Spycops Campaign Update Spring 2022

Ahead of next week’s sessions of the public inquiry into Britain’s political secret police, here’s a roundup of what’s happened since last autumn’s hearings.

• Campaigners continue to expose the scandal of five decades of secret infiltration of left wing and progressive campaign groups
• Kate Wilson, deceived into a relationship by spycop Mark Kennedy, won a historic court victory which slammed all the Met’s political undercover policing as unlawful – not just the relationships, but the spying itself
• Spycops managers from the 1970s due to give public evidence in May 2022 at the Undercover Policing Inquiry (May 9th to 20th)
• Spycops victims condemn the continuing delays, secrecy and lack of disclosure during the Inquiry
• Women deceived into relationship by spycops publish two shocking books
• A growing scandal over ‘missing’ Met police reports into their killing of two anti-fascists, Kevin Gately and Blair Peach, on 1970s demonstrations
• Head of the Met was forced to resign following public outrage over institutionalised sexism in the force

After the last round of public hearings of the Undercover Policing Inquiry hearings, we learned that it was holding further secret hearings with spycops, from which victims and the wider public were excluded. Our condemnation of it was reported in the Guardian and the Morning Star.

COPS has found out that 43 UK police forces and three specialist police forces were involved in or collaborated with spycops.

The Spycops Info podcast – victims of spycops taking a deep look at the scandal – continue to cover many aspects of the scandal, interviewing people spied on, laying out the organisational structure, and promoting the ongoing campaign for truth and justice. The latest episode previews the upcoming round of public inquiry hearings.

The Undercover Research Group has finished summarising the documents from last year’s hearings and have now started summarising the evidence hearings. This is an enormous task. They will then prepare a report about what has been learned so far about spycops operations. They are in the process of setting up a new Undercover Research Portal site.

COPS held a successful online seminar about spycops as part of the COP26 Climate Coalition events in Glasgow in November 2021.

POLICE ‘LOSE’ FILES ON PEOPLE THEY KILLED

Few significant files or disclosures have been made public by the Inquiry, despite them saying that they would ‘trickle information out’ and promising the full Special Branch Annual Reports. Heavily cut versions of these for 1970-1983 have only recently been disclosed.

A large number of less important files have been published, and it’s plain to see the extraordinary level of detail recorded on activists. Undercover police officers took on formal roles in organisations they were spying on, and all manner of documents – right down to Socialist Workers Party branch babysitting rotas – were copied to MI5.

But the police and Inquiry are now claiming that crucial reports are ‘missing’, of the two anti-fascist demonstrations (Red Lion Square 1974, and Southall 1979) in which police violence killed Kevin Gately and Blair Peach. Officers deployed at the time are claiming they didn’t attend the demonstrations. This is a major scandal. COPS will continue to pressure for full and quick disclosure.

WOMEN DECEIVED BY SPYCOPS PUBLISH STORIES

Women deceived into relationships by spycops have told their own stories in two recent books.

Donna McLean was deceived into a two-year cohabiting relationship by Special Demonstration Squad officer Carlo Soracchi. Her astonishing story was revealed in Small Town Girl: Love, Lies and the Undercover Police, published in February 2022.

Five women deceived into relationships by spycops tell their stories in Deep Deception: The story of the spycop network, by the women who uncovered the shocking truth.

It covers not only the deception, but how the women uncovered the truth. Each of their stories has unique features, but perhaps the most harrowing element is the similarity – these officers were clearly trained and guided in the abuse they inflicted. Far from the ‘rogue officer’ explanation the Met have tried to give, it is abundantly clear that this was all strategy and tactics, taught and honed over decades.

The composite picture exposes the institutional sexism and cynicism of the spycops units, and of the police who continue to cover up and defend them to this day.

SPYCOPS ARE UNLAWFUL, COURT RULES

Kate Wilson finally won her 10-year legal battle when her case went to the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) in September 2021. Kate had been deceived into a long-term relationship by undercover officer Mark Kennedy, and her environmental and social justice activism had been spied on by at least five of Kennedy’s colleagues.

The IPT ruled that not only was Kennedy’s intimate abuse unlawful, but crucially the wider spying had no place in a democratic society. The damning judgement declared the entire undercover policing operation unlawful and a breach of five articles of human rights legislation, including violations of the right to protest, the right to a private and family life, and the right to freedom from torture, inhuman or degrading treatment.

 

Read more about Kate’s case and the IPT ruling on Police Spies Out of Lives, the campaign representing women deceived into relationships by spycops.

UNDERCOVER POLICING INQUIRY HEARINGS

The Undercover Policing Inquiry – the full-scale public inquiry into Britain’s political secret police, which has been dragging on sine 2014 with no end in sight – resumes in London for two weeks starting on Monday 9 May. These will be hearing evidence from managers of the Special Demonstration Squad 1968-82.

Core Participants – people the Inquiry deems profoundly involved in the spying, mostly the victims – will be making a number of powerful public Opening Statements from 9th to 11th May (after the official Inquiry and Police statements), which will be broadcast on the Inquiry’s YouTube channel.

Planning for attendance, events and publicity around the hearings are underway.
In a meeting with Core Participants and lawyers, the Inquiry said that it will not start Tranche 2 of the hearings (covering the years 1983-92) until 2024. It does not expect to conclude before 2026. Given the long record of delays – many deliberately imposed by the Met to avoid accountability – we think it is likely to be even later.

These delays are still a big issue for victims of spycops, especially given that many Core Participants are ageing and in ill-health, and are entitled to disclosure and answers now.

Read more about the Undercover Policing Inquiry – including an FAQ and detailed reports from previous hearings – on the Undercover Policing Inquiry section of our site.

SPYCOPS & TRADE UNIONS CONFERENCE

There’s still time to book for our free second trade union and social activism conference this Saturday, 7 May 2022, from 10.30am to 5.30pm.

You can attend in person or online, and it’s absolutely free.

It’s being held at UNITE House, 128 Theobalds Rd, Holborn, London, WC1X 8TN.

It’s being organised jointly by Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance, Police Spies Out Of Lives, The Monitoring Group and the Blacklist Support Group.

For more details and booking information, see Undercover Policing, Trade Unions and Social Activism.

POLICE CRIME & SENTENCING BILL

The PCS Bill is going through parliament and has now been knocked back to the House of Commons by the House of Lords. The Bill gives powers to police to outlaw a range of traditional protests, even individual protest.

Along with the CHIS Bill, it appears to be trying to make legal in the present everything illegal and unacceptable that the Undercover Police Inquiry is currently investigating from the past.

The House of Lords can only hold up the Bill, it cannot stop it. We need to continue to oppose the Bill and continue to protest.