encounters with ‘Bea’ for ‘quite a long time on and off’ but claimed he ‘wouldn’t describe it to be a relationship.’

He said he never knew her full first name. He claimed he doesn’t know if he made the first move and that he does not remember how they met, using phrases like ‘if she said…’ as if seeking to imply that we shouldn’t necessarily believe her, but the he could not or would not offer another version of events.

He denied writing reports about ‘Bea’, despite his name being on them. When shown a report about ‘Bea’ getting a job at the SWP print shop, Morris bluntly said ‘I didn’t write the report’.

Morris admitted to knowing ‘Bea’ was a single mother with two young children but denied knowledge of her previous violent relationship and claimed to know ‘nothing about the relationship between Bea’s kids and the father.’ He also said he didn’t know about the childcare facilities for Bea to attend meetings.

Morris denied telling ‘Bea’ that his relationship was over but admitted telling her he had two young children and had ‘ruined his marriage and made a grave sexual indiscretion’.

Morris confirmed telling ‘Bea’ he was a DJ in Germany and ‘may have’ said he had sex with many German women while married. When asked about incorporating this into his cover story, Morris said it ‘might have been in the legend from the start but didn’t use it straight away’.

David Barr KC asked if he presented himself as ‘not a long term prospect’ from the very start in anticipation of sexual activity. Morris denied this, saying it was fluid.

Lack of Remorse

The Inquiry revealed that Morris didn’t admit to sexual activity when questioned by Operation Herne, the Met’s investigation into spycops in 2013. Morris claimed, as far as I recollect, I probably didn’t. They never asked me,’ a claim met with incredulity.

When asked if he was sorry about using Bea, Morris replied, ‘incorrect, I didn’t use her’. He insisted ‘she and I hit it off,’ claiming it was ‘totally and utterly real circumstances’.

Morris did not accept it was completely wrong for him to deceive Bea into having a sexual relationship with him, refusing to apologise, he could barely bring himself to utter any regret, saying only:

‘I regret [the sexual relationships] because it would be better for everyone if they had not happened.’

When told that ‘Bea’ wouldn’t have consented to sex if she knew he was a police officer, Morris responded, ‘I don’t know that’.

David Barr KC pointed out that Bea has given evidence saying she would not have consented. Morris replied:

‘She may have done. I mean, but it never happened so she never had that circumstance. That’s like saying that no woman in the Second World War who was a Brit ever went with a German’.

Very much like Mark Kennedy testifying to the Home Affairs Select Committee, Morris claimed he wasn’t able to tell if he was a police officer or an activist at the time.

When asked if he thought about being a police officer when starting the sexual relationship, Morris replied:

‘my primary perspective of myself was that I was an activist in the Socialist Workers Party’.

He claimed that by the time he met ‘Bea’ he was ‘entirely an activist, fully entrenched’, despite being only a few months into his deployment.

Oddly, he also asserted:

‘at maximum I was concerned with maintaining cover, but I don’t even think that’s true’.

He justified having deceitful sexual encounters by saying it was somehow different for him.

He stressed that he did not think it was ‘unlawful’ to have sex with his targets while undercover because he was a Special Branch officer (he said this a lot as though all wrongdoing became right because he was ‘Special’). This comes despite the fact that courts have ruled that such relationships, and the broader political spying, are indeed unlawful.

Morris also used the term ‘national security’ as though it were a get out of jail free card. His excuses were endless:

‘I believed this was a subversive organisation and I was doing it for the good of the nation.’

This completely ontradicts his claim that he was a fully entrenched activist so didn’t count as a cop when targeting women for sex.

He also talked a lot about his mindset at the time as though that were a justification for his sexual behaviour. When questioned about whether it was unethical to have sex when deployed undercover, he responded ‘possibly.. probably,’ but as usual he prevaricated, passing the blame onto management:

‘there was zero guidance on that issue, and no assistance, actually.’

He stressed that he had requested a ‘female partner’, apparently to pretend to be his girlfriend, but been refused. The blame always fell elsewhere and the real victim, he would have us believe, was always him.

At the start of the current round of hearings, the Met’s Commissioner gave a statement unreservedly apologising for spyops deceiving women into sexual relationships. It described it as ‘abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong’.

When asked if he agreed with it, HN78 Trevor Morris almost threw a tantrum, vehemently disagreeing in an extended rant that concluded that it was:

‘unacceptable that the Commissioner just off his tongue just says that as though it means nothing to him. Was he in that role? Did he ever do that job? No, he didn’t… It is outrageous.’

Unrepentant for his sexual abuse of women, HN78 Trevor Morris typifies the callousness, cruelty, sexism, egotism and arrogance that is endemic among the spycops. We can expect to hear more when the Inquiry returns in mid October.

This summary covers the second week of Tranche 2 hearings of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), examining the activities of the Metropolitan Police’s secret political unit, the Special Demonstration Squad, from 1983-92.

It was the first of this set of hearings to hear live evidence and question witnesses.

The UCPI is an independent, judge-led inquiry into undercover policing in England and Wales. Its main focus is the activity of two units who deployed long-term undercover officers into a variety of political groups; the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS, 1968-2008) and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU, 1999-2011). Spycops from these units lived as activists for years at a time, spying on more than 1,000 groups.

INTRODUCTION

It was a devastating week for Special Demonstration Squad officers at the Undercover Policing Inquiry hearings.

An officer confirmed that a colleague, HN67 ‘Alan Bond’, had admitted having a child with a woman he spied on. This is the the fourth such child that we know of. Officers knew they would be abandoning the children as toddlers and leaving the women with all the work and costs of parenthood.

Another officer, HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’, was exposed not only for racism and misogyny in his pointless reporting, but also as a fantasist who made up bomb threats that made his work seem more important. It’s not only damning for him but for the Met as a whole, as he was promoted up to running Special Branch and being the Met’s Head of Intelligence.

On the opening day of the live hearings, the Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance, Police Spies Out of Lives, the Blacklist Support Group and other campaigners holding a demonstration outside the International Dispute Resolution Centre in London, before live in-person hearings began inside.

On Monday 8 July, the hearings dealt with the deployments of officer HN20 ‘Tony Williams’, and HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’ spying on anarchist groups. The ‘non-state witnesses’ – those who were spied on – gave evidence first.

The hearing began with the Inquiry Legal Team (ILT) reading summaries of written evidence for officer HN20 ‘Tony Williams’, and civilian witnesses ‘MSW’ and Albert Beale. Then Dave Morris stepped up to speak about the London Worker’s Group and the Persons Unknown defence campaign.

In the afternoon Stephen Sorba gave evidence on behalf of Friends of Freedom Press.

On Tuesday 9 July, spycop HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’ gave evidence all day and was subjected to a blistering cross-examination that ran several hours over the allotted time.

Wednesday 10 July saw summaries of the evidence relating to the deployments of HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’, HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ and HN67 ‘Alan Bond’, as well as one live witness, Michael Chant, general secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist).

On Thursday 11 July we heard the harrowing testimony of Frank Bennett, the half-brother of Michael Hartley, who was lost at sea in his late teens and whose identity was stolen by HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’ for his undercover deployment.

In the afternoon, HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ gave evidence including about his statement to the effect that HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ fathered a child whilst undercover.

OBSERVATIONS

There really is no substitute for live evidence, and you will see in the summaries below how effectively the testimony we heard showcased not only the arrogance and abhorrent practices of the SDS officers but also the integrity and commitment of the groups and individuals they targeted – and whose trust they abused.

The Inquiry has put off hearings about some of the most controversial deployments in this Tranche until ‘Phase 2’ (which will take place in the autumn). However, this first week of evidence proved to be surprisingly exciting, and we saw further indications of changing attitudes on the part of the Inquiry Legal Team.

In particular, the cross examination of HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’ was far from the forgiving ‘friendly chat’ format that was frustratingly common during cross examination of ex-undercover officers in Tranche 1.

If you have time to watch one video from this week, we would highly recommend the last couple of hours of the afternoon session of the cross examination of HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’ from Day 5, Tuesday 9 July. Unfortunately, unlike the other hearings this week, the video has not yet been published by the Inquiry.

CONTENTS

Monday 8 July (Day 4)
Summaries of written evidence:
HN20 ‘Tony Williams’, MSW, and Albert Beale
Live: Dave Morris
Live: Stephen Sorba, on behalf of Friends of Freedom Press

Tuesday 9 July (Day 5)
Live: HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’

Wednesday 10 July (Day 6)
Summaries of written evidence:
HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’, HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’, and HN67 ‘Alan Bond’.
Live: Michael Chant

Thursday 11 July (Day 7)
Live: Frank Bennett, family of the real Michael Hartley.
Live: HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’.

Day 4: Monday 8 July 2024

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

Summaries of written evidence: HN20, MSW and Albert Beale
These were read onto the record, and the corresponding documents and full written statements are available online.

HN20 ‘Tony Williams’

We were told that HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ provided a witness statement to the Inquiry in January 2020.

He was deployed undercover by the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) from February 1978 to October 1982, into the London Workers Group (LWG), Persons Unknown and the Revolutionary Prisoners Group. There is a Restriction Order over his real name.

‘Williams’ said he ‘could not recall’ many details from 40 years ago, and he reported no real training, no recollection of any manual and generally described his deployment as being ‘left to our own devices’ with no tasking once they were undercover.

He described the LWG as a group supporting workers in ways which would ‘ultimately lead to revolution’, and which was dominated by anarchist politics. His reports contain evidence of him attending a birthday party in someone’s home, speaking at meetings and reporting on debates within the group. He also took positions of responsibility, including ‘publicity manager’, treasurer and secretary.

It’s clear from his reporting that the group was small and largely educational in character and hence posed no ‘threat’, and he claims he continued attending in order to maintain his cover.

However, that doesn’t explain why he would continue reporting on the group. That appears to be explained by the keen interest of the Security Service (also known as MI5) in anarchism at the time. ‘Williams’ says he was debriefed by MI5 at an SDS flat after his deployment ended and he believes they were seeing his reports.

MSW

MSW is a civilian who was reported on by SDS undercover officers, principally HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ and HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’, although he has no recollection of meeting either of them. He is known only by his initials as he was granted anonymity at his request. His witness statement is dated 16 May 2024.

From 1979 to 1984, MSW was involved in ‘anarchist workerist communist circles’.

He states:

‘I was not involved in any covert illegal activity at any point when I was politically active’.

He describes his involvement with three groups in particular, the Anarchy Collective, publishing an anarchist theory magazine called Anarchy; his support for the Autonomy Club, ‘to establish and run an anarchist social centre and event space’; and the London Workers Group (LWG). The LWG was an open group of around 10 regular attendees and ‘did not have a formal organisation structure but there was always someone who was in charge of the money and took the minutes, so in theory, performing treasurer and secretary roles’.

He describes Group as publishing ‘rebellious’ content in its bulletin such as the article ‘We Want to Riot, not to Work’, which he considers:

‘should probably be understood as an expression of “punk attitude” to societal norms about the compulsion to wage labour, rather than actually advocating public disorder – it was riffing on the Brixton riots’

They supported and took part in workers’ picketing during industrial disputes, including actions ‘later deemed to be illegal on grounds like obstruction or breach of the peace’.

He states that none of the three groups used ‘violence’ to achieve their aims.

The groups variously theorised, propagandised, and organised ‘towards a generalised social revolution, which would produce its own organisational structures’. He was not surprised to learn undercover officers had reported on the groups with which he was involved, but he was shocked they entered private homes. He feels vulnerable and disgusted that the information about him was recorded, retained, used, and disseminated by Special Branch.

Albert Beale

Albert Beale is a 77-year-old civilian who was reported on by SDS officers; HN20 ‘Tony Williams’, HN65 ‘John Kerry’ and HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’. His witness statement along with exhibits AB1 to AB9 are dated 8 March 2024.

Beale says he is a pacifist and has spent much of his life ‘concerned with issues of peace, justice, and sustainability and trying to act on those concerns’.

He gives an account of his early activism and later groups, he was involved with, including London Peace Action ‘a local group of antimilitarist activists’; the Anti-Falklands War Support Network in supporting ‘pacifists and others… because of their opposition to the Falklands War’; the Peace Pledge Union, which he describes as the main British pacifist organisation; War Resisters International, an international pacifist and antimilitarist network; Peace News Trustees Limited; Campaign Against Arms Trade; and the ABC Defence Campaign, defending two journalists and a soldier charged under the Official Secrets Act.

The main group Beale was – and still is – involved in was London Greenpeace, being a founder in the early 1970s. London Greenpeace was the first Greenpeace group in Europe, having been set up following an article published in Peace News in 1971.

He addresses the notions of public order and disorder in the context of the groups and campaigns, explaining that order is:

‘based on people’s acquiescence to a system of economic injustice and to a system which is producing an ecosystem which will soon be inimical to the future existence of our species’.

He defoned disorder:

‘a matter of shaking up the status quo; in my view, our world is in greater need of some “disordering”.’

He thinks most others involved in similar groups would have taken a similar view.

‘I see myself as generally committed to [direct action]. In other words, when doing what is necessary to follow my conscience, if that is judged to be in breach of some law, then so be it.’

On violence he said it ‘relate[s] essentially to harming another person’ and that damage to property is not in itself violent. He doubts that any of the groups or campaigns with which he was involved considered violence to be necessary to achieve their aims.

Beale finds the notion of ‘overthrowing parliamentary democracy’ – the spycops’ and MI5’s definition of subversion that made someone worth spying on – a puzzling one, something that was not discussed in any of the groups or campaigns.

Beale has considered the cover names of the officers that have been named as active at the time and does not recall knowing any of them well, if at all. On learning that he had been reported on by undercover officers, he said he found it unnerving. He felt betrayed and extremely unsettled. He still considers the situation to be intolerable and he is left ‘wondering if there were other people I have known who might have been doing the same’.

Live evidence: Dave Morris

Dave Morris is an influential activist throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and up to today. He has submitted a written statement for Tranche 2 Phase 1 (T2P1), dated 5 June 2024. He appeared live to be questioned by Ms Gargitter of the Inquiry Legal Team (ILT).

Due to the Inquiry’s failure to properly manage the process of disclosing police documents, he will be asked to submit further written evidence and he will be called back to speak again in Tranche 2 Phase 2 in this autumn.

His T2P1 testimony, both live and in writing, provided a detailed and nuanced perspective on his activism and the activities of the groups he was involved with. His responses highlighted the contentious nature of the reports by undercover officers and underscored ethical concerns surrounding undercover policing.

His emphasis on collective action, mutual aid and peaceful protest painted a stark contrast to the reports implying violent intent. Morris was clear on the need for a thorough and transparent inquiry and it was obvious that, as the Inquiry progresses, his insights will be crucial in understanding the broader implications of undercover operations on activist movements.

INFILTRATION IMPACTS

Morris began by detailing some of his activism, starting as a postal worker active in his trade union in the 1970s. He co-founded the London Workers Group in the mid-1970s and was active in housing issues in Islington and Hackney.

By the early 1980s, his focus shifted mainly to his local community in Tottenham, helping to set up the Tottenham Claimants’ Union. He also got involced in London Greenpeace – and beame embroiled in the McDonald’s libel case, or ‘McLibel’, which consumed a significant portion of his life for nearly a decade.

London Greenpeace was infiltrated by multiple undercover officers.

He specifically mentioned spycops HN10 Bob Lambert ‘Bob Robinson’, HN5 John Dines ‘John Barker’, and others who had deeply infiltrated their activities. They influenced the course of events and acted as agents provocateur.

One of the most striking aspects of Morris’ testimony was his account of the personal betrayals experienced by group members. He cited HN5 John Dines:

‘He engineered a long fraudulent sexual relationship with Helen Steel while she was preparing for the legal battle with McDonald’s…

He gave every impression that he was in love with Helen and that they were a couple preparing for a long relationship together. His sudden disappearance faking a mental breakdown certainly caused her intense trauma and stress for over 20 years.’

Meanwhile HN10 Bob Lambert had four sexual relationships with activists and fathered a child, later abandoning the child and his mother.

Morris emphasised the emotional toll such deceit took on individuals.

‘These weren’t just professional relationships; they were deeply personal. The police exploited our trust and used it against us.’

Morris highlighted the broader impact of undercover policing on activism. He argued that this was a deliberate tactic to try to manipulate and undermine social movements.

Spying on London Greenpeace will be looked at in detail in T2P2.

SUBVERSION AND LAWBREAKING

Morris explained that anarchism advocates for a harmonious society run by people themselves, organised on a voluntary cooperative basis without hierarchical government.

He highlighted the conclusion of SDS officer HN304 ‘Graham Coates’ who, after four years’ deployment in the 1970s, declared that:

‘The anarchists I reported on posed a minimal challenge to public order… I do not think either the International Socialists or the anarchist movement were subversive in terms of their actions….

I do not believe any information I provided whilst I was deployed was particularly significant. I do not think it would have made any difference to public
order if I had not worked for the SDS.’

Morris went further, asserting that powerful institutions, driven by self-serving elites, are the true subversives in society, subverting human cooperation and genuine democracy.

‘Such powerful institutions are generally tightly controlled by a small self-serving elite, continually obsessed with power and profit… are prepared to use violence routinely to maintain their power and control over people and society.’

He explained that while the campaigns he was involved in didn’t set out to break the law, they did encourage collective action to defend people and change things. This included challenging unfair and unjust laws which only serve to protect the rich and powerful, and the unfair and unacceptable status quo.

Morris stressed the importance of collective action and self-defence – pointing out that the right of self-defence is enshrined in law and backed by 99% of the population. Self-defence was justified particularly in response to systemic violence and exploitation, such as evictions by landlords and threats of sacking by employers.

The groups he was active in were open, publicised their activities, and encouraged collective participation.

Morris personally never used or encouraged ‘violence’, pointing to the dictionary definition of violence as ‘unjustifiable force’.

‘It’s not a question of: how can we break the law? It’s more: what do people need to do to change things? And that may include activities that are breaking the law.’

Reports by SDS officer HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ describe Morris as a key figure in the anarchist movement, a notion Morris refuted, pointing out the failure of the police to understand the collective and non-hierarchical nature of anarchist groups, which had no leaders.

‘Williams’ also described Morris as:

‘an archetypical anarchist cherishing the ideals and theories laid down by Kropotkin… frequently talks of resorting to violence to achieve these aims.’

Morris countered:

‘I have never, as far as I can recall, encouraged people to resort to violence.’

He explained that this was in contrast to all political philosophies and parties seeking power, which are based on weilding routine Government and institutional violence, with the exeption of complete Gandhian non-violence advocates.’

HN20 ‘TONY WILLIAMS’ & THE LONDON WORKERS GROUP

The London Workers Group was a collective that met weekly for over eight years. It produced leaflets and bulletins, held regular public meetings on a range of workplace-related issues, supported industrial disputes and strikes, and encouraged workers to set up their own workplace ‘shop-floor’ organisation.

Morris disagreed with the assessment from ‘Williams’ that the group was merely a talking shop, noting their practical contributions and ongoing support for workers’ rights.

When asked about the group’s size and influence, Morris explained:

‘We were a small organisation. I think you can be influential as a small group of people in different circumstances.’

He noted that they had a mailing list of about 120 supporters and publicised their meetings in publications like Time Out.

Reflecting on the role of HN20 ‘Tony Williams’, and also the impact of being told the LWG was infiltrated – but not, initially, being told by whom – Morris returned to one of the core demands of those targeted by Britain’s political secret police:

‘I think it’s really important that all the spies’ cover names and photos are released.’

He explained that the people involved with those groups are entitled to know who spied on them, and without full details might otherwise suspect other people’.

Several vintage reports by HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ were examined to establish their accuracy. One report alleged Morris encouraged a range of support tactics including ‘smashing restaurant windows’ during a strike at Garners Steak House.

He recalled the conversation but denied advocating such actions:

‘I don’t remember anything about smashing restaurant windows, and I certainly would not advocate that, especially if there were people in the restaurant’.

The group agreed to focus on support for the strikers’ picket lines.

HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ took on influential roles at various times in the London Workers Group, including treasurer and secretary, with access to sensitive personal information like financial details and mailing lists. These were sent to MI5, presumably for blacklisting purposes.

TORNESS

The Torness anti-nuclear protests in 1980 were part of a campaign against the construction of a nuclear power station in Scotland. 10,000 had attended the year before, 3,000 of whom had occupied the construction site. ‘It was a big focus for the whole anti-nuclear movement,’ Morris explained.

HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ and Morris attended a much smaller 1980 mini-festival camp and protest. Morris acknowledged that some people wanted to cut the fence:

‘I am sure the idea was to try to enter the site and occupy it, basically.’

In the end Morris took in a part in a peaceful sit-down blockade of the main entrance, which was attacked by police. Morris was arrested.

It is instructive that HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ in his witness statement admits that:

‘I did not witness nor become involved in violence whilst deployed undercover save that the police in Scotland in Torness were somewhat heavy-handed in dealing with what was essentially non-aggressive trespass’.

Hence after four years infiltrating the anarchist movement the only violence he witnessed was from the police!

PERSONS UNKNOWN

The Persons Unknown campaign was a defence campaign supporting anarchists charged with conspiracy to cause explosions. Morris described it as a traditional defence campaign, providing support to the defendants and publicising the high-profile case ‘to counter police and media hysteria’.

HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ reported Morris’ support for the campaign as an indication of sympathy for violent actions. However, Morris emphasised the importance of supporting individuals facing legal challenges without necessarily endorsing their alleged actions.

In relation to the charges, Morris maintained:

‘No, I don’t support explosions and bombs. You know, the biggest culprit is the government. They have loads of bombs and they are prepared to use them.’

In reality, the more serious charges were eventually dropped, the ‘dangerous anarchists’ given bail, and the ‘Persons Unknown’ defendants found not guilty.

QUESTIONABLE JUSTIFICATIONS

Morris did not shy away from addressing the accusations against him and his fellow activists:

He left no room for doubt that the real extremists are those in power, or who infiltrate campaign groups for their own agendas.

He argued that the police’s actions were disproportionate and unjustified, and more interested in protecting corporate interests than public safety.

Morris dismissed man of the police reports as ‘exaggerated and often inaccurate,’ citing specific examples where police reports were proven false, and pointed to moments where the police were forced to admit wrongdoing.

WRONGFUL ACCUSATIONS

Morris was also questioned about a surprise accusation made by HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’ two years ago, but which had only been disclosed to Morris by the Inquiry at the very last minute before submitting his statement.

Pearce named Dave Morris in connection with an alleged recce of a ‘bomb site’ at a military barracks in Aldershot.

Pearce said in his 2022 witness statement:

‘I went to Aldershot with Dave Morris, [someone else] and possibly one other man. We were in my car, there could have been four or five of us, but I only recall those two names.’

This isn’t from an old undercover report 40 years ago, but from his recent and carefully composed declaration of fact to the Inquiry.

On Monday, Morris, giving evidence to the Inquiry, bluntly responded that the claim was ‘a load of rubbish’ and other intelligence reporting from the time appeared to back him up. Morris condemned much of Pearce’s reporting as ‘unreliable, sensationalist, sectarian, and unprofessional’.

On Tuesday, Pearce was challenged on the point by David Barr, KC the Inquiry’s barrister, and was forced to sheepishly concede that he had made ‘a mistake’.

CALL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY

In closing, Morris called for greater accountability and transparency in the Inquiry.

‘We need to know the full extent of these operations. The public deserves to know how and why their tax money was spent undermining campaigning for a better society.’

He demanded that those responsible for authorising and conducting these operations be held accountable.

‘It’s not enough to say mistakes were made. There must be consequences for these abuses of power.’

Stephen Charles Sorba

Sorba is the company secretary of Friends of Freedom Press Limited, and has been involved with the organisation since the 1970s. Freedom Press runs an anarchist publisher and bookshop in East London.

Sorba made a witness statement on behalf of the organisation, which included contributions from Dr Martin Peacock and David McCabe. During the session it was emphasized that McCabe, who had a closer relationship with HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’, could provide a fuller picture. McCabe had offered to give evidence, but despite his clear recollection of Pearce, the Inquiry inexplicably refused his offer.

FREEDOM PRESS HISTORY

Freedom was established in the nineteenth century and is the longest running anarchist publishing house in Europe. Sorba explained that Freedom operated out of a four-story Victorian building known as Angel Alley. The building hosted a bookshop, various offices and, until the early 1990s, a printing press known as Aldgate Press.

The press was established to print the anarchist newspaper, Freedom, and other commercial work to subsidise its operations. The editorial collective responsible for the newspaper’s content operated on a voluntary basis, with only one paid employee in the bookshop during the 1980s.

Sorba explained:

‘The group depended on volunteers and enthusiastic people coming in, showing an interest, getting involved’.

Freedom was a focal point for anarchists in London, with individuals from various groups passing through:

‘We were one of the few organisations that had a building in London. So if you wanted to come and find out what the anarchists were doing and what were they thinking and buy one of their magazines, we were the obvious place to come to.’

HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’ infiltrated Freedom between 1980 and 1984. He wrote articles for the Freedom newspaper on topics such as jury vetting, the Irish Republican Army, prison officer strikes, and critiques of police and the state.

Sorba highlighted how Pearce’s articles sometimes exacerbated internal debates within Freedom. He speculated that Pearce’s motivation might have been ‘to stir the pot somewhat.’

A significant point of contention was the publication of ‘My Little Black Book’, which contained instructions for urban guerrilla activities.

Sorba clarified that Aldgate Press took on the project as a commercial job, aware of its controversial nature but not intending to provoke direct action. ‘We were keen to print it because we were going to be paid,’ he explained.

The police searched the premises in 1982, in relation to the project, resulting in Sorba and others being detained. No charges were ever brought.

Another event discussed was the publication of a communique from the Angry Brigades Resistance Movement in the Freedom newspaper. Sorba denied any potential harm or connection to the group, explaining that they were simply reporting on a piece of news.

FUELLING DIVISIONS

The Inquiry examined intelligence reports of activities and interactions within the Freedom collective, including ideological differences, particularly regarding the Irish Republican cause.

HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’ wrote several articles for the paper, including one entitled ‘Prisoners of Politics’ supporting the IRA’s demand for political status for its imprisoned members.

Sorba recalled:

‘It was certainly more sympathetic [to the IRA] than most of the editors would have felt comfortable with.’

The article was in fact published with a footnote from the editors disagreeing with Pearce’s stance, emphasising the collective’s opposition to the IRA’s methods and goals.

The inquiry focused on one vintage secret police report highlighting a particularly contentious meeting where the discussion centred on Pearce’s article:

‘The seminar on Ireland… was not wholly successful. Even in the calmer atmosphere left by the absence of [a key figure], the discussion was centred on a reply from Belfast Anarchist Collective to the Freedom review on Ireland… What should the response of Freedom Collective be to such a critical letter?’

This debate exemplified the ideological divide the article exacerbated within the collective, with most members opposing Pearce’s sympathetic view of the IRA.

‘His language is interesting in certain cases,’ Sorba also noted, reflecting how Pearce’s report of these discussions (and indeed all of his reporting) tended towards disparaging and provocative language. This was to become a key issue for Pearce’s devastating cross examination the following day.

UNDERMINING

Reflecting on Pearce’s infiltration, Sorba acknowledged that while he contributed to the physical production and distribution of the Freedom newspaper, his ultimate goal was to undermine Freedom by spying and providing information to Special Branch.

Despite this, Freedom continued to operate and has persisted beyond Pearce’s infiltration. ‘We survived that blow,’ Sorba remarked.

Sorba also noted the personal impact, ‘I have no recollection of him, but he stole my address book and knew a lot about me.’

Day 5: Tuesday 9 July 2024

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

All of Day 5 was given over to the evidence of former SDS officer HN85 Roger Pearce ‘Roger Thorley’, and it produced some genuine courtroom drama.

Despite his best efforts, Pearce’s testimony revealed a damning picture of undercover policing practices in the early 1980s. Due to a last minute Restriction Order being granted to a civilian named in some of the reports, live video wasn’t available to the public, which turned out to be a real shame as the session was one of the most interesting to date.

Pearce is a particularly significant officer because of his later career. After his time as an undercover officer he went on to be promoted through the ranks to become Commander of Metropolitan Police Special Branch and Director of Intelligence.

Questioning in this session was limited to his time undercover, so he will have to be called back at a later date to discuss his further activity as a manager. However, in the light of his self-defeating performance on the stand this week, no-one will be surprised if he emigrates or finds some ruse to avoid being cross-examined again about his time as a senior officer.

David Barr KC, the Counsel to the Inquiry, led the session. It ran over time by several hours, and proved to be a stark departure from the more congenial tone of earlier hearings. Pearce was subjected to quite gruelling questioning, with Barr proving far more adept than we’ve previously seen in exposing the depths of unethical behaviour and the broader culture within the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and the Metropolitan Police.

Pearce provided a detailed account of creating his cover identity using the birth certificate of Roger Thorley, an 11-year-old boy who had died in a road accident. The theft of dead children’s identities was standard practice for SDS officers from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s.

Pearce admitted it was ghoulish:

‘This is a tragic death which we are exploiting really, to use for cover.’

Pearce’s initial infiltration of anti-nuclear groups like the Portobello Anti-Nuclear Group and London Peace Action was scrutinised. He had reported on their activities, including protests against the 1980 Royal Tournament at Earl’s Court.

When questioned about the justification for surveillance of these groups, Pearce admitted they were ‘not subversive’ and ‘not a law and order concern’. This led to extensive questioning about the scope of SDS operations and whether they were overreaching their mandate by monitoring peaceful protest groups.

The discussion revealed additional layers of Pearce’s actions, such as his reporting on the Greater London Council and public transport campaign Fare Fight. These organisations were mild in their activities, indeed, the former was an elected Local Authority. They were spied on solely due to their political stance.

The relationship between the SDS and MI5 was a major focus. Pearce mentioned ‘growing numbers of requests for assistance from MI5’ and noted that SDS managers ‘maintained and even developed the strong partnership with the Security Service.’

He described regular personal meetings with an MI5 contact, occurring every three to four months from around September 1982:

‘My clear understanding is that the initial meeting was set up as a result of an approach from MI5 to the DI [Detective Inspector] on SDS. But meetings subsequently, although not declared, were known about because I would make no secret of them and I think I would assume that I had told the office and they were encouraging it.’

The testimony covered visits by senior police officials to SDS safe houses. Pearce described visits from Gilbert Kelland (Assistant Commissioner Specialist Operations), Geoffrey Dear (Assistant Commissioner Personnel), and Kenneth Newman (Commissioner).

Newman reportedly expressed appreciation for how his SDS visit ‘brought life to the dry and arid reports with which he was faced every day’ – a comment that was to acquire greater significance later on, when we saw the sordid and fanciful nature of Pearce’s reporting, which even he admitted had more ‘entertainment’ than ‘intelligence’ value).

RIGHT TO THE TOP

This reinforces the 2022 testimony from HN34 Geoffrey Craft who told the Inquiry that Newman and the Home Secretary had visited an SDS safe house together to personally congratulate officers.

We’ve now had testimony confirming that every Commissioner from the formation of the SDS in 1968 to 2000 was very much aware of the unit and personally congratulated its officers on their work.

This completely demolishes the Met’s earlier claims that the SDS was some kind of ‘rogue unit’ that senior officers were somehow unaware of.

1968-72 – John Waldron
Rajiv Menon QC told the Inquiry Waldron gave officers champagne after an October 1968 Vietnam War protest

1972-77 – Robert Mark
Officer HN304 Graham Coates told the Inquiry Mark visited the safe house to congratulate officers

1977-82 David McNee
Officer HN200 Roger Harris told the Inquiry Mark and McNee both visited the safe house

1982-87 – Kenneth Newman
Officer HN34 Geoff Craft told the Inquiry Newman visited with the Home Secretary

Newman’s successor, Peter Imbert (Commissioner from 1987-93) was previously a Special Branch officer who personally recruited spycop HN348 ‘Sandra Davies’ to the SDS, according to her testimony to the Inquiry.

Additionally, before the Inquiry began, whistleblower SDS officer Peter Francis described how the Commissioner he served under (Imbert’s successor Paul Condon, Commissioner 1993-2000) visited the unit’s safe house and gave out bottles of whisky as a token of his gratutude.

However, the Inquiry will not be hearing evidence from Sir Kenneth Newman, David McNee or Peter Imbert. All three of them have died since the Inquiry began.

ESPIONAGE WITHOUT ETHICS

Pearce’s testimony revealed a striking lack of formal guidance on various crucial aspects of undercover work. Regarding breaching legal professional privilege, reporting on MPs or journalists, or the risk of sexual relationships, Pearce claimed there was ‘no discussion at all’.

He elaborated:

‘These were such bright red flags that they weren’t raised as specific issues in advance of any field deployment by the office.’

This lack of guidance became a major point of contention, with questions focusing on how officers were expected to navigate these ethical minefields without proper training or instruction. The Inquiry was furious with Pearce’s cavalier attitude towards legal professional privilege and the justice system.

As a trained barrister himself, Pearce’s article about the ‘corrupt’ justice system published in the anarchist newspaper Freedom, advising people to plead guilty, was particularly offensive to the Inquiry.

Pearce’s infiltration of Freedom was examined in some detail, including the articles he wrote, and his impact on the dynamic within the collective (as discussed yesterday in Stephen Sorba’s evidence).

He had reported on various anarchist activities and publications, including the production of potentially incendiary literature like ‘My Little Black Book’. The police response to these publications, including raids on anarchist premises like Freedom Press, was examined in detail and Pearce’s role in these operations was questioned.

JOURNALISTS AREN’T JOURNALISTS

The Inquiry was particularly concerned about the impact of his activities be that as editor, author of articles or police officer, on journalistic freedom of speech.

Pearce’s defence was to say that Freedom were not journalists, but that they were ‘propagandists, in their own image, who were concerned with persuading/manipulating.’

This ludicrous display of political prejudice led David Barr KC to remind him that it still falls within the wider umbrella of journalism, to get one’s argument across and to freely express one’s beliefs.

On the subject of sexual relationships, Pearce repeatedly and offensively implied that the problem was that women would demand sex with male spies, rather than the proven reality that it was the male spies who cynically tricked women activists into sexual relationships.

He also mentioned that John Jones, Director F, allegedly said they couldn’t possibly deploy MI5 officers into these left-wing groups because ‘they are promiscuous’.

Pearce explained:

‘there are certain sacrifices that even an MI5 officer can’t make for his country… there was an assumption there that these were promiscuous. I don’t think it was entirely fair but it was assumed in both policing and MI5 circles’.

These distasteful comments made clear that, right up the chain, it was thought that infiltrating these political groups meant having sex. He also described how senior officers made a visit to his wife when he was deployed to tell her to contact them, behind his back, if she had any concerns.

An extremely significant moment was when Pearce admitted that the claim made in his witness statement, placing Dave Morris on a recce for an alleged bomb plot, was completely false. This admission severely undermined any credibility he has as a witness, and a police officer. It also starkly highlighted the unreliable and often fictional nature of his reports.

FICTIONAL BOMBS

He was questioned about numerous alleged ‘bomb threats’ mentioned in his reporting. He reported an alleged bomb explosion at the Prison Officers Training School in Wakefield on 13 November 1982, and his intelligence stated ‘three unconfirmed statements by [privacy] in recent weeks indicate the existence of anarchists both willing and equipped to execute such actions.’

On closer scrutiny, Pearce proved unable to recall any details about the Wakefield incident. When pressed, he conceded, ‘No, I can’t remember. But I am assuming that there was [an explosion]’, accepting that it ‘probably wasn’t much of an explosion’.

For the Inquiry, David Barr KC pressed on, asking about another alleged bomb: ‘You have mentioned in your witness statement that there was a bomb at Holborn Theatre… we are not told a great deal there. What can you recall about it?’

Pearce conceded:

‘I can’t recall a device in the theatre in Holborn. And I can’t recall anything being recovered there’.

If his reports were to be believed, Pearce may have single-handedly uncovered more bomb plots than the entire SDS in the course of its history. However, when pressed on those incidents, Pearce admitted that no-one was ever prosecuted for any of them, presumably because no corroborating evidence could be found to support his claims.

The testimony covered several other significant events, including the Royal Wedding Day on 29 July 1981, and the Brixton riots in April 1981. This touched on witness evidence that has not yet been published on the Inquiry’s website, making reporting of it difficult (and highlighting how the Inquiry’s incompetent handling of disclosure of evidence is making this process almost impossible for us to cover!). We will hopefully return to this evidence at a later date.

Pearce was repeatedly challenged on the balance between necessary intelligence gathering and potential overreach in his reporting. He often defended SDS practices but also made admissions like:

‘It is excessive reporting but it’s a question of reporting things which unknown to me as the reporter of them may have some relevance in the wider jigsaw that’s being built by MI5 or C squad in Special Branch.’

This acknowledgment of overreach became a focal point for questioning about the overall justification and proportionality of SDS operations.

Pearce’s reports were filled with irrelevant and inappropriate information, derogatory comments about individuals’ weight, sexual preferences, and skin colour, including particularly insulting and offensive comments against women. He defended his bigoted language by claiming ‘everybody thought like that in the 1980s’.

This was met with disbelief from many of those old enough to remember the era, and made even less credible when questioning moved on to attitudes within the SDS.

Pearce claimed never to have heard any sexist or racist language in the police (despite ‘everyone’ in the 1980s thinking like that). He admitted that much of the derogatory and sensationalist details, such as describing a female activist’s appearance in demeaning terms, had ‘absolutely no intelligence value’, and that what he wrote was to entertain his handlers.

In a report from July 1983 he described a member of the Freedom collective, saying:

‘her alarmingly intemperate sexual habits make [name] a difficult associate and worthy of a Government health warning’

However, he remained unapologetic. Wanting to portray the SDS in a positive light, he unconvincingly insisted that no-one found the repeated bigoted reference and inappropriate jokes in his reporting funny, and that they got ‘no reaction at all’.

He discussed the psychological aspects of undercover work in depth, describing it as leading a ‘double life’ and building ‘false friendships.’ He said undercover work required ‘great integrity’ despite being fundamentally dishonest.

Meanwhile, he consistently demonstrated his total lack of integrity throughout the day, including admitting that an irrelevant and offensive report on the personal sex life of Dave Morris, apparently written to discredit Morris, was based on falsehoods. Pearce denied being the author (but offered no explanation as to who else might have produced it). He also admitted that while he had claimed that Morris would have considered him a ‘trusted friend’, he actually only spent time with him on one occasion.

Indeed, despite a range of offensive and sectarian reports about Morris, he eventually conceded that Morris was a ‘deep anarchist thinker… and a well liked figure within the movement’.

FICTION AS FICTION

The cross examination took on a surreal feel as the afternoon progressed, and David Barr KC moved on from questioning Pearce about his fictional intelligence reports to reading aloud extracts from his actual fiction. Pearce is the author of at least two trashy spy novels. The Inquiry scrutinised their content, revealing they were based on real-life characters he had spied on – some clearly identifiable.

The books include details clearly drawn from his undercover work, including a theme about a child born of a deceptive sexual relationship. Articles breaking the story of HN10 Bob Lambert ‘Bob Robinson’ fathering a child while undercover were published shortly before the novel, but Pearce denied any knowledge of real undercover officers fathering children with activists.

Pearce claimed his books were written decades before, in the 1990s, however references to more recent events such as the Leveson Inquiry of 2012 make that claim untenable. He also denied glorifying deceptive sexual relationships, although the vile extracts read out by Barr suggested otherwise.

The depth of Pearce’s unethical behaviour, his unrepentant attitude, and the Inquiry’s rigorous cross-examination painted a damning picture, not just of him as an individual, but of the culture of his comrades. More significantly, it’s also damning of the Met itself which chose to promote him through the ranks to Head of Intelligence, and absolutely incredible choice given that he was clearly more suited to writing barely believable fiction even then.

Day 6: Wednesday 10 July 2024

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

This was a short day, with summaries of the evidence surrounding the deployments of HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’, HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’, and HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ read onto the record, as well as live evidence from Michael Chant of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist).

HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’

Now deceased, this officer infiltrated the Revolutionary Communist Group and later the Socialist Workers Party from April 1982 to July 1985, stealing the identity of the deceased Michael Hartley to construct his cover, incorporating real elements from Hartley’s life, a method he believed was ‘according to practice at the time.’

This included obtaining a birth certificate and using a driving license in the cover name, as well as using the real Michael Hartley’s father’s name and his parents’ separation.

HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’ reported on the Revolutionary Communist Group and their support for sub-campaigns like the Irish Solidarity Committee and the Stoke Newington Hackney Defence Campaign (SNHDC), including alarming elements of police racism and indications of a police strategy to monitor and disrupt black activism.

His reports on the SNHDC’s support for the family of Colin Roach, who was killed in Stoke Newington police station, claimed that the SNHDC aimed to influence the family’s justice campaign and recruit black community members, describing lectures on communism as attempts to ‘continue their indoctrination.’

In April 1983, HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’ reported that the Roach family support campaign deliberately disavowed the SNHDC, highlighting the police’s efforts to undermine unity and create distrust among activists.

HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’ was arrested in January 1984 while bill posting for the Revolutionary Communist Group. He entered a guilty plea in his cover name under orders from Detective Chief Inspector Short, resulting in a £5 fine.

This incident showing contempt for the justice system and for the Hartley family demonstrated the lengths to which undercover officers were willing to go to maintain their cover.

He recorded in an aide-memoire:

‘At my insistence, under orders from Detective Chief Inspector Short, I pleaded guilty, and my co-defendant agreed to do the same. We were both fined.’

This incident demonstrated the lengths to which undercover officers were willing to go to maintain their cover. It is in direct breach of a Home Office order that if there is any chance of misleading a court then an informer or undercover officer must be withdrawn or even exposed.

In September 1984, senior members of the Revolutionary Communist Group suspected HN12 of being a police informer. The suspicion arose from his frequent absences and behaviour, such as smelling of alcohol despite his cover job as a driver.

He then shifted his focus to the Socialist Workers Party, continuing to report on their activities. His second compromise came in June 1985, after his then-girlfriend showed a holiday photograph to a colleague of herself and her policeman boyfriend. The colleague happened also to be a Socialist Workers Party member, who recognised HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’.

Reflecting on his time in the SDS, he admitted to a brief sexual liaison with an activist and yet claimed:

‘Whatever I did in the SDS I believe to have been justified and proportionate.’

This raises significant ethical concerns about the conduct of undercover officers. He claimed the woman initiated the relationship and noted:

‘No long-term relationship developed, and shortly after the encounter, I formed a relationship with somebody else and left the group.’

The deployment of HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’ deployment had severe repercussions on his own health, contributing to stress and alcohol abuse:

‘I strongly believe that my tour of duty in the SDS was the major factor in my life and career being damaged by periods of stress and alcohol abuse.’

The impact of his undercover work on his mental health underscores the intense pressures faced by these officers. The Inquiry is publishing his sickness record, which describes treatment for depression and alcoholism prior to his retirement. He was treated in the Metropolitan Police Nursing Home in Hendon and NHS rehab facilities and received public and private consultations during treatment.

He said that in the course of his treatment, he ‘felt unable to speak openly about the SD’” and had felt that being unable to talk about his deployment precluded discussion on the possible causes of his alcoholism.

HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’

This officer, also deceased, infiltrated the Finsbury Park branch of the Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) from mid-1982 to 1985 under the name ‘Nicholas Peter Green’.

His deployment focused on reporting plans for public demonstrations and industrial actions.

HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ also highlighted internal divisions within the SWP, particularly regarding their support for the Miners’ Strike. He reported that some members viewed the strike as a means to expand their message and increase membership, illustrating ideological divisions within the group.

He also reported that the general opinion within the Finsbury Park Socialist Workers’ Party was that an imminent revolution was unlikely and no practical preparations were being made for its arrival.

From September 1984, his reporting focused on the group Red Action and later Anti-Fascist Action (AFA), indicating that Red Action’s ideology included the ‘armed overthrow of the capitalist machine and collective control of wealth,’ and that they did not limit themselves to lawful activities.

On 28 January 1985, a Security Service note records:

‘[HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’] is finding it hard work gaining the confidence of members of Red Action. We agreed that it is worth persevering if only to demonstrate whether the group should or should not be taken seriously.’

HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ reported that Red Action lacked funding and organisation. He referenced violence and physical confrontation engaged in by Red Action members, though it is clear that he did not witness or become involved in any of it himself.

He reported that Red Action was supportive of Irish Republican groups and that some members travelled to an anti-internment rally in Belfast in August 1985, as well as the role played by Red Action in the creation of a coalition of groups determined to confront extreme right-wing groups directly. That coalition was named Anti-Fascist Action, and the group included members from around England.

HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ reported that within the coalition, Red Action was a group particularly keen on direct physical confrontation.

His surveillance and infiltration included detailed reporting of personal details, including employment, family heritage, and personal relationships, as well as assessments of individual ideologies, yet again underscoring the intrusive nature of SDS operations and raising serious ethical questions about the balance between state security and individual privacy.

During his deployment, HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ reported on core participants Lindsey German (who will be giving live evidence to this inquiry on 22 July) in her capacity as a speaker and Socialist Workers’ Party central committee member, and Jeremy Corbyn, as a Member of Parliament and speaker at an AFA meeting.

HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ was debriefed by the Security Service at the end of his deployment where it was noted that AFA membership was ‘very young, violent, and not essentially political.’ In another note it was stated that their political and ideological basis was essentially focused on hard drinking and violent confrontations with the National Front.

The Security Service note records gratitude to HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’, indicates that his deployment filled a gap in the knowledge of Red Action, and notes that he would be replaced in that role.

HN67 ‘Alan Bond’

HN67 ‘Alan Bond’, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease and will not be giving evidence, was deployed from April 1982 to November 1985.

He infiltrated the Brixton branch of the Socialist Workers’ Party, reporting on routine activities and plans for demonstrations.

His reporting was particularly intrusive, often including personal details of individuals, such as their employment, family heritage, and personal relationships. He used inappropriate, racist language and his reports on the activities of children in connection with the Socialist Workers’ Party further highlight the invasive nature of SDS surveillance.

HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ admitted to a one-night stand with a woman from his target group, which he reported to his superiors. He denied allegations of fathering a child with a member of the target group, stating, ‘I had a one-night stand about a year before I left the field, and that was it.’

In 2002, HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ appeared in the True Spies documentary, using the pseudonym Richard, in which he discussed a product contamination threat to Lucozade, said to have been reported by HN5 John Dines ‘John Barker’.

HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ was John Dines’ manager in the SDS at the time when the Lucozade threat was reported. He said he became aware that John Dines was ‘involved in a relationship’ with London Greenpeace activist Helen Steel before he returned to the SDS as a manager, and that he approached Dines to voice his concern.

However, HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ did not take the matter further with police management owing to his close friendship with Dines. It is expected that this will be examined further in Tranche 2 Phase 2 later this year.

Live evidence: Michael Chant

Michael Chant, General Secretary of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist), provided a detailed account of his involvement with the party and its activities.

Chant emphasised the party’s commitment to peaceful activism and their stance against fascist organisations, using the slogan, ‘self-defence is the only way.’

This directly contradicts outlandish assertions made by HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ that the Party was ‘small and very extreme, used petrol bombs and had taken up allegiance with Albania’.

Chant stressed:

‘we always decided on our own path. We fought on the same fronts around the world, as we would have said then, for socialism/communism.’

This challenges the narrative presented by HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ and highlights the complexity of the party’s ideological alliances.

Chant discussed troubling aspects of the infiltration by HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’. He reported at length on the group’s sporting and cultural events. He recounted an incident where ‘Shearing’ suggested breaking through police lines to confront National Front leader Martin Webster.

Chant described this suggestion as ‘provocative’ and noted, ‘if we had followed this strategy, we would have been brutally assaulted by the police.’

He also highlighted evidence of police racism and prejudice in HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’s reporting, with inappropriate terms used to describe ethnicity and extensive reporting on Black activists and their communities, reflecting systemic racial prejudices within the police force, as they targeted Black activists and sought to undermine their efforts for justice.

The day highlighted increasingly familiar systemic issues within the SDS, including the theft of deceased individuals’ identities, the lack of formal training, and the intrusive nature of their operations. The personal impacts on these officers, including stress and alcohol abuse, further underscore that the Met not only had no concern for the people spied on, but the spies themselves weren’t cared for either.

Day 7: Thursday 11 July 2024

Live evidence: Francis Bennett

Francis Bennett is the half-brother of Michael Anthony Hartley, whose identity was stolen by officer HN12.

Bennett provided the Inquiry hearing with photos of Michael and also a letter that he had written to his mum, showing his character and close relationship with his family.

Michael Hartley disappeared at sea when he was out working on a fisherman’s trawler. He was presumed drowned but his body was never found. He was 18 years old when he died.

As the trawler was only two miles out at sea, it was a calm day and he was a very fit person, his family believed he could have easily swum that distance and survived but may have lost his memory. His mum always held on to the hope that he had survived and would turn up one day. She eventually took her own life, a tragedy Bennett attributes in part to the unresolved grief over Michael’s disappearance.

When the family were first contacted about the police using Michael’s identity, they wondered whether Michael had been found. They then found out how then police had exploited their son’s name. Bennett described the shock, horror, disgust:

‘We just never imagined that anybody would do anything like that.’

Bennett and the family have suffered recurring grief because of this, since all the memories of Michael are tainted by this undercover officer.

Bennett described the ongoing impact of learning that HN12 used his brother Michael’s identity. He talked about the toll this revelation has taken on his health and well-being

‘Since we found out about the actions of HN12, I will admit that my health has deteriorated even quicker than it had done before. I am on antidepressants and finding it hard to sleep at night. It’s just constant thoughts going through the head, you know, about the actions of HN12.’

Part of HN12’s story was pretending that he had a mother with a chronic illness who he used to visit, which Bennett found particularly upsetting. He also baulked at the idea of HN12 committing crimes and getting convicted in his brother’s name:

‘I think it’s an outrage. Because all through his time growing up, Michael never got into trouble with anybody.’

Bennett also knew about HN12’s sexual relationships, conducted using Michael’s identity, and found this abhorrent and not at all what his brother Michael would have done.

‘When I think of Michael, there is this big dark image looking over his shoulder; an adult man pretending to be Michael, doing all sorts of nasty things’.

The Inquiry also covered HN12’s compromised deployment, where he was accused of being a police informer and quickly removed from the field.

Bennett expressed concerns about the potential danger to his family if individuals targeted Michael’s real family due to suspicions about HN12:

‘On the other hand, it made me wonder, well, what was to stop these people from coming forward and searching out Michael’s real family?’

Bennett highlighted the cynical language of the SDS tradecraft manual, with its utter lack of empathy and respect for the victims of identity theft, referred to as:

‘On finding a suitable ex-person, usually a deceased child or young person with a fairly anonymous name, the circumstances of his (or her) untimely demise was investigated.

If the death was natural or otherwise unspectacular, and therefore unlikely to be findable in newspapers or other public records, the SDS officer could apply for a copy of the dead person’s birth certificate.

Further research would follow to establish the respiratory status of the dead person’s family if any and, if they were still breathing, where they were living.

If all was suitably obscure and there was little chance of the SDS officer or, more importantly, one of the wearies running into the dead person’s parents/siblings etc., the SDS officer would assume squatters’ rights over the unfortunate’s identity for the next four years.’

Bennett reflected on:

‘the total disdain the SDS had for the victims of identity theft by the undercover officers.’

He also pointed out that HN12 selected Michael’s identity from public death registers and ignored guidelines intended to prevent the use of identities with publicised deaths.

Bennett was further appalled by this further proof that the SDS were a law unto themselves, given that they hadn’t even followed their own protocol, given that Michael’s death had been publicly reported.

The Inquiry highlighted the Metropolitan Police’s apologies for the theft of dead children’s identities. Bennett dismissed these as insincere and disingenuous, feeling they were issued only because the police were compelled to do so:

‘It really doesn’t hold any water to me. It’s insincere and it’s almost like it was an afterthought.’

He demanded an assurance that the practice it will never be used again.

Live evidence: HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’

HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ confirmed that he joined the Metropolitan Police in the early 1970s. He described the distinct culture within Special Branch, focusing more on gathering information rather than arresting people.

Reflecting on his recruitment to the SDS by HN297 Rick Clark ‘Rick Gibson’, he described the process as informal, involving casual discussions and even a dinner with a former SDS officer and their wives to discuss the work/life balance.

HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ was aware of the controversial practice of stealing dead children’s identities. He described visiting the birth and death records office at St Catherine’s House to search for a suitable identity:

‘It was a very chilling experience looking for young lives that had been taken… It was not a pleasant experience’

Despite recognising the moral issues, he explained that he accepted this practice as necessary for obtaining a false driving license, essential for his undercover role. He admitted, ‘perhaps I was just compliant but I accepted it.’

The session delved into the deployment of HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ into left-wing political groups. Initially focused on Maoist groups, he soon discovered that the term ‘Maoist’ was used very loosely.

He recounted attending a Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) May Day meeting at Conway Hall in London, observing that the proceedings were ‘pedestrian in nature’ with ‘no attendance at demonstrations’.

He described how he moved on to the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (RCPB-ML), highlighting the group’s ‘irrelevance’ and internal ideological shifts. He admitted that his political awareness and understanding of the group’s political theories was limited, and that he lacked accurate information because Special Branch records were outdated, leading to misdirected efforts.

HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ reported on activities like a conference against racism and fascism, and a sports and cultural festival, noting the involvement of the ‘Pakistan National Kabbadi team’ and ‘several troops of Bhangra dancers.’

Despite acknowledging the limited policing value of these reports, HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ admitted there may have been requests from the Security Service.

SPYING ON CHILDREN

His interactions with group members, included young and school-aged individuals, raising serious ethical concerns. He reported on a school-aged youth from Stockwell who spoke about ‘attacking National Front supporters’. When asked about the propriety of reporting on children, HN19 admitted, ‘no, I didn’t see any reason not to do that’.

Towards the end of his deployment, HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ produced a report summarising the state of the RCPB-ML, concluding they were a spent force with ‘tediously complicated slogans’, yet he justified continued surveillance, because the Security Service was interested.

Indeed, it seems the Security Service wase highly influential in his deployment. He acknowledged receiving briefings from them, although he did not always recall specific documents. When asked if their descriptions like ‘highly security conscious’ and ‘slightly sinister’ matched his own findings about the RCPB-ML, he responded that they did not.

HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ also described the informal culture among undercover SDS officers, including sharing details about their deployments during social gatherings.

ANOTHER TACTICAL CHILD

He mentioned a specific instance where another officer, HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’, gave a presentation about his arrest, handled with a mix of seriousness and levity.

One of the most contentious issues during the session was HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ confirming that HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ had fathered a child with a female activist.

HN67 ‘Alan Bond’, who has Parkinson’s Disease and will not be giving evidence, submitted a statement in which he denies having fathered a child whilst undercover. However, HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ recounted how ‘Bond’ casually disclosed the pregnancy to him, leaving him ‘dumbfounded’.

HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ knew the woman concerned, had seen her and HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ together, and later seen her with a baby.

Despite recognising the serious ethical implications of a fellow officer fathering a child, HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ chose not to report the matter at the time:

‘I just wanted to be away from it and not get involved’.

How many more spycops violated women to father children they knew they’d abandon? How many others knew about these gross abuses but did not report it?

In a powerful moment in the Inquiry, HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ admitted in the witness box that he had wrestled with his conscience and was determined to come clean now.

This is only the second example of an undercover officer (since Peter Francis, who revealed the targeting of the Stephen Lawrence family campaign) publicly breaking ranks on a major SDS scandal. It is hoped that other officers due to give evidence will start to do the same.

This summary covers the opening week of Tranche 2 hearings of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI), examining the activities of the Metropolitan Police’s secret political unit, the Special Demonstration Squad, from 1983-92.

The UCPI is an independent, judge-led inquiry into undercover policing in England and Wales. Its main focus is the activity of two units who deployed long-term undercover officers into a variety of political groups; the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS, 1968-2008) and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU, 1999-2011). Spycops from these units lived as activists for years at a time, spying on more than 1,000 groups.

CONTENTS

Introduction
Conclusions
Timetable of upcoming live evidence

Opening statements:

Day 1

• David Barr KC (Counsel to the Inquiry)
• Timetable of upcoming live evidence
• Peter Skelton KC (Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis)

Day 2

• Oliver Sanders KC, designated lawyer for HN65 ‘John Kerry’; HN25 ‘Kevin Douglas’; HN90 ‘Mark Kerry’; HN56 ‘Alan “Nick” Nicholson’; HN20 ‘Tony Williams’; HN67 ‘Alan Bond’; HN33/HN98 ‘Kathryn Lesley “Lee” Bonser’; HN88 ‘Timothy Spence’
• Charlotte Kilroy KC (The Category H Core Participants; ‘Jenny’)
• Charlotte Kilroy KC (‘Bea’)
• James Scobie KC (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament & Lindsey German)

Day 3

• Rajiv Menon KC (Friends of Freedom Press Ltd)
• Lily Lewis (Rebecca Johnson; Hilary Moore & Jane Hickman
• Owen Greenhall (David Morris)
• Owen Greenhall (Dame Joan Ruddock PC; Diane Abbott MP)
• Sam Jacobs (Sharon Grant OBE)
• Sam Jacobs (Stafford Scott)
• Kirsten Heaven (NPSCP Co-ordinating Group)

Introduction

The second tranche of hearings in the Undercover Policing Inquiry is finally underway.

The last hearings ended more than a year ago, with closing statements for Tranche 1 Phase 3 delivered in February 2023. At that time, non-State, non-police Core Participants (NSPCPs) delivered powerful submissions about the legal framework the Chair, Sir John Mitting, should be applying when considering whether these operations were justified or indeed justifiable.

That was followed in June 2023 by the Chair’s blistering Interim Report, which concluded the SDS should have been ‘brought to a rapid end’ in the 1970s, criticising officers unlawfully trespassing into people’s homes, forming deceitful close personal relationships, including sexual relationships, stealing deceased children’s identities, and taking positions of influence and power within the organisations they targeted.

This round of hearings kicked off on Monday 1st July, with Opening Statements delivered live online. For statement summaries and highlights, and a timetable of when you can catch the live evidence.

Conclusions

It was an interesting week and it was clear from the tone of many of the statements that the ground has shifted since the publication Inquiry’s interim report.

Perhaps the most significant development in that sense was the contrite statement from the Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police, which made a number of highly significant admissions and apologised for cultures of racism, misogyny, exceptionalism, impunity and for unnecessary political spying by MPS employees.

He even accepted corporate responsibility for some of the failings. The Inquiry remains focussed on whether there might have been justification for the operations, however they no longer appear to have such confidence that there could.

It is clear from the Opening Statements that a key issue for this Tranche will be the ideological motivations behind the activities of the undercover police. In the Foreword to his Interim Report the Chair stated that he had

“refrained from expressing any view about … the proposition that the SDS was one of the instruments set up by a conservative state to suppress the aspirations of those who wished to produce radical change by political means.”

Political policing is anti-democratic, and evidence in this Tranche of the establishment targeting groups for ideological (rather than policing) purposes, spying on elected politicians, spreading political misinformation to the press and using SDS reporting in Conservative Party electioneering really drives that point home.

For clarity, protest is part of a healthy democracy, secret policing is not. However reluctant he is to go there, Sir John Mitting is going to find this issue hard to avoid.

Another theme emerging from the statements of the non-State core participants is that the process is becoming increasingly unworkable. Statements cited delayed and incomplete disclosure and impossible deadlines.

There is a growing sense that the Inquiry is facing a crisis, caused by the imposition of arbitrary deadlines by the Home Office, since the publication of the Chair’s damning Interim Report.

In the words of James Scobie KC:

“The State core participants have had the benefit of time and considerable resources. They have had access to the material for years and have extensive teams of staff and lawyers. The Police witnesses are retired, on generous tax-payer funded pensions. Most of our core-participants are still working full-time. This imbalance has always existed in this Inquiry. However, the approach to Tranche 2 is strongly suggestive of a deliberate attempt to silence the non-state core participants”.

This is particularly worrying because the Home Office are very much under investigation in this Inquiry and the evidence leaves little room for doubt as to their complicity in the abuses of the SDS in this Tranche. It is therefore shocking that they should be able to sabotage the process in this way.

Citing this week’s general election, the Home Office declined to make an Opening Statement, however the incoming Home Secretary will need to address these problems as a matter of urgency to avoid the integrity of the Inquiry being called into question.

For his own part, Mitting responded to the procedural criticisms with a personal plea:

“Given that it is a human activity, the end result can never be perfect and the means by which it is arrived at can never be perfect. All I can ask is for patience. Please bear with me. I acknowledge the worth of the input of non-state core participants. I ask them for patience in allowing me to put it to good effect.”

That may be the closest thing to an admission of error and a recognition of the unfair treatment given to non-state victims of police spying that we are likely to get.

Timetable of Tranche 2 Phase 1 live evidence

(Click on the date to link to the UCPI’s hearing information page)

8 July:
HN20 ‘Tony Williams’ who, along with HN85 Roger Pearce (‘Roger Thorley’) infiltrated anarchist groups like the London Workers Group and the Freedom Collective.

Dave Morris and Steven Sorba will also give evidence about those deployments. Their evidence will raise significant questions about (among other things) SDS interference in the justice system, accessing and reporting privileged and confidential legal information, and the police intentionally spreading misinformation to the press about the causes of anti-police and race riots in the 1980s.

9 July:
HN85 Roger Pearce (‘Roger Thorley’) will give evidence. It is worth paying attention to him, because after his undercover deployment he worked for Metropolitan Police Special Branch (MPSB) rising to Commander in 1998. He is therefore one of a number of undercover officers who went on to hold senior management roles.

10 July:
HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’, HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ and HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ will give evidence. They all infiltrated Trotskyist groups.

Civilian witness Michael Chant will also give evidence that day about HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ spying on the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist).

11 July:
Francis Bennett. Evidence from the half-brother of the real Michael Hartley who died at sea as a teenager and whose identity was stolen by officer HN12 (now deceased).

HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ himself will give evidence.

15 July:
Kate Hudson will be giving oral evidence on behalf of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Two important issues in the early to mid-1980s were the decision to allow the United States to site ground-launched cruise missiles in the UK and the debate over replacing Polaris submarines with Trident submarines. CND grew massively as a result and was infiltrated by SDS officers such as HN65 ‘John Kerry’ and HN88 ‘Tim Spence’.

16 July:
HN65 ‘John Kerry’ (see 15 July above).

17 July:
Hilary Moore and Jane Hickman will give evidence. Both were members of Lambeth Women for Peace.

Barr discussed the rise of the women’s peace movement, showing video footage of Greenham Common. This activism led the SDS to recruit its first female undercover officer in many years, HN33 ‘Lee Bonser’ who gained access to the Greenham Common Women by joining Lambeth Women for Peace.

Barr notes that HN33 ‘Lee Bonser’ has provided a witness statement but has declined to give oral evidence. Again, there is no suggestion that she might be compelled.

22 July:
Dr Lindsey German will be returning to give oral evidence for a second time as a member of the Socialist Workers Party Central Committee. Of the many officers that spied on the SWP and other Trotskyist groups, HN12 ‘Mike Hartley’ and HN82 ‘Nicholas Green’ have both died, HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ is too ill to give evidence, and HN95 Stefan Scutt (‘Stefan Wesolowski’), has not co-operated with the Inquiry. HN90 ‘Mark Kerry’ will give evidence the following day.

23 July:
HN90 ‘Mark Kerry’, who spied on the SWP (see 22 July above).

24 July:
HN56 ‘Alan Nicholson’, the only SDS officer to infiltrate the far-right in this Tranche. He infiltrated the British National Party in Loughton. It appears his operation differed significantly from infiltrations of the left in that it was short-lived and superficial. His statement claims he spent the entire time terrified of being outed by other police officers with far-right sympathies.

29 July:
‘Bea’ and ‘Jenny’, who were deceived into sexual relationships by HN78 Trevor Morris (‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’ or ‘Bobby McGee’) will give evidence. Their opening statements are examined in detail below.

1-2 August:
HN78 Trevor Morris (‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’ or ‘Bobby McGee’) will apparently give evidence over two days.

In addition to having had deceitful sexual relationships, Morris is interesting for a number of reasons. He is the only Black undercover officer in this tranche and his witness statement makes claims of racist discrimination within the police.

OPENING STATEMENTS

Day 1 – 1 July 2024

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

Day 1 saw the Opening Statements from David Barr KC, Counsel to the Inquiry, in the morning, followed by Counsel for the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service in the afternoon.

Opening Statement of Counsel To the Inquiry

David Barr KC

Yet again, the Inquiry emphasised its focus on investigating the justification for these undercover operations, indicating that we can expect to see more of the offensive cross examinations we saw in Tranche 1, where the people spied upon were questioned about the “subversive” nature of their activities and their “intentions to undermine UK Parliamentary Democracy”.

Which is ironic, because evidence emerging this week of the SDS spying on elected representatives and providing intelligence for Tory Party electioneering in the 1983 General Election suggests that in fact they were the ones subverting our democracy. But more on that later.

Barr then began by summarising the findings from Tranche 1, and setting out the historical context for Tranche 2, highlighting the most significant events from this period (such as the release of the Sex Pistols hit single Anarchy in the UK).

He also mentioned the Cold War, noting that they would be “examining the impact of the end of the Cold War on the work of the SDS and its relationship with the Security Service.”

He described the broader political and social landscape of racial tension, and anti-government protest, showing news footage of the 1990 Poll Tax riots and the anti-BNP riots in Welling in 1993.

Specific examples of undercover operations in this context included spying on the Broadwater Farm Defence Campaign; and HN88 ‘Timothy Spence’, who was sent to spy on “Hackney” (as in, the entire community of a London borough) in search of subversive influences. (He ended up monitoring the Hackney Campaign Against the Police Bill and the Hackney Police Monitoring Group).

His reports highlighted existing community tensions and the groups’ calls for non-cooperation with the police. HN88 has declined to give oral evidence. Barr asserted he “cannot be compelled”, although he did not explain why not.

Barr’s history lesson provided the backdrop to a detailed overview of what we can expect over the coming weeks. Tranche 2 Phase 1 will consider the deployments of 14 “open” undercover police officers from the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) who operated between 1978 and 1995. (Note that “open” refers to the deployments that are now subject to public scrutiny. Other officer deployments will also be considered in “closed”, away from the public gaze).

Seven former undercover officers and at least ten civilians affected by their deployments will give oral evidence this July. Additional written evidence from other officers and civilians will be published on the Inquiry’s website. You can see a summary of his overview in the timetable of live evidence.

Barr concluded his opening with an important message about political policing today:

“lest anyone consider this a purely historical exercise, it is important to learn lessons from the past.

The question of undercover surveillance of activists appears to be back on the agenda, in the light of Lord Walney’s recent report entitled Protecting Our Democracy from Coercion. Anyone considering this issue would be well advised to heed the lessons that emerged from your interim report and the evidence that we continue to publish.”

Oral evidence hearings will start on 8 July, see the detailed timetable above.

Following Counsel To the Inquiry’s statement, a substantial quantity of new evidence was published on the inquiry website, including the statement of “Witness Y” on behalf of the Security Service (MI5), Annual Reports of the Special Demonstration Squad from 1985-1997.

Opening Statement on behalf of the Met Commissioner

Peter Skelton KC

The Metropolitan Police’s tone has changed dramatically since the publication of the interim report. From the outset, Skelton’s statement condemned the deployments, tactics, racism, sexism and poor management of the Special Demonstration Squad, concluding that

“These serious failings have damaged public confidence in the use of undercover policing.”

He issued a number of apologies, first, to the women deceived into sexual relationships by no less than nine officers in the Tranche 2 period.

“The MPS apologises to the women affected, and to the public, for these failings and for the wider culture of sexism and misogyny which allowed them to happen.”

Although the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has apologised to women deceived into sexual relationships in the past, the recognition that those were rooted in a wider police culture of sexism and misogyny is new.

Skelton expanded to say this:

“During the T2 period, findings of sexism in the MPS were made by the independent People and Police in London study, particularly in its 1983 report, ‘The Police in Action’. More recent reviews have demonstrated that sexism and misogyny continue to be widespread and enduring features of the culture within the MPS.

The prevalence of sexual misconduct on the part of SDS officers in the T2 period, the general disregard for the personal autonomy and dignity of the women affected, together with the inaction or indifference of their managers in response, is a clear and acute manifestation of that culture – for which the MPS unreservedly apologises.”

Another new and extremely important admission by the police in their Opening Statement bears quoting at length, condemning not just the SDS but the wider Metropolitan Police Special Branch (MPSB):

“there was unnecessary reporting on political and social justice campaigns, family justice campaigns, community organisations as well as groups that were campaigning for police accountability…

It is particularly indefensible that many of the anti-racism campaigns mentioned in SDS reports were seeking justice for members of the Black and Asian communities in London and were attempting to hold the MPS itself accountable for the way in which it policed those communities. The MPS accepts the corrosive effect this type of discriminatory policing has on public trust and apologises unreservedly for this.

The fact that the SDS reported on these groups was the result of a critical failure on the part of its managers and senior managers within MPSB to ensure that SDS deployments were conducted in accordance with proper professional and ethical standards. It is also an example of unacceptable political policing by MPSB…

The MPS accepts corporate responsibility for these failings. Although there have been areas of progress since the T2 period, racism and discrimination remain an enduring challenge within the MPS.”

This is a stunning about-turn. For years, we campaigners have been denouncing the ideological and racist biases that underpinned these undercover deployments. However, until now, the police have vehemently sought to deny it.

The third and final surprise in the Metropolitan Police statement was their decision to throw not only the SDS officers, but also their managers and even senior Special Branch officers, under a bus.

“there was a general failure by the SDS’s managers and by senior managers in MPSB to lead the SDS properly and effectively. These failings extended beyond the issues of illicit sexual relationships and improper engagement with the criminal justice system [eg. see para 44]. Other unprofessional behaviour by UCOs includ[ed] inappropriate reporting and the claiming of illegitimate expenses.”

The statement concludes:

“Sexual relationships should not have occurred. Reporting on justice and anti-racism groups who posed no criminal or public order threat should not have occurred and would not occur today. Open-ended long-term deployments, which caused a level of personal intrusion that was out of proportion with their value, should have been reassessed and ended.

Further, the MPS should not have allowed a culture of exceptionalism and impunity to develop within the SDS.”

Again, this recognition that there was a culture of impunity is a new and interesting development.

Of course, that was not all the Commissioner had to say. In amongst the mea culpas (mea culpae?), Skelton levelled some quiet warnings at the Inquiry Chair about his findings. He explicitly cautioned against making certain determinations, particularly regarding the legality of undercover officers obtaining confidential information, actively seeking to shape the scope of the Inquiry’s conclusions, and hinting at potential future legal challenges.

He also contended that the Inquiry should not rule out undercover officers trespassing in private homes nor impose a blanket prohibition on undercover officers accepting senior positions within groups, as such restrictions would “harm the ability of the police to conduct effective undercover operations in the future”.

This echoes scenes from Kate Wilson’s landmark case in the Investigatory Power’s Tribunal, where police lawyers implored the Tribunal not to rule on the issues of Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Association, because of the implications for policing if officers were formally required to respect people’s political rights.

The undertones of these arguments are quite chilling and suggest we need to look a lot harder at how the police are approaching political meetings and protests today.

Day 2 – 2 July 2024

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

Opening Statement on behalf of ex-Spycops

Oliver Sanders KC, designated lawyer for HN65 ‘John Kerry’; HN25 ‘Kevin Douglas’; HN90 ‘Mark Kerry’; HN56 ‘Alan “Nick” Nicholson’; HN20 ‘Tony Williams’; HN67 ‘Alan Bond’; HN33/HN98 ‘Kathryn Lesley “Lee” Bonser’; HN88 ‘Timothy Spence’.

Listening to the comments on behalf of the largely unrepentant and quite repellant ex-undercover officers is generally the most unpleasant part of these statements.

Oliver Sanders KC, representing the ex-police core participants, began by recapping key principles from their previous submissions, emphasising the police’s duty to maintain public order and prevent crime, as well as the need for intelligence to assess potential threats.

He then provided an extensive list of major historical events that took place during the T2 period, including the Brixton riots of 1981, the death of PC Keith Blakelock in the Broadwater Farm riots in 1985, the Poll Tax riot in 1990, and various IRA bombings.

He didn’t really explain how the SDS spying had contributed to the outcomes of any of these events, however, he insisted, it is ‘crucial’ context for understanding the environment in which the SDS operated and the perceived need for their intelligence gathering.

The SDS provided valuable intelligence on public order threats, extremist groups, and matters of national security he said, citing statistics from SDS annual reports, noting that in 1992, for example, the unit produced 1,425 intelligence reports, with 611 of these relating to public order.

Setting aside the fact that, even by his own calculation that means that more than half of the reporting had no bearing whatsoever on public disorder, and the fact that Sanders himself takes issue with the idea that the Annual Reports might be evidence for the justification of the unit, Sanders claim that all this intelligence was crucial for effective policing was simply not borne out by the evidence in T1, and it seems unlikely it will be this time.

So, it is perhaps unsurprising that Sanders raised concerns about the Inquiry’s approach to the evidence. He stated that:

“the Inquiry has tended to concentrate on the recovery, collation and analysis of surviving SDS documents (primarily intelligence reports) and has largely ignored other sources, the fact that many records are missing and the fact that many matters were never committed to writing in the first place.”

This narrow focus, he argues, fails to capture the full scope and impact of the SDS’s activities. It’s an interesting claim. The available evidence looks very very bad for the SDS.

However, while we all know that a lot of it was destroyed or never written down, it stretches credibility to suggest that someone mistakenly shredded all the material that would have somehow thrown the officers into a better light.

However we can perhaps find some common ground in his criticism of the gaps in the inquiry’s evidence gathering. He argues that testimony should have been sought from the Metropolitan Police Special Branch’s (MPSB) Squad desk officers who compiled threat assessments, as they could speak directly to how SDS intelligence was used.

He states:

“Bearing in mind that the threat assessors were members of the MPSB Squads primarily responsible for setting SDS intelligence requirements, the inquiry should have attempted, and should now attempt, to find out how they did their jobs.”

We couldn’t agree more, although we find it extremely unlikely that that information would somehow exonerate the police.

Throughout the statement, Sanders maintained that the SDS made a valuable contribution to public order policing and assisting MI5, and urged the inquiry to broaden its focus to fully understand the context and impact of the SDS’s work.

In that, we caught a glimpse of the growing rift between the ex-undercover officers and the Metropolitan Police Service. Sanders stated that:

“the inquiry’s conclusion that the SDS would have been closed down during T1 if certain matters had been addressed is impossible to reconcile with the experience and understanding of most if not all of the DL officers given what was being said to them at the time by their MPSB colleagues and MI5.”

With that, we can also agree. There is no doubt that senior police and the MI5 were utterly complicit in what was going on.

As Sanders said:

“If SDS intelligence was not useful and valuable, why did so many of those working above and alongside it think and say that it was and keep requesting more?”

However, what the Inquiry actually concluded in 2023 was that had the public been made aware of what the SDS were doing, the unit would have been brought to a rapid end.

Charlotte Kilroy KC – Category H: ‘Relationships’

Charlotte Kilroy KC delivered two opening statements, the first on behalf of ‘Jenny’, deceived into a friendship and sexual encounter with HN78 Trevor Morris ( aka ‘Anthony “Bobby”) and also the wider Category H group.

The second she read on behalf of ‘Bea’ who the same officer (Trevor Morris) deceived into a long-term, intimate and sexual relationship from 1992-1993.

‘Jenny’ and the wider Cat H group

Jenny will be giving evidence on 29 July. This statement detailed Jenny’s experiences and addressed broader systemic issues within the Met that allowed such abuses to occur.

Jenny was friends with HN78 Trevor Morris (‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’ or ‘Bobby McGee’) between 1993 and 1995. Right at the end of his deployment he used their friendship and intimacy to lure her into a one-night-stand, having told her he was moving abroad.

Jenny stressed that the timing of the relationship, just as he was leaving, means it could have had no operational value and stressed the unpleasantness of knowing that he had simply used his position to deceive her into sex. This, and the knowledge of a friendship built on deceit, has caused her significant emotional distress and led to a deep mistrust of those around her.

The statement went on to identify wider systemic issues within the Metropolitan Police Service, including a casual approach to public privacy, a culture of misogyny, and a lack of respect for the law. Morris’ deployment was intrusive and completely unjustified, and police management failed to prevent the abuse.

Jenny emphasised the need for answers about the extent of the surveillance and its impact on the affected women’s lives, highlighting the ongoing emotional damage caused by the lack of information and answers.

Category H core participants have faced significant delays and challenges in engaging with Tranche 2 of the Inquiry due to extended delays in the disclosure process. Despite promises of necessary disclosure by spring 2023, much material was only disclosed in 2024, and some remains outstanding. This has made it difficult for the Category H CPs to complete their statements and fully participate in the Inquiry, causing additional distress.

The statement also expressed concerns about changes to the Inquiry’s methodology for Tranche 3, fearing that the pressure to conclude by 2026 may lead to the exclusion of crucial evidence about political spying. The Category H CPs urge a reconsideration of this approach, and seek recognition of the broader context of political persecution in which these abuses occurred.

The statement concluded with a call for ensuring that no member of the public faces such intrusions or abuses ever again.

Opening Statement of ‘Bea’

Bea will also be giving evidence on 29 July. Like Jenny, she was deceived by HN78 Trevor Morris (‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’ or ‘Bobby McGee’), and had a long-term intimate sexual relationship with him from 1992-1993, built on deceit and manipulation.

She stated that she “unknowingly provided cover for undercover officer Bobby Lewis” spying on the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and other social justice campaigns.

Bea made her own separate Opening Statement, read by Charlotte Kilroy. She began by highlighting an important and painful point about her relationship with Trevor Morris. There were children involved. Her own, very young children, whose lives he invaded, but also his children, whose father was off deceiving another family instead of caring for his own.

She then went on to address her experiences and the broader implications of undercover policing practices by the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). She criticised the damaging and unjustifiable tactics used by the SDS, highlighting specific events and broader systemic issues.

Her perspective is crucial for challenging Morris’s characterisations of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and their activities. She focused on the Welling demonstration on 16 October 1993, against the British National Party headquarters.

She criticises Morris for taking credit for false intelligence that allegedly claimed the SWP planned to burn down the BNP headquarters. Bea argues that this claim is unsubstantiated and preposterous, and criticises not only the deceptive and dangerous nature of SDS operations, but also the kind of public order policing tactics applied on the day, citing aggressive policing, and the use of a secret public order manual.

Bea underscores the involvement of senior police officers in both the Welling protest and the Stephen Lawrence case, pointing out their role in undermining justice and public trust. She criticises the misuse of public funds and resources to spy on lawful democratic activities and collect irrelevant personal information.

She emphasised not only the personal but also the collective harm caused by SDS operations. She describes the emotional and psychological impact on those deceived into relationships, the undermining of social justice campaigns, and the broader implications for democratic society.

She condemned the policies and politicians that allowed such surveillance to take place and stressed the need for accountability and a shift towards protecting democratic values, calling for significant changes to prevent such practices in the future.

James Scobie KC (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Lindsey German)

James Scobie KC delivered an opening statement on behalf of a number of CPs, including former leading members of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) such as Lindsey German (who will be giving evidence on 22 July); Michael Chant from the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) (giving evidence on 10 July); and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Kate Hudson of CND will be giving evidence on 15 July.

His statement, like Charlotte Kilroy’s, addressed the procedural challenges his clients had faced due to late disclosure of critical documents, which had made it impossible to fully participate in this round of hearings, noting:

“The State core participants have had the benefit of time and considerable resources. They have had access to the material for years and have extensive teams of staff and lawyers. The Police witnesses are retired, on generous tax-payer funded pensions.

Most of our core-participants are still working full-time. This imbalance has always existed in this Inquiry. However, the approach to Tranche 2 is strongly suggestive of a deliberate attempt to silence the non-state core participants”

The Socialist Workers Party

The Socialist Workers Party (SWP) was heavily infiltrated during Tranche 2. However, Lindsey German, a prominent figure in the SWP, has received only a fraction of the relevant documents, with significant material still outstanding, including that related to undercover officer HN95 Stefan Scutt ‘Stefan Wesolowski’, who had close ties with MI5 while working at the SWP headquarters.

The witness statement from the Security Service (MI5), served shortly before the hearing, is lengthy and references the SWP extensively. However, the majority of associated MI5 documents remain undisclosed, limiting insight into the agency’s involvement.

What evidence we do have of SDS spying on the SWP shows it was marked by undercover officers taking on significant roles within the organisation, and reporting extensively on party activities, including personal details of members, internal conflicts, and strategic decisions. HN67 ‘Alan Bond’ and other officers infiltrated SWP headquarters, gaining access to sensitive information that could be used to disrupt the organisation’s effectiveness.

Extremely detailed reporting was sent to MI5 and other state entities indicating that the SDS were used to monitor, control, and undermine the SWP’s political activities, reflecting a broader strategy of managing dissent, controlling political opponents and maintaining the status quo.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)

CND also faced significant surveillance, with MI5 and Special Branch showing a keen interest in their activities from 1981 onwards. The statement highlights contemporary evidence, such as that of MI5 whistleblower Cathy Massiter, and points out that the reality emerging through this Inquiry is in fact far worse than anyone imagined.

The British state’s surveillance of CND intensified as the organisation gained mass support and posed a challenge to government policies. The disclosure reveals that MI5’s interest in CND was partly driven by the organisation’s influence on public opinion and its potential impact on electoral politics.

The Inquiry heard how the SDS and MI5 provided ‘dirt’ on CND members to Michael Heseltine (the then Minister of Defence) and his DS19 unit, which was directly tasked with discrediting the peace movement. That material was then used by the Conservative Party to undermine opponents in marginal seats in the 1983 general election.

This evidence of the direct use of undercover reporting to manipulate elections is the clearest example of the subversion of Parliamentary democracy to have emerged in the Inquiry to date, and it did not come from any of the so-called ‘subversive’ organisations being spied on. Rather it was the Metropolitan Police, MI5 and the Ministry of Defence.

We also heard how undercover officers took positions of influence in CND. One particularly striking example was HN65 ‘John Kerry’, who became Chief Steward for a major CND demonstration.

He plays down his role, claiming all he did was plug in some speakers, however, this failure to fulfil his responsibilities is itself problematic. The Chief Steward would be responsible for representing CND and ensuring security. Dereliction of those duties could both damage the organisation and put people at risk, undermining the very public order he was purportedly there to protect.

Overall, Scobie’s statement revealed a deeply concerning pattern of state surveillance and infiltration aimed at managing and undermining political dissent and subverting legitimate political activities. The extensive infiltration of both CND and the SWP, the ethical breaches by undercover officers, and the political motivations behind these actions highlight significant abuses of power.

Day 3 – 3 July 2024

Click here for video, transcripts and written evidence

On the final day of Opening Statements to the Undercover Policing Inquiry, we heard compelling statements from the legal representatives of many of the non-State core participants.

The running order for the day included:

• Rajiv Menon KC (Friends of Freedom Press Ltd)
• Lily Lewis (Rebecca Johnson, Hilary Moore, Jane Hickman)
• Owen Greenhall (David Morris, Dame Joan Ruddock, Diane Abbott)
• Sam Jacobs (Sharon Grant OBE, Stafford Scott)
• Kirsten Heaven (NPSCP Co-ordinating Group)

That is followed by a break for the weekend (and the general election) before live evidence hearings start on Monday 8 July.

Rajiv Menon KC: Friends of Freedom Press Ltd

Rajiv Menon KC began the day by presenting the opening statement for the Friends of Freedom Press Ltd (FFP). Steven Sorba will be giving live evidence on behalf of FFP on 8 July.

Established in 1886, Freedom is the UK’s longest-running anarchist publication, and since its inception, it has been a consistent target of state surveillance. Menon detailed the infiltration by undercover officers, particularly focusing on HN85 Roger Pearce, who operated under the alias ‘Roger Thorley’ from 1980.

Pearce, who would later rise to significant positions within the Metropolitan Police, including Commander of Special Branch and Director of Intelligence, spent his undercover tenure spying on the anarchist community, particularly focusing on the Freedom Collective, and even writing articles for the newspaper. For example, he authored ‘Prisoners of Politics’ which argued for political status for Irish Republican prisoners.

Pearce’s activities went beyond the now familiar gathering of deeply personal information about the people he spied on, to spreading division within the groups he targeted and influencing their activities.

Perhaps most importantly, he is accused of fabricating evidence and manipulating legal processes to secure convictions. He attended meetings where legal advice was given to defendants such as Dave McCabe and Patrizia Giambi and reported back on the legal strategies discussed.

The statement emphasised:

“He knew that Dave and Patrizia were innocent, but his political loyalty to the Branch outweighed any sense of justice”.

Evidence about the infiltration of Freedom sheds more light on politically motivated efforts, on the part of Special Branch, to suppress radical dissent.

The statement uses the example of the 1981 Brixton riots. The evidence makes clear that the police were well aware that the true causes of the Brixton Riots (economic deprivation, racial discrimination and racist policing).

However, the narrative fed to the media by the police falsely blamed anarchists to serve political ends. This kind of ideologically motivated political manipulation by the police is an emerging theme in this Tranche and there will no doubt be some interesting evidence in the weeks ahead.

Another emerging theme also touched on in Menon’s statement was a criticism of the UCPI for its limited disclosure and the restrictions placed on sharing critical information. The ability to provide a comprehensive account was hampered by restrictions on sharing personal disclosure among former and current Friends of Freedom Press directors. This proved to be a significant barrier to presenting a complete picture of the past activities of undercover offcers like Pearce.

Lily Lewis: Rebecca Johnson, Hilary Moore, Jane Hickman

Lily Lewis presented the opening statement for Rebecca Johnson, Hilary Moore, and Jane Hickman, key figures in the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp.

This camp, established in the early 1980s, was a non-hierarchical movement dedicated to peace, disarmament, and campaigning against nuclear weapons. It and its members were subjected to extensive and unjustified surveillance by undercover officers, including HN33/HN98 ‘Kathryn Lesley “Lee” Bonser’, the only female officer in this Tranche, who it seems was specifically headhunted because

“The Prime Minister wanted to know what the Greenham Women were doing”

(from the statement of HN33)

Again, the opening statement provided compelling evidence of the political (rather than public order) motivations behind the surveillance, citing documents that revealed Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s intent to publicly discredit the Greenham Women and their supporters by investigating their finances and backgrounds. Core participants ask the Inquiry to investigate the extent to which the SDS were deployed to gather material to this end.

Jane Hickman, Rebecca Johnson, and Hilary Moore will all give evidence on 17 July. Each of these women, born in the early 1950s, dedicated themselves to peace, disarmament, and campaigning against nuclear weapons in the UK. The legacy of Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp is significant.

Their stance on nuclear disarmament was eventually recognised and adopted by the US and UK through the signing of the Intermediate-range Nucleaer Forces Treaty in 1987, leading to the removal of the last missiles from Greenham in 1991.

“The Greenham Women were on the right side of history,” the statement asserts, emphasising their contribution to global peace efforts. It added “Greenham succeeded in making a fundamental shift in the way that many women saw themselves,” highlighting the empowerment and political agency that the movement fostered.

The peace camp was nonviolent. The women believed in democratic engagement and their protests were well-organised and publicised, often involving the support and cooperation of local authorities.

Despite this peaceful approach, they were subjected to intense surveillance by undercover officers. HN33/HN98 ‘Kathryn Lesley “Lee” Bonser’ infiltrated Lambeth Women for Peace, took on significant roles in the group and reported on their activities from 1983 to 1986.

“Their activities were always peaceful,” her statement admits, yet her deployment continued for nearly four years.

Reporting included accounts of meetings, political discussions, legally privileged advice, home addresses, personal phone numbers, car registrations, and even bank details. The collected intelligence was not only retained but also shared with MI5 and, in some cases, the American government.

Jane Hickman, Rebecca Johnson, and Hilary Moore continue to be active in their respective fields, advocating for peace and justice. Their participation in the Inquiry is driven by a desire to uncover the truth and ensure that the unjust surveillance they experienced is acknowledged and addressed.

“The police made a terrible mistake in using what is supposed to be a last resort against citizens in this country,” Jane Hickman concludes.

This opening statement serves as a powerful reminder of the need for vigilance against the misuse of state surveillance powers for political purposes, ensuring that future generations can continue to advocate for change without fear of unwarranted intrusion.

Owen Greenhall: David Morris

Dave is a litigant in person, and a dedicated community campaigner since the mid-1970s. He is notable for appearing in undercover intelligence reports in all tranches of this inquiry, spanning forty years. He will be giving evidence in Tranche 2 Phase 1 on 8 July, and returning after the summer to give further evidence in Phase 2.

A highlight of the opening statements at previous hearings has been his delivery of his own statements, written personally to ensure authenticity and save on legal costs. His no-nonsense style, speaking truth to power, is always a breath of fresh air. However, this time the Inquiry refused to allow him to speak, insisting that his words be read by a barrister instead.

Owen Greenhall did his best to do the statement justice, but it was not the same. It felt like a particularly petty move on the part of this Inquiry, which constantly seems to be trying to mute or silence the voices of the victims of an ever-growing litany of abuses by undercover police.

Despite this handicap, Morris’s statement was characteristically powerful and detailed. He poignantly recounted his decades-long activism and the targeting he faced from undercover police units.

“I speak as a life-long community activist and organiser doing my best to stand up for the rights of people, in defence of the environment, and the future of our society and planet.”

A central theme of Morris’s statement was the unjustified nature of deployments against the small, grassroots organisations he was involved in. “Those involved were concerned members of the public doing their best to question and improve things,” he asserts.

He recounted how undercover officer HN304 ‘Graham Coates’, who targeted him and his groups in the 1970s, confessed:

“I do not believe any informaton I provided whilst I was deployed was particularly significant. I do not think it would have made any difference to public order if I had not worked for the SDS.”

In this Tranche, the London Workers Group, which aimed to promote worker solidarity and challenge exploitation was infiltrated by undercover officer HN20 ‘Tony Williams’.

Morris criticizes the invasion of privacy and trust, especially as ‘Williams’ admitted to not witnessing any public disorder.

Morris explained:

“Mr ‘Williams’ took on significant roles at various times, including publicity manager, group representative at an international conference, Treasurer and Secretary – a position he abused to be able to steal the private contact details of the group’s supporters”.

Morris also discussed the “Persons Unknown” defence campaign, formed to support individuals facing conspiracy charges. He highlights how ‘Williams’ infiltrated this group, reporting on privileged legal strategies and undermining the campaign’s efforts.

Similarly, London Greenpeace, which Morris was deeply involved in from the early 1980s, was infiltrated by undercover officers like HN10 Bob Lambert (‘Bob Robinson’) and HN5 John Dines (‘John Barker’).

Lambert and Dines not only gathered intelligence but also engaged in deceitful and abusive relationships.

“He [Bob Lambert] engineered fraudulent and therefore abusive sexual relationships with a number of women including fathering a child (who he later abandoned)”.

Morris condemns the “gross invasions of privacy” and the unethical behaviour of officers who manipulated personal relationships and stole private information.

Morris also touched on the broader implications of these tactics, which reflect a disregard for legal processes and human rights, with the police collaborating with corporations against campaigners.

He posed the question: why didn’t undercover police target the entities that truly threaten our society? Corporations engaging in systemic exploitation and environmental destruction, for example, or the government, supporting and engaging in illegal wars.

In concluding his statement, Morris emphasises the fundamental right of people to organise, protest, and seek positive change. He invokes a long tradition of resisting oppressive laws and explained:

“Protests and movements for change also enable people to empower themselves and each other, and should be encouraged everywhere. By spreading collective self-organisation, mutual aid and community solidarity, it can be demonstrated there are alternative and better ways of living and running our society – this is real democracy in action.”

Owen Greenhall: Dame Joan Ruddock PC & Diane Abbott MP

Owen Greenhall delivered a further opening statement on behalf of Diane Abbott MP and Dame Joan Ruddock PC. Both women are prominent political figures which makes their targeting by undercover police particularly troubling.

Diane Abbott was the first Black woman ever elected to Parliament in 1987. She has been a leading anti-racism campaigner for decades and played significant roles in movements such as the Black Sections within the Labour Party and the Anti-Racist Alliance.

Documents disclosed in the Inquiry reveal that undercover officers reported on numerous events where she spoke during the Tranche 2 period. Former undercover officer Peter Francis has admitted to collecting information on Diane Abbott while infiltrating anti-racist groups, reporting details of her activities to his Special Branch superiors.

Abbott condemned the spying as politically motivated and a breach of her privacy and the trust of those she worked with.

Speaking in the House of Commons in 2015 she confirmed:

“I assure the House that I was never engaged in anything illegal and I certainly was not engaged in seeking to undermine democracy”.

Indeed, her activities were aimed at reinforcing democracy by advocating for marginalised communities, notably the Stephen Lawrence campaign.

The statement raised concerns about racial discrimination in SDS activities, based not on any policing need, but rather on a deep and unwarranted fear of politically engaged ethnic minority communities.

Dame Joan Ruddock was Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), and Labour MP for Deptford from 1987 to 2015. She shared her experiences of extensive surveillance due to her anti-nuclear activism and called for accountability from the Home Office and senior government officials who authorised and oversaw these operations.

The spying on Abbott and Ruddock raises serious concerns about the strength of the Wilson Doctrine, which prohibits targeted surveillance of MPs by state agencies.

Ruddock stated:

“In 1981, I was elected as chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament… In 1987, I became a Member of this House and took the loyal oath. In 1997, I became a Minister, and I subsequently signed the Official Secrets Act. How is it that surveillance was carried out on me for all that time?”

The spying on elected MPs like Abbott and Ruddock highlights an erosion of democratic principles, and yet again, it is the SDS and not the groups they were targeting who are found to have been undermining parliamentary democracy.

Sam Jacobs: Sharon Grant OBE

Sharon Grant is a core participant in this public inquiry in representation of her late husband, Bernie Grant MP.

Sam Jacobs displayed a photograph of Bernie Grant as he delivered a poignant account of his political life. Arriving in the UK from British Guiana (now Guyana) as a teenager, Grant became deeply involved in the trade union movement.

He became the first Black leader of a council in Europe, and he was elected as Member of Parliament for Tottenham in 1987, where he served until his death in 2000. His contributions were widely recognised, with the Prime Minister describing him as inspirational. His portrait now hangs in the Houses of Parliament.

Sharon Grant’s statement eloquently expresses what a severe affront to democracy the spying on Bernie Grant and other Members of Parliament was. The explanations provided by undercover officers about their role in reporting on MPs appear to downplay their actions.

For instance, HN78 Trevor Morris (‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’, also ‘Bobby McGee’) stated that he was merely providing intelligence and was never told not to include information on MPs.

HN25 ‘Kevin Douglas’, who filed numerous reports on Bernie Grant, justified recording MPs’ presence at public events in order to understand alliances and potential future attendance.

HN88 ‘Timothy Spence’ claimed that reporting on speeches by MPs was relevant to understanding the community’s views on police-related legislation.

However, the reports on Bernie Grant go far beyond recording his presence at events; they analyse the content of his speeches and even question his sincerity. One report describes him as engaging in “a tour of conspiracy theories” and being “cynical,” while another calls him “inflammatory.”

No undercover officer has taken responsibility for these reports, and HN78 Trevor Morris (‘Anthony “Bobby” Lewis’, also ‘Bobby McGee’) denies authorship despite clear links. This discrepancy raises concerns about the credibility of the officers’ testimonies.

There are 28 reports directly mentioning Bernie Grant, nine of which were filed by officer HN25 ‘Kevin Douglas’ who estimated that approximately three-quarters of his reporting is missing.

Sharon Grant stresses that her statement is based on limited disclosure and snippets from witness statements, and this leaves her uncomfortable, making her statement without full knowledge of the extent of the reporting.

Nevertheless, the picture that has emerged is concerning, indicating a police role in discrediting her husband and the wider Black community. She recalls the misreporting of Bernie Grant’s actions and statements related to the events at Broadwater Farm. The language of the reports and their distribution only heightens her concerns.

Many of the reports also reference Bernie Grant’s participation in events where his constituents experienced injustice at the hands of the Metropolitan Police, such as the killing of Joy Gardner and the wrongful conviction of Winston Silcott.

Given that the Joy Gardner campaign was run from Bernie Grant’s office, Sharon Grant questions whether undercover officers infiltrated the premises of an elected politician. She emphasises the need to understand whether police actions interfered with democratic processes and what impact they had on Bernie Grant’s reputation and his ability to address serious issues on behalf of his constituents. She highlighted the need for a fuller exploration of the police’s role in this kind of anti-democratic activity.

Sam Jacobs: Stafford Scott

Stafford Scott, representing the Broadwater Farm Defence Committee (BFDC), recounted his personal experiences of police misconduct and surveillance.

BFDC was an organisation established in the wake of police violence and wrongful prosecutions. It was set up “by the community with the support of the local authority and Member of Parliament and worked to protect the rights of the community”.

Despite the peaceful nature of their activities, the BFDC and Scott were subjected to extensive monitoring. Scott highlighted the racial bias in the surveillance, noting that Black-led campaigns were inherently viewed with suspicion by the SDS.

Scott’s detailed recounting of his experiences underscores the profound impact of surveillance and police misconduct on individuals and communities striving for justice. His statement contained personal stories including how, in 1985, he and his family were “arrested at gunpoint, held incommunicado for 36 hours, and subjected to racist taunts.”

This incident, among others, underscores the hostile and racially biased treatment he and his community faced from police. Despite these challenges, Scott continued his activism. His efforts have been instrumental in exposing systemic issues within the police force, including the racist and divisive operation of the ‘Gangs Matrix’ which was eventually withdrawn by the Met.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Richard Martin has acknowledged Scott’s work with the Met and other organisations “to better improve community relations”.

Scott notes the significant amount of intelligence reports, particularly from undercover officer HN25 ‘Kevin Douglas’, concerning the BFDC and himself.

There are over thirty reports, and we are told that “approximately three-quarters of his [HN25’s] reporting is missing”.

This makes it impossible to build a comprehensive understanding of the scope of the surveillance.

What we do know is that Scott and the BFDC had registry file numbers opened on them by Special Branch – meaning they were regarded as needing ongoing monitoring – signaling a significant level of interest from the Met.

The explanation given for this surveillance was ‘public order’. However, this lacks credibility. There were never any public order issues at BFDC events, and indications of “violent behaviour” in the SDS reporting include a description of a reggae song played on a demonstration.

Despite the significant gaps in the evidence the police’s broader agenda is clear. The intense interest in justice campaigns over the wrongful convictions of the Tottenham Three or the killings of Cherry Groce, Joy Gardner, and Stephen Lawrence, and undercover reporting about the Newham Monitoring Project and Hackney Community Defence Association (which kept files on police corruption that were accessed by HN78 Trevor Morris), all stems from a desire to limit the impact of community campaigns for police accountability.

This was reflected in the Metropolitan Police admission on 1 July, in which they apologised for their racist spying on justice campaigns and for the culture of ‘exceptionalism and impunity’ that existed in the SDS.

Stafford Scott continues to fight for justice and equality and he asks the Inquiry not to marginalise his experiences further, to recognise the significant contributions he and the BFDC have made, and address the systemic racism within undercover policing to ensure accountability for the injustices faced by the Black community.

Kirsten Heaven: NPSCP Co-ordinating Group

Kirsten Heaven delivered the final opening statement on behalf of the Co-ordinating Group of non-police, non-state core participants (NPSCPs), bringing together many of the points made in opening statements over the previous three days, and providing a broad overview of the systemic issues that the inquiry needs to address.

The statement began with the procedural issues that have hindered the Inquiry. Heaven emphasized the failure to provide timely disclosure, which has prevented meaningful participation for those affected and placed an enormous emotional and practical burden on NPSCPs.

Key witness statements and evidence have been provided too late for it to be possible to process the material.

She blamed arbitrary deadlines imposed by the Home Office, and emphasised the need for the Inquiry to adopt a more open and collaborative approach, highlighting the importance of meaningful participation from those affected by the surveillance, arguing:

“The best people to assist in helping the Inquiry to ascertain what is missing or incorrect within the evidence are the non-state core participants”.

Her statement provided a damning critique of practices and oversight from 1983 to 1992, and a critical examination of the systemic abuses and failures of undercover policing in the UK.

It explored the political motivations behind SDS operations, citing examples of surveillance targeted at politically active individuals and groups who posed no legitimate threat and the misuse of state surveillance powers for political ends. There was a lack of accountability and oversight, and that led to profound personal and political impacts on those targeted.

She called for the Inquiry to hold senior officials and government departments accountable for their roles in overseeing and authorising these operations and for transparency, accountability, and meaningful participation going forward, to ensure that the Inquiry fulfills its mandate and delivers justice for those affected.

Among the many issues raised was the surveillance of political figures, particularly MPs. The NPSCPs highlight the violation of the Wilson Doctrine, which prohibits the surveillance of MPs.

The statement explores the supposed justification for the SDS’s operations, revealing a pattern of political policing. It cites the 1983 SDS Annual Report, which openly discussed targeting groups and individuals who were critical of the police.

The report admitted that the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) posed no serious threat to public order. It continued to be targeted for being a “conspicuous irritant to the establishment.”

This, the NPSCPs argue, exemplifies how the SDS’s activities were driven by political motives, and even a desire to avoid “embarrassment”, rather than legitimate policing concerns.

The NPSCPs also highlight the extensive and invasive nature of the SDS operations. Undercover officers in the Tranche 2 period of 1983-1992 continued to assume significant roles of influence within groups they targeted, trespass into private homes, steal the identities of dead infants and engage in intimate relationships under false pretences, and there is growing evidence that senior officers were aware of, and sometimes complicit in, these unlawful and immoral activities.

For example, HN99 Detective Chief Inspector Nigel David Short warned officers about being tempted by “flesh pot females”. HN19 ‘Malcolm Shearing’ reported how, during a presentation to members of MI5, DCI Wait made a “light-hearted introduction” mentioning that “one of our animal people had been involved in a pregnancy scare but the fact of the child being mixed race ruled out the officer entirely”.

This not only trivializes serious misconduct but also highlights the racist and sexist attitudes pervasive in the SDS, revealing a deep-rooted culture of impunity and prejudice.

The Home Office was aware of the controversial practices within the SDS. Documents indicate that senior civil servants were concerned about the use of the police to spy on groups critical of the government. However, despite this awareness, the abuses were allowed to continue unchecked.

NPSCPs insist that it is only through full disclosure and complete transparency that the true extent of the SDS’s activities can be understood and properly scrutinized. They call for the Inquiry to publish the full list of groups that were spied on and to release the real and cover names of all SDS officers and managers, and they emphasise the need for public scrutiny and accountability in the Inquiry.

Without these measures, the Inquiry risks failing to deliver justice for those who were wronged by these undercover operations.

At the Undercover Policing Inquiry today in central London, the Metropolitan Police, through its lawyer Peter Skelton KC, slammed the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) – its deployments, tactics, racism, sexism and poor management.

The SDS secretly infiltrated and targeted over 1,000 political and campaigning groups from 1968-2007. Having already covered 1968-1982 in ‘Tranche 1’ of the Inquiry, today begins Tranche 2, examining the SDS from 1983 to 1992.

The Metropolitan Police made a series of damning admissions over the SDS’s undercover policing operations during that period, concluding that:

“These serious failings have damaged public confidence in the use of undercover policing”.

Their admissions, in the Statement read out by Mr Skelton to the Inquiry chair, Sir John Mitting, and broadcast live on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel, included:

“First, at least nine undercover officers in T2 [Tranche 2] engaged in deceitful sexual relationships whilst they were deployed. This was completely unacceptable. So too was the failure of their managers to identify and prevent those relationships from happening.

“The MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] apologises to the women affected, and to the public, for these failings and for the wider culture of sexism and misogyny which allowed them to happen.”
(Para 3)

“Second, there was unnecessary reporting on political and social justice campaigns, family justice campaigns, community organisations as well as groups that were campaigning for police accountability.”
(Para 4)

“Third… there was a general failure by the SDS’s managers and by senior managers in MPSB [Metropolitan Police Special Branch] to lead the SDS properly and effectively. These failings extended beyond the issues of illicit sexual relationships and improper engagement with the criminal justice system [eg see para 44].

“Other unprofessional behaviour by UCOs [undercover officers] includ[ed] inappropriate reporting and the claiming of illegitimate expenses.”
(Para 5)

“During the Tranche 2 period, findings of sexism in the MPS were made by the independent People and Police in London study, particularly in its 1983 report, ‘The Police in Action’. More recent reviews have demonstrated that sexism and misogyny continue to be widespread and enduring features of the culture within the MPS.

“The prevalence of sexual misconduct on the part of SDS officers in the T2 period, the general disregard for the personal autonomy and dignity of the women affected, together with the inaction or indifference of their managers in response, is a clear and acute manifestation of that culture – for which the MPS unreservedly apologises.”
(Para 29)

“It is particularly indefensible that many of the anti-racism campaigns mentioned in SDS reports were seeking justice for members of the Black and Asian communities in London and were attempting to hold the MPS itself accountable for the way in which it policed those communities. The MPS accepts the corrosive effect this type of discriminatory policing has on public trust and apologises unreservedly for this.

“The fact that the SDS reported on these groups was the result of a critical failure on the part of its managers and senior managers within MPSB to ensure that SDS deployments were conducted in accordance with proper professional and ethical standards. It is also an example of unacceptable political policing by MPSB…

“The MPS accepts corporate responsibility for these failings. Although there have been areas of progress since the T2 period, racism and discrimination remain an enduring challenge within the MPS…The MPS is committed to rebuilding the trust of Black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities in London.”
(Para 71)

The Met’s Statement concluded:

“Sexual relationships should not have occurred. Reporting on justice and anti-racism groups who posed no criminal or public order threat should not have occurred and would not occur today. Open-ended long-term deployments, which caused a level of personal intrusion that was out of proportion with their value, should have been reassessed and ended. Further, the MPS should not have allowed a culture of exceptionalism and impunity to develop within the SDS.”
(Para 80)

“These serious failings have damaged public confidence in the use of undercover policing.” (Para 81)

The Undercover Policing Inquiry is about to resume hearing live evidence. The week starting 1 July will see Opening Statements from Core Participants delivered online. Live witness evidence will begin on 8 July (and victims of police spying will be holding a press conference – see below).

This second tranche of hearings will cover the 1980s and 1990s, which saw a massive escalation in the use of abusive police tactics, as police spying expanded to include civil society groups such as CND, London Greenpeace, Freedom Press and the Socialist Workers Party, who will all be giving evidence this summer.

This period also included some of the most controversial deployments, including (but not limited to) officers such as Bob Lambert, Andy Coles, John Dines, and ‘Matt Rayner’, who all deceived women into long-term intimate relationships.

Lambert fathered a child whilst undercover, and is accused of planting an incendiary device in a department store to further his undercover ‘legend’, before withdrawing from the field to take over management of the entire Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). Coles went on to write the training manual for the SDS and train officers in the later undercover unit, the NPOIU.

INQUIRY IN CRISIS

However, the Inquiry is facing a growing crisis. Hearings about the most controversial deployments in Tranche 2 have already been postponed due to the inquiry’s ongoing failure to provide full disclosure of the underlying police documents, and tens of thousands of pages of evidence are being published at the absolute last minute.

This makes it impossible for the victims (or indeed journalists) to effectively respond, or properly analyse the material to expose the full extent of police wrongdoing, which was the original purpose of this Inquiry.

After spending nine years and over £82 million on lengthy processes behind closed doors (plus Metropolitan Police spending an additional £62 million to defend the indefensible), Britain’s most secretive ‘public’ inquiry appears to be running out of time and political will.

Having heard only the first decade’s worth of evidence in an investigation that ought to span fifty years, the Chair published an interim report in June 2023. His findings were absolutely damning. The secret political policing operations were unjustifiable and should have been shut down in the 1970s. Instead they were covered up and sanctioned at the highest levels of government.

AFTER THE DELAYS, THE RUSH

Following that report, the government is bringing intense pressure to bear on the Inquiry to hasten its investigations to an end. The Inquiry is now required to hear all remaining evidence and deliver a final report by the end of 2026, leading to an apparent rush to judgment. Corners are being cut, and the victims of these police abuses are being held to impossible deadlines, or simply squeezed out altogether.The public inquiry into Britain’s political police, having wasted years in dealng with police delays and granting guilty officers anonymity, is now being rushed to finish, excluding many of the key campaigns that were infiltrated.att

Core Participants are becoming increasingly restless. It is clear, as we move towards the investigation of more recent police practices in the 21st Century, that the Inquiry barely intends to scratch the surface.

Tranche 3 disclosure has already begun, but the Inquiry has said it intends to focus on individuals and will not be providing disclosure or seeking evidence about spying on some of the most influential political groups: environmental direct action groups such as Climate Camp, Earth First!, Greenpeace or the Newbury Bypass and other road protest campaigns; Disarm DSEi and anti-war campaigners; social centres, such as the Sumac Centre or squatted social centres in London.

All of them will be excluded from the investigations despite having been specific targets of multiple undercover operations over many years.

JUSTICE RUSHED IS JUSTICE DENIED

At the start of this Inquiry, Lord Justice Pitchford, the original Chair, said:

“My overall duty in the conduct of the Inquiry is to act fairly.”

That duty of fairness has now been sacrificed to a new Home Office imperative of closing the book on uncomfortable revelations as fast as possible.

However, we, the victims of these abusive policing operations, will not allow the truth to be sidelined. So if you are finding it all a bit hard to follow, do not despair.

Campaigners and victims of spycops abuses will be picketing the inquiry venue and on the first day of in person hearings, and we will hold a press briefing at 9am on 8 July, outside the International Dispute Resolution Centre, 1 Paternoster Lane, St. Paul’s, London EC4M 7BQ.

For more about the Undercover Policing Inquiry, see our UCPI FAQ.

Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance press release on the publication of the Tranche 1 Interim Report by the Undercover Policing Inquiry, 29 June 2023

The Metropolitan Police’s political ‘spycops’ unit should have been disbanded 50 years ago, its activity was a waste of time and its intrusiveness would have caused outrage if revealed, a public inquiry has found.

Victims of the police spying operations today welcomed the findings of the Undercover Policing Inquiry Interim Report that the notorious undercover policing unit, the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), should have been disbanded in the 1970s.

The report covered the first part of the Inquiry’s work, from the formation of the Squad in 1968 to 1982.

The Metropolitan Police’s secret spying operations targeted around 1,000 campaigning and left wing groups, was sanctioned at the highest level of the police and successive governments, and continued operating until at least 2010.

The Inquiry Chair, Sir John Mitting, found that, in his view, only three groups were ever ‘a legitimate target’ for undercover policing of any kind.

In his report, Sir John wrote that these issues ‘should have been addressed at the highest level within the MPS and within the Home Office.’

He concluded:

“The question is whether or not the end justified the means […]. I have come to the firm conclusion that, for a unit of a police force, it did not; and that had the use of these means been publicly known at the time, the SDS would have been brought to a rapid end.”

The report does not assign blame, but finds that there were four crucial issues which should have alerted the Metropolitan Police and the Home Office to serious problems:

• long-term intrusive relationships by undercover officers
• the legality of entering private homes without a warrant or just cause
• the theft of dead children’s identities by officers
• undercovers taking on positions of responsibility in the groups they were targeting and using that to report on personal details of people engaged in legitimate activities

Public inquiry core participant Zoe Young, who was spied on for her environmental activism, said:

“The police have tried to justify their actions by saying they were targeting subversives and protecting public order. Their own evidence showed this was not the case.

They ignored violent groups such as the National Front in favour of reporting on cake sales and campaigns for free nurseries. While we were on the street calling for an end to racist murders, we now know police were spying on us. They treated as criminal anyone who wanted to change the world for the better.

If there is a subversive organisation in all this, it is the institutionally anti-democratic Metropolitan Police through their systematic attacks on basic human rights.”

Among the most shocking evidence released by the Inquiry are reports showing the Met explicitly targeted police accountability groups in the 1980s.

Over three sets of hearings the Inquiry heard from many former undercover officers, their managers and victims of the spying. Evidence showed a lack of training and direction to the operations, with officers mostly “self tasking”.

Managers admitted they did not try to change things but simply followed what their predecessors did. What emerged was a picture of a political policing organisation that had no meaningful oversight or clear requirements.

A number of reports demonstrated that teenagers were regularly reported on, alongside details of the children of activists. Numerous reports used derogatory and bigoted terms.

‘Lindsey’, a core participant who has been given anonymity, added:

“No doubt many undercovers and managers will be relieved they did not receive stronger criticism, the evidence of their reports speaks for itself. We see racist, sexist and offensive language regularly being signed off. Their reports show the contempt with which they held people trying to make the world a better place.

They had no guard rails, whether reporting on children or making salacious comments on people’s sexual activities. All this was filed away by Special Branch and MI5.”

While Donal O’Driscoll, another victim of spycops, echoed criticisms from many core participants:

“The Inquiry isn’t over and when it looks at later spying it will find these same patterns of abuse went on for decades and got worse, with the founding of a second unit in 1999.

We are outraged by the intrusive tactics used against us and the lack of oversight, but it only demonstrates what we already knew, that the Metropolitan Police is out of control, both then and now.

They remain a deeply sexist, racist and homophobic institution, despite being put in special measures last year. The Inquiry shows these problems have been deeply rooted for decades. We now know that some of the undercovers who abused people, such as Vincent Harvey, went on to hold high-ranking positions in the police.”

This report is just the beginning. As the Inquiry progresses, victims expect more shocking revelations, and call for the issues not dealt with in the Interim Report – such as the central role of MI5, government involvement, targeting of family justice campaigns, blacklisting of trades unionists, and reporting on children – to be properly addressed.

To this end, they continue to press long standing demands. These include the release of all personal files, the names of all the spycops, and a full list of the over 1,000 groups they targeted. They argue that only when this has happened can there be a full and proper debate about the nature of political policing in the UK.

–ends–

Notes:

• The Interim Report can be found on the Undercover Policing Inquiry website. A summary of the report which has been prepared by Police Spies Out Of Lives can be found at https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/summary-of-ucpi-interim-report-june-2023/

• The Inquiry has cost £64m to date. It has completed one of four tranches of investigations and hearings since it was established in 2015, and is expected to conclude in 2026. Further statistics can be found at https://www.ucpi.org.uk/about-the-inquiry/#costs

• There are over 200 non-state core participants including many women who were deceived into sexual relationships by officers, families of murder victims such as Stephen Lawrence, Rolan Adams and Ricky Reel, as well as the families whose dead children’s identities were stolen by the undercovers.

• The Metropolitan Police conceded earlier this year that, “By modern standards, the SDS’s deployments in this period are unjustifiable, because of the way they were structured – not least because there was a failure to consider intrusion, necessity, and proportionality.”

As the public inquiry into Britain’s political secret police ends its first phase, what has been achieved so far?

February 2023 saw the Undercover Policing Inquiry finally concluding its first phase, known as Tranche 1, which looked at undercover political policing from the formation of the Special Demonstration Squad in 1968 until 1982.

The Inquiry, now in its eighth year, is expected to publish an interim report at the end of June this year.

After that, the Inquiry will return in 2024 to examine spying from 1983 onwards.

Thanks in no small part to hard work from victims of spycops and campaigners there has been some pretty damning media coverage of the actions of the Metropolitan Police.

Headlines outing endemic sexism, the widespread failings of the spycops, successive Prime Ministers knowing about the spy unit, and officers’ involvement in illegal activity have no doubt left the Metropolitan Police and the state reeling.

While media coverage does not even begin to deliver justice to the victims of the spycops, it does raise awareness of their actions. With little indication that the culture of the Metropolitan Police is changing, forewarned is forearmed for today’s political activists.

It has also been gratifying that more convictions of activists have been overturned after interference from undercover political policing was revealed at the Inquiry, adding to the 50 convictions already quashed.

MILESTONES OF TRUTH

There’s a long way to go in the fight for justice and transparency. But while we await the interim report from Judge Mitting, it’s important to recognise the milestones reached so far.

These include:

– The Ellison Review in 2013 into the ‘seriously flawed’ police investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The Review made a range of devastating findings against the Met, and the shocking role of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) in targeting the Lawrence family campaign.

– Home Secretary Theresa May’s statement to Parliament on 6th March 2014, saying she was ‘profoundly shocked’ by some of the Ellison Review revelations about the Met and the SDS, and that therefore she was initiating this public inquiry and calling for a ‘change in culture’ in the police.

– The Metropolitan Police’s 2015 apology and payment of compensation to seven women deceived into sexual relationships by SDS officers. In an unprecedented statement, the Met admitted the relationships were ‘a gross violation of personal dignity and integrity’ and ‘abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong’.

– The Investigatory Powers Tribunal’s powerful legal judgment in 2021 in favour of Kate Wilson and against the Metropolitan Police spying operations. They found that spycops had breached ‘a formidable list’ of five of the 14 articles of the European Convention on Human Rights and condemned their ‘disturbing and lamentable failings at the most fundamental levels’. The Tribunal ruled that the undercover policing units did not meet a pressing social need and were not necessary in a democratic society.

– The Inquiry’s own legal team’s finding, in January 2023, that the Metropolitan Police and government had failed to consider the legality and justification of the SDS activities during the 1970’s, and that if they had done so they would have been likely to conclude it should have been closed down.

Instead, the Inquiry asserted, the unit continued despite the fact that it had no tangible achievement in its supposed purpose of preventing public disorder.

UNJUSTIFIABLE

This devastating statement was backed up by the Metropolitan Police’s own admission that none of the SDS deployments looked at in Tranche 1 were justified ‘by modern standards’.

As the Inquiry’s legal team responded, why were these deployments allowed to continue unabated after the introduction of ‘modern standards’ in 2000? We will no doubt find out more about that in the next phase of the Inquiry!

We look forward to seeing and hearing the evidence relevant to Tranche 2 (1983-1992) next year, and the other Tranches after that. For the schedule and other information on the Undercover Policing Inquiry, check out our UCPI FAQ.

The Metropolitan Police can be sure that we, and the thousands of others affected by this unjustifiable and invasive political policing, are not going away.

The legal team working for the public inquiry into Britain’s political secret police recently condemned the controversial spying. Next week – 20th to 22nd February – the government, police and victims will respond.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry into the highly controversial and now totally discredited secret undercover policing units that infiltrated or reported on over 1,000 left-wing organisations, black family justice campaigns, trades unions, and social and environmental campaigns since 1968 – has reached an important milestone.

Next week, (Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd February) there will be three days of presentations to conclude ‘Tranche 1’ of the Inquiry’s evidence, examining spying from 1968-1982).

The Inquiry will hear closing submissions summing up what has been learned so far about the secret and unlawful operations, the shocking tactics employed from the start, and how this was backed and covered up for decades at the highest level of successive governments.

In a devastating blow to the Metropolitan Police and the reputations of former senior police officers, as well as the Home Office civil servants and politicians who oversaw them, the Inquiry’s own legal team have concluded that the authorities ‘should have decided to disband’ the whole operation decades ago.

NEW HEARINGS

Next week’s hearings will be broadcast live on YouTube, with statements presented by the Inquiry Legal Team, the Secretary of State, the Commissioner of Metropolitan Police, and lawyers acting for the range of non-State non-police Core Participants targeted.

Full details of the schedule for the presentation of the Tranche 1 Closing Statements, 20th to 22nd February, are on the Inquiry website (Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3). The written submissions will be made public on the day they are read out.

The hearings are a watershed moment as it’s a review of what has been achieved so far by this very slow moving, controversial and expensive Inquiry (£60m costs was the last official estimate).

The Inquiry, originally due to finish in 2018, is now due to be completed by 2026, but preliminary conclusions regarding the period 1968-1982 ( ‘Tranche 1’) will be made in an Interim Report by the Chair, Sir John Mitting, later this year (forecast to be this summer).

It has been demonstrated that the entire undercover policing operation since 1968, led by the Metropolitan Police, has been a scandalous politically motivated attack on progressive campaigns and their members, carried out mainly for and at the behest of the Security Service. Recently disclosed documents have revealed even further the institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police.

CATALOGUE OF ABUSE

It has been demonstrated by the evidence presented at the Inquiry that the surveillance was conducted without any ethical considerations regarding the severe impacts it had on freedom of expression or personal privacy.

The tactics included invading people’s homes and lives, the abuse of women, stealing deceased children’s identities, spying on children, infiltrating family justice campaigns , the blacklisting of trade unionists, taking positions of influence and power within organisations targeted, and brazen interference with the justice system which led to unfair trials and wrongful convictions.

We now know that most, if not all, of the Special Branch reports were copied to MI5. These practices were all signed off by senior civil servants and was a closely guarded secret at the highest level of Government.

Thanks to the campaigners, the victims and lawyers who have worked so hard to expose all this, the shocking reality of this surveillance has at last been revealed – the results of the Inquiry so far are devastating for the police, Security Service and Government.

DEMANDING THE TRUTH

A spokesperson from Police Spies Out of Lives, representing the women targeted for abusive relationships (whose closing submissions will be presented on Tuesday), said:

“Thanks to years of efforts by campaigners the authorities are now on the back foot. We love how far we have shifted the official narrative: from ‘neither confirm nor deny’, through ‘just a few bad apples’, to ‘some unlawful operations’, and now ‘an entire force and policing culture that is rotten to the core’ and sanctioned by the State.”

Dave Morris, a campaigner who was targeted for at least 30 years from the mid-1970s onwards, and who will be delivering his own Statement next Tuesday afternoon, said:

“The Inquiry’s official legal team has concluded that the political spycops should have been closed down decades ago. This would have prevented the shocking and unacceptable targeting of over 1,000 organisations and movements backed by millions of people, campaigning against government policy and for a better society.

The nauseating tactics employed including the serial abuse of women show that the scandals currently engulfing the Met over toxic racism and sexism in police culture are nothing new.

We continue to press for full disclosure about these secretive units, a public apology to all those targeted, and a guarantee from the government that such spying will never be allowed again.

In the face of the the many serious challenges humanity is facing, movements for positive social change are needed more than ever.”

 

CAMPAIGN OPPOSING POLICE SURVEILLANCE [COPS]
www.campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com
POLICE SPIES OUT OF LIVES [PSOOL]
www.policespiesoutoflives.org.uk
UNDERCOVER RESEARCH GROUP [URG]
www.undercoverresearch.net
THE MONITORING GROUP[TMG]
www.tmg-uk.org
BLACKLISTSUPPORT GROUP [BSG]
https://www.hazards.org/blacklistblog/

The Home Office could shut down the public inquiry into political undercover policing, a senior civil servant told the Home Affairs Select Committee last week.

At a hearing on Wednesday 22 June 2022, Matthew Rycroft CBE, Permanent Secretary to the Home Office, was asked about the inordinate time and cost of the Undercover Policing Inquiry.

The Inquiry was first announced by the Home Secretary in March 2014. It has just finished hearing evidence about the Metropolitan Police’s Special Demonstration Squad’s first 14 years, 1968-82. It will not be having any more hearings until 2024, and those will only concern spycops from 1983 to 1992.

The Committee’s chair, Diana Johnson MP, told Rycroft that there were witnesses who fear they won’t live to give testimony. A number of victims granted ‘core participant’ status at the Inquiry have already died.

It applies to senior witnesses from the other side too – since the Inquiry was announced, two former Home Secretaries and three former Metropolitan Police Commissioners have died.

Rycroft told the Committee that the Inquiry ‘must get on with it’ and, although it is operationally independent of the Home Office, because it is commissioned and funded by the Home Office there is always the possibility that the Home Secretary could pull the plug.

He said it as something of an aside rather than a threat, but it’s a startling statement nonetheless. The gruelling extended delays have been largely down to the Met’s wilful stalling tactics, and the Inquiry indulging that strategy. The spycops were individually assessed and most of them granted anonymity. The process of excessive redaction of documents has taken further swathes of time.

To talk about positive aspects of shutting down the Inquiry, leaving the thousands of victims without any answers about what was done to them and why, demonstrates that the highest levels of the Home Office have a callous disregard for the harm inflicted on citizens by Britain’s political secret police.

Here is a transcript of the full exchange:

Diana Johnson: I just want to ask you one last question about the Undercover Policing Inquiry, which was supposed to have reported by 2018. It was set up in 2015 by the Home Secretary at that time. It has now been running for seven years, it has spent over £50,000,000 to date and only the first two of six tranches of work have been properly started.

There is no forecast information about the overall expected time it is going to run, nor the cost. Now, I have written to you about that Inquiry. I have had someone who is likely to be a witness to that Inquiry write to me and say that he doesn’t think he’ll be alive to
give evidence because of the time this Inquiry is taking.

The Home Office is the sponsoring Department. What do you have to say about the cost
and the length of time of this Inquiry?

Matthew Rycroft: I very much agree with you that the Inquiry needs to get on with it. It has been going on for a long time. Of course, it is hugely complex work and the Inquiry, as other inquiries, is operationally independent. It is up to them to work out how to fulfil their terms of reference and how to account for their budget, but it is a £50,000,000 budget and it is seven years and counting.

What the Chair has agreed to do, which I welcome, is to set out an interim report that I think will help to demonstrate that there has at least been some progress on some aspects – the things that were heard through that first phase of hearings.

Diana Johnson: Does that mean you just have to keep paying?

Matthew Rycroft: We don’t have to. Obviously, there is a choice, you know. The Home Secretary could choose to close down that Inquiry. Of course, there would be pros and cons to that. I think, as with all things, it’s a balance.

Getting to the truth is really important for that Inquiry and indeed for others, which is why it is taking time. But I think the rather practical consideration that you have mentioned about a potential witness who is presumably getting on in years, and we would all benefit from the Inquiry being able to hear the evidence of that witness before too long.

And so, rest assured that, in our sponsorship role, the Home Office – including myself, but mainly my colleagues – works closely with that Inquiry’s secretary and Chair in order to get a move on.

Video of the full hearing is on the Parliament TV site. The hearing was mostly concerned with treatment of refugees. The question about the Undercover Policing Inquiry is near the end, about 1 hour 42 minutes in.

Tranche 1, Phase 3, Day 10

20 May 2022

Witness:

Trevor Charles Butler (officer HN307)

 

This was the last day of the 2022 round of the Undercover Policing Inquiry hearings, which have examined Special Demonstration Squad managers 1968-82.

The day began with the Inquiry’s Elizabeth Campbellon reading out summaries of evidence relating to three men who worked in the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) back office towards the end of this period covered by this ‘tranche’.

Richard Reeves Scully (officer HN2152) joined Special Branch in 1968. He’s not entirely sure when he was sent to work in the SDS back office, but it’s thought to have been around 1977. His role was handed over to Paul Croyden in 1979.
Witness statement of Richard Reeves Scully

Paul Andrew Croyden (officer HN350) served in the SDS for two years, from July 1979 to August 1981.
Witness statement of Paul Croyden

Christopher Skey (officer HN308) was also part of the SDS for around two years, and then spent a year as Liaison Officer between Special Branch and the uniformed public order unit (aka ‘A8’). Skey provided two witness statements, one in 2020 and another in 2021 which added a little more detail about his time as a Liaison Officer.

The Inquiry also published documents relating to two deceased senior officers:

Ken Pryde (officer HN608) was described as “the Detective Chief Inspector in charge of the SDS from November 1977 till early 1978” – although this doesn’t correspond with what the Inquiry has told us elsewhere.

Mike Ferguson (officer HN135) is said to have run the unit from January 1978 until February 1980, having spent time undercover himself ten years earlier (reporting on anti-apartheid campaigners like Peter Hain).

Trevor Charles Butler (officer HN307)

On this final hearing of 2022 the Inquiry heard oral evidence from one man: Trevor Charles Butler OBE (officer HN307). He was recruited to the unit in 1979 and left in 1982. He was questioned by David Barr QC, Counsel to the Inquiry.

This was a notably reticent witness, who favoured one-word answers (and often that word was “no”).

In his witness statement, Butler referred to True Spies, the 2002 BBC documentary series that detailed the work of the SDS, as:

“an earth-shattering breach of the ‘need to know’ principle”

It’s clear he sees the Inquiry in the same light. Safeguarding a ‘need to know’ principle is his vocation, and he treated the Inquiry as a violation of that.

Butler claimed to remember very little about events that took place in the 1970s, including his time in the SDS and in other parts of Special Branch.

Butler attended police training courses, and learnt about the main principles of police powers, but freely admitted not bothering to consider these while he was in the SDS.

He said that he didn’t think normal police discipline regulations – covering, for example, sexual misconduct – applied to the spycops as they were:

“experienced, trustworthy men, who I had no concerns about.”

He was happy to go along with existing day to day practice, and very happy with the SDS’s method of unfiltered reporting (hoovering up as much information as possible and putting it all on file). He doesn’t seem to have gone out of his way to question anything, to consider doing things differently, or to actively review deployments or assess their value.

He had no qualms about officers stealing dead children’s identities, and said he had no idea that other undercovers had been issued with British Visitor Passports, which did not require a birth certificate.

Butler recalled little contact with the senior managers above him, saying:

“We were left to our own devices”

This was due in part to the move of the SDS office out of New Scotland Yard to Vincent Square. He also professed to be unaware that some of them had previously been involved in running the unit.

He couldn’t recall why the SDS 1979 Annual Report said that “covert policing is being subjected to increasingly close and critical scrutiny” or any concerns at this time about the spycops’ relationship with the Security Service (aka MI5).

There were a lot of subjects that he claimed no recollection of at all.

SUBVERSION

He says that he didn’t receive any training of the type listed in the 1979 ‘Initial Training for Special Branch Officers’ Agenda. He relied on his own “common sense” to guide his understanding of what was or was not ‘subversive’.

He didn’t recall seeing Special Branch’s 1970 Terms of Reference, and its definition of the word ‘subversion’, before. During this period, the Security Service actively tried to expand the working definition of ‘subversion’, and a slightly different definition appeared in a Circular sent out to Chief Constables in 1974 (referring to industrial disputes) . Butler says he doesn’t recall seeing this either.

A similar Circular, referring to subversive activities in schools, was sent out in 1975. Butler does not recall any sensitivity around reporting on school-children, or the School Kids Against the Nazis.

COMPREHENSIVE COLLECTION OF DATA

What were the most important things the SDS did?

According to Butler’s written statement, the main aims of the SDS were public disorder and collecting information to update Special Branch’s files.

Addressing the second of these, Barr asked him to explain why this was so important, and what such information was used for – for example, was this related to public order?

According to Butler, after some waffle, such details weren’t always immediately important, but might have what he called “latent value” – meaning they might

“possibly be relevant at a future date.”

Might the information be used for vetting purposes?

In paragraph 129 of his statement, Butler admits that “parts may seem unacceptable in today’s context” and Barr quoted the whole thing, ending with:

“I do not believe that individuals finding their names on a Special Branch or Security Service file is too high a price to pay for comprehensive intelligence coverage, providing that those individuals were not unlawfully discriminated against because of this.”

Barr asked him to explain what he meant by this, and Butler admitted that he must have been referring to people losing their jobs or being blacklisted – he says this is “unacceptable” but insists that it would only have happened if such information was ‘leaked’ from Special Branch, and he doesn’t believe this happened:

“I’m convinced that Special Branch records were properly maintained and there was no leakage.”

We saw the kind of information that was kept on file for its ‘latent value’ – contact details copied from the address book of “a leading member of the Freedom Editorial Collective”.

Having established that ‘N/T’ stands for ‘No Trace’ – it is clear that the majority of these names have not already come to the attention of Special Branch. These names were retained for decades and Butler doesn’t see it as a problem.

Asked to explain how gathering intelligence on individuals assisted with public order, he claimed that this would enable the police to make arrests after disorder had occurred. The SDS were quick to claim their public order ‘successes’ but nowhere is this kind of success mentioned.

PLAYING SQUASH WITH THE BOYS

Trevor Butler liked to play squash with his colleagues. Because of something Barr said today, we now know that he also played squash with the guys from the Security Service as well (a minor detail that was redacted – and replaced with the word ‘sport’ – in one of the documents released by the Inquiry).

He says he got to know the officers:

“some of them very well, others not so well, but reasonably well, all of them”

The unit was an all-male environment. Butler remembers banter and jokes. Were any of these of a sexual nature?

“I can’t remember, but probably”

However, he insists that he heard no suggestion of spycops being the subject of sexual advances, and nothing about sexual contact actually occurring. He said he didn’t consider this to be a risk:

“they were married men with a stable background who I trusted not to get involved sexually outside of their marriage.”

He says he never asked them if they had come under “pressure to indulge in sexual activity” never mind asking directly if they’d engaged in any form of sexual contact.

If this is true, then the lack of curiosity exhibited by him and other managers clearly demonstrates a culture of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ within the SDS. He didn’t remind them not to engage in sex on duty, consider setting up ‘cover girlfriends’ or finding other ways of reducing the risk.

Rick Clark (‘Rick Gibson’, officer HN297, 1974-76) is known to have had at least four relationships; he was investigated by the group he infiltrated, Big Flame, and was exposed as a result. Butler claims he can’t remember anything about this.

Similarly, he says he didn’t hear any gossip about ‘Jim Pickford‘ (officer HN300, 1974-77), withdrawn after falling in love with an activist, who he went on to marry.

BARRY’S GIRLFRIEND

Another incident was discussed in more depth. ‘Barry Tompkins‘ (officer HN106, 1979-83), in his witness statement, details a ‘platonic’ relationship with a woman that he met while undercover. He says they were just friends, and he slept in her home – supposedly in her child’s bedroom with a noisy hamster – a few times, rather than driving home drunk.

This woman was often referred to as “Barry’s girlfriend” amongst those he was infiltrating. Tompkins says that he was asked by his manager, Trevor Butler, to account for an intercepted phone call in which an activist had talked about storing “items from Ireland” at “Barry’s girlfriend’s place”.

“I think Trevor said something along the lines of ‘You’re not going to get us in trouble, are you?’ and I simply said ‘no, it’s nothing like that’.”

Butler says he does not recall this at all. He categorically refuses to accept that this may have happened but he forgot about it (like everything else). He is adamant that Tompkins must have confused him and another manager from the office.

Asked what he thinks he might have done if these events had occurred as laid out in Tompkins’ statement, he says “my outlook was probably different then than it is now”, yet goes on to say that he can’t remember what his outlook was then.

Barr was somewhat flummoxed by this and points out that if he doesn’t know what his outlook was before, how does he know it’s changed?

“Now, I think I would have insisted that he ended such a relationship. Then, I might have been more tolerant.”

Butler explained that he has become less tolerant since becoming “older and more disagreeable” (his words, verbatim).

In those days, he goes on, he wouldn’t have been concerned about a platonic relationship like this. Would he have investigated to find out if more was going on?

“That’s a hypothetical question. It didn’t happen.”

But he added:

“I would have investigated very thoroughly.”

Would a sexual relationship have led to disciplinary action? Butler says he would have made sure the officer left the SDS, but agreed that there might have been difficulties taking formal disciplinary action, and that decision would have been ‘above his pay grade’.

Another exhibit was shown: a Security Service note about a visit to the SDS – in the shape of senior managers  ‘Sean Lynch‘ (officer HN68) and Dave Short (officer HN99) – in June 1982, after Butler had left. It contains the remarkable line:

“Information on this subject may be bedevilled by the fact that HN106 [‘Barry Tompkins’] has probably bedded [privacy] and has been warned off by his bosses.”

Does he know what this refers to? Is is something he told Dave Short? Unsurprisingly, Butler can’t help with this as, yet again, he can’t recall. (NB: Tomkins himself says that this refers to a different woman, who the Security Service wanted to use as an informant, and who he denies sleeping with).

In his witness statement Butler says that he knew ‘Barry Tompkins’ was married with young children at the time.

“I would have reminded him about his obligations to them and to the job in fairly strong terms if I had even the slightest suspicion that he had or was tempted to stray.”

Barr put it to him that this demonstrated consideration of the possible impact on this marriage, and of the risk to both the SDS and the wider Met, but none for the woman who ‘Barry’ had formed this close friendship with. Butler confirmed that he did not or would not have given her any consideration at all.

NO CONSIDERATION FOR WOMEN

Other officers that are known to have had sexual relationships in this era include Vince Harvey (‘Vince Miller’, officer HN354, 1976-79), with four women; officer HN21, with one woman; and ‘Paul Gray’ (officer HN126, 1977-82).

Butler says he gave zero consideration to the harm that any of these women may have suffered as a result.

He said he knew ‘Phil Cooper’ (officer HN155, 1979-84) quite well, but

“he didn’t give me any reason to suspect that his behaviour was cause for concern.”

He added that Cooper wouldn’t have confessed to doing sex and drugs to Butler anyway as it would have led to trouble for him.

Barr read out a declaration from Butler’s statement:

“As far as I was concerned, then and now, the SDS provided a terrific service’ trouble-free”

Did he still think that, in light of all this evidence?

Butler asserted that:

“I considered I was extremely lucky. I had a couple of years working with a very successful team who presented no problems and I suspected were doing nothing untoward.”

The strength of his loyalty to the SDS is very clear throughout. Pressed about the sexual misconduct that has come to light, the most critical comment he could make was to say that he was “disappointed”.

REPONSIBLE ROLES

Butler’s statement refers to undercovers not “crossing the line between acceptable recording and unacceptable direction setting and incitement”, so Barr explored this topic.

In his witness statement, ‘Mike James‘ (officer HN96, 1978-83) said that he’d been advised by colleague ‘Geoff Wallace’ (officer HN296, 1975-78) not to get too involved, or become too prominent, in the groups he was infiltrating.

However, he was elected to the Hackney District Committee of the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and chaired meetings of the Party’s Clapton branch, becoming their ‘District Book Organiser’.

The same officer was then encouraged by his bosses, in around 1980, to get more involved in the Troops Out Movement (TOM), and ended up being elected as TOM’s Membership and Affiliation Secretary.

He didn’t get a chance to discuss this with his managers beforehand – the nomination “came out of the blue” – but says he told them as soon as he could and they were “pleased” with this news.

Butler cannot recall being one of those managers. However he agreed that this would have been seen as “a good thing” as it gave the SDS much more access to information.

He didn’t view this position (which came with a seat on the TOM’s national steering committee) as a problem. He says he wouldn’t have interfered, just trusted the officer’s judgement as to what he felt “comfortable” with.

‘Paul Gray’ (officer HN126, 1977-82) also spied on the SWP, rising beyond branch roles to join its North West London District Committee. This was also “a good thing”, according to Butler.

Surely this meant he could be voting on things and influencing the direction of the group? “I don’t know what they did” was Butler’s response.

Asked if he, as the manager receiving information, he tried to find out what they did, Butler simply answered “no” as a sentence in its own right. Again.

SPYCOPS’ WIVES

Before new undercovers went out into the field, Butler would visit their wives at home. He would explain that their husbands’ working hours and appearance would change, but nothing more about what this “important work” actually entailed.

He says he wanted to ensure they “were happy to support their husband in the role” and “understood the difficulties” – i.e. the disruption to family life caused by long, irregular hours. He agreed that the SDS asked a great deal of these officers’ wives.

ANTI-RACIST ACTIVISM IN 1981

‘Barry Tompkins’ (officer HN106, 1979-83) reported on a meeting that took place in Walthamstow in August 1981, organised by the Winston Rose Action Committee.

They were campaigning for a public inquiry into the death in custody of Winston (a 27-year-old boxer, who had been born in Jamaica) a month earlier.

One of the speakers was Fran Eden, of East London Workers Against Racism (ELWAR), a group which Tompkins had infiltrated. Butler was asked what he thought the policing value of this reporting was.

Barr ventured to suggest that sending an undercover officer to spy on such a meeting might not be good optics for the Met, and could risk “doing more harm than good”. If he’d been discovered, might that not have served as a catalyst for the community to take to the streets, as they had done in Brixton and other places around the country already that year?

Butler’s said “that could probably be said of every report that an undercover officer submitted”, doubling down on his opinion that “it was wholly justified and a fine report”.

He had no concerns about Tompkins reporting on a Revolutionary Communist Tendency meeting that took place in Brixton directly after the riots, on 16th April, about setting up South London Workers Against Racism, organising legal defence for members of the local community, involving legal representatives.

Also in April, Tompkins reported on ELWAR holding an election meeting in Stoke Newington Town Hall, as one of their members was standing as a candidate in the upcoming local elections.

Barr suggested that electoral activity isn’t exactly subversive.

But in Butler’s view, if a group’s worth reporting on, then it’s worth reporting on every single thing they do:

“my attitude was always it’s far better to report too much than too little.”

BLAIR PEACH

Just like the other managers we’ve heard from at the hearings, Butler said he barely remembered the events around police killing Blair Peach and the subsequent justice campaign. It is yet another stretch on his credibility.

According to the SDS 1979 Annual Report, there was “a sustained campaign to discredit and criticise the police” after Peach’s murder. Butler admitted that he may well have written this.

The SDS reported on these campaigners, but Butler insisted that the Metropolitan Police’s only interest in such intelligence would be due to potential disorder, nothing to do with collecting information about people who were critical of the police.

Barr pointed out that there was “very little trouble indeed” from the justice campaign, and asked why the Friends of Blair Peach were described in that way.

Butler ended up in another awkward dance, trying to avoid the point that the justice campaign was deliberately targeted for calling for accountability from the police. He did at least concede it was inappropriate to take photographs of mourners at Peach’s funeral.

MESSED-UP PRIORITIES

The SDS 1980 Annual Report said that “anti fascist activity continued to tax the resources” of the police.

Butler explained that when it came to confrontations between the far right and the far left, the police tended to blame the anti-fascists for causing (or as he re-worded it, ‘creating’) serious disorder, for “attacking those they opposed”.

He said the police were also “a good target” for the demonstrators.

He grudgingly admitted that the far right were responsible for lots of serious street violence, but said it wasn’t the SDS’s job to predict or prevent racist attacks, who were “more interested in large scale social disorder”.

His attention drawn to the section of the SDS 1981 Annual Report headed ‘Security’ (on page 7). Operational security is described as always being “of paramount importance” for the unit – both for the “personal protection of the field officers and to prevent embarrassment to the Commissioner by its existence becoming public knowledge” – and the “political sensitivity” around the SDS operations is mentioned.

Squeezing blood from the stone, Barr got Butler to admit that such ’embarrassment’ would stem from the public learning that undercover policing tactics weren’t restricted to drugs gangs and serious criminality, but were also being used in a political way, “to manage public disorder”.

Barr went on to note that the Report says that all infiltrations had to be fully justified on the basis of the Commissioner’s responsibility for the preservation of public order.

Under the heading ‘Coverage’ (on page 4) is a list of groups whose infiltration would be hard to justify on these grounds, such as Womens Voice, the Freedom Collective, and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Butler claimed not to know who the first two were, but even he couldn’t pretend not to have heard of CND, a hugely popular campaign that held protests hundreds of thousands strong.

Instead, he suggested that CND demonstrations were often ‘infiltrated’ by “extremists”, and then added another explanation for spying on them: that the SDS didn’t have enough undercovers to infiltrate all of the groups, but many of those people attended CND events.

We now know that CND was infiltrated, in its own right, by John Kerry (officer HN65, 1980-84) but Butler claimed he wasn’t involved, saying this must have happened as he was leaving. However Kerry joined the unit in 1980 and Butler didn’t leave until 1982.

HOME OFFICE: PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY

In his statement, Butler recalled meeting for “a beer and a lunch” with a relatively senior Home Office official every month.

His bad memory returned when he was asked about these meetings – he couldn’t remember their purpose or anything about what business was discussed at them, but says that he knew that it had no influence over the unit’s work.

The SDS was set up by the Home Office in 1968, and was directly funded by them for twenty years. Funding had to be applied for and renewed annually.

The 1976 authorisation for the Special Demonstration Squad’s continued existence was signed off by Robert Armstrong, later Baron Armstrong of Ilminster. He was Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service. It is difficult to imagine a more highly placed civil servant.

The Security Service’s ‘Witness Z’ has previously told the Inquiry:

‘the pressure to investigate these organisations often came from the Prime Minister and Whitehall’.

Put simply, the existence and functioning of the SDS was known of, and authorised, at the very top.

There is nothing embarrassing to the police or Home Office about preventing crime. But the destabilising of democratic movements, the wholesale and widespread intrusion on citizens, and their exploitation for political advantage? That is worth keeping secret.

Every annual application for funding refers to the officers fully recognising ‘the political sensitivity’ of the unit’s existence. Authorisation is only ever granted ‘in view of the assurances about security’. In other words, as long as you can promise us we will not get caught, you can carry on.

There appears to have been a lot of careful work to ensure no proof of the link survives. After the spycops scandal broke, in 2015 former Audit Commission director Stephen Taylor looked into the links between the SDS and the Home Office. His report said the ‘investigation did not identify any retained evidence available in the Department of any correspondence, discussions or meetings on the SDS for the 40 year period’ that the unit existed. Nothing. In the entire Home Office.

Time and again Taylor found reference to a file, catalogue number QPE 66 1/8/5, understood to have covered Home Office dealings with the SDS. It has disappeared. It would have contained material classified Secret or Top Secret, which would have strict protocols around its removal or destruction, yet there is no clue as to what happened to it.

They physically searched all storage facilities in the Home Office. It’s gone. Taylor couldn’t make allegations but rather pointedly said ‘it is not possible to conclude whether this is human error or deliberate concealment’.

Butler appears to be well acquainted with the Home Office’s stipulation that details of their involvement must never come to light.

DRINKING ON THE JOB

Finally, Barr asked Butler some questions on issues raised by the Inquiry’s Non State Core Participants (ie, victims of spycops).

One significant issue had been about the spycops’ consumption of alcohol whilst on duty.
Butler was asked about their expenses claims, and clarified that they were not allowed to claim for alcohol they’d drunk, unless it was as “part of a substantial meal”.

He admitted that they could have claimed for drinks consumed by other people, which would have “been shown as an incidental expense”, but had no recollection of any of them doing so.

In his words, most of the officers “drank regularly but not excessively”. He contradicted other witnesses by saying they “usually had a beer” when they met at the safe house.

He went on to explain that they wouldn’t want to drink so much as to be drunk in their activist group, or be caught drink-driving (as having a driving licence was important for their jobs). This contradicts countless reports from the people who were infiltrated.

He had no concerns about anyone drinking to a level that impaired their judgement or affected their long term welfare.

Was he concerned about them buying lots of drinks for those they were spying on? No. He assumed they would buy rounds when out with activists, but “you wouldn’t buy excessive drinks just because you could afford to.”

DEPARTURE

The last thing we heard about from Butler was about his leaving the SDS. He was told by Commander Wilson that he was being moved on, ostensibly on the grounds that he was getting too close to those he managed and losing his objectivity:

“he said that it was time for me to move on to another role before I unquestioningly took the side of the UCOs [undercover officers] in all matters.”

It seems likely that had something to do with him fighting their corner on the issue of overtime payments, possibly another illustration of his loyalty to the undercovers. He continues to insist that they did an “excellent job”.

WHEN WE MEET AGAIN

The Inquiry’s Chair, Sir John Mitting, then closed this round of hearings with the line:

“When we’ll meet again remains to be seen.”

The next set of evidential hearings (covering ‘Tranche 2’, the SDS 1983-92) are not due to take place until 2024. In the meantime there may be an interim report from the Inquiry to look forward to.

Witness statement of Trevor Butler

Transcript, video of the morning and afternoon the day’s hearing

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