Spycops Info

The Undercover Policing Inquiry is currently on Tranche 1, Phase 3, looking at Special Demonstration Squad managers 1968-1982. Like all phases of the inquiry, it begins with opening statements. This episode is the audio version of the daily reports from the opening statements. You can read them here: Day 1: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2022/05/09/ucpi-daily-report-9-may-2022/ Day 2: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2022/05/10/ucpi-daily-report-10-may-2022/ Day 3: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2022/05/11/ucpi-daily-report-11-may-2022/

The next hearing of the inquiry will be taking place from Monday 9th May. In this show we preview what we might find out from the line up of mostly ex-managers from the Special Demonstration Squad 1968-82 giving evidence in these hearings. Also taking a look at the many lies of someone who won't be able to give evidence, founder of the SDS, and author of his own fictional obituary, Conrad Dixon. https://www.ucpi.org.uk/publications/the-times-published-obituary-of-conrad-dixon/ We mention the two exciting books that have recently been published: Small Town Girl by Donna Mclean https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/donna-mclean/small-town-girl/9781529379853/ and Deep Deception by Alison, Belinda, Helen Steel, Lisa and Naomi. http://smarturl.it/DeepDeceptionHB

Despite the numerous deployments of undercover police officers in Scotland, the Public Inquiry is only concerned with events in England and Wales. Tilly Gifford, raised a judicial review at the Court of Session to challenge the decision of the Home Office not to examine the role of covert policing north of the border. She also challenged the Scottish Government's decision not to hold a public inquiry on the same issue. Find out more: https://www.pilc.org.uk/public-inquiries/undercover-policing-inquiry-scotland/ Tilly previous appeared in episode 22 https://soundcloud.com/spycops/episode-22-informers-infiltrators-grasses-part-4-tilly-gifford

Jason Kirkpatrick is a climate change activist based in Berlin who was targeted by undercover police officer Mark Kennedy. He is now taking legal action in Germany over the deployment of British undercover police officers at the G8 summit in Heiligendamm in 2007. As mentioned in the episode, you can read reports from Statewatch at https://www.statewatch.org/news/2011/february/cross-border-spying-on-euro-anarchists-euro-police-link-updates-about-what-became-public-about-mark-kennedy-and-other-undercover-agents-in-germany-and-vice-versa-activities-of-german-undercover-police-in-uk/ and https://www.statewatch.org/analyses/2018/undercover-policing-the-alphabet-soup-of-cross-border-networks-groups-and-projects/ You can also read all about the movements of Mark Kennedy around Germany and elsewhere: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Mark_Kennedy:_A_chronology_of_his_activities For information on Jason's film project: http://spiedupon.com/ and more from Jason: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/tag/jason-kirkpatrick/

In this mini series we are looking beyond undercover police to examine the civilian covert human intelligence sources that are used by police to target protest groups and undermine dissent. This instalment is an interview by Chris Brien with activist Tilly Gifford, who along with being targeted by undercover police was approached by Strathclyde police in 2009 to become a grass against the group she was involved with Plane Stupid. She made recordings of what happened and spoke out about it in the press. https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/apr/24/strathclyde-police-plane-stupid-recruit-spy

In this mini series we are looking beyond undercover police to examine the civilian covert human intelligence sources that are used by police to target protest groups and undermine dissent. Here in part three Tom Fowler concludes his chat with Donal O'Driscoll from the Undercover Research Group by looking at the professional civilian agents: "infiltrators". Part 4 will be an interview with someone targeted by the police to become a grass and will be available in a day or so. Profile of Adrian Radford: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Adrian_Radford "Battling Big Business: Countering greenwash, front groups and other forms of corporate deception" Edited by Eveline Lubbers: https://www.evel.nl/pandora/bbb.htm True Spies 2002 BBC TV documentary: https://vimeo.com/159535823 "Infiltrators, Informers and Grasses: how, why and what to do if your group is targeted" https://www.csrc.link/download/infiltrators-informers-and-grasses/infiltrators-informers-and-grasses.pdf

In this mini series we are looking beyond undercover police to examine the civilian covert human intelligence sources that are used by police to target protest groups and undermine dissent. In part two Tom Fowler is once again joined by Donal O'Driscoll from the Undercover Research Group , this time to look at people who willingly give information on activism to the police: "informers". Part 3 "infiltrators" will be out in a day or so. Bent Coppers: The Inside Story of Scotland Yard's Battle Against Police Corruption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bent_Coppers Untouchables: Dirty Cops, Bent Justice and Racism in Scotland Yard https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Untouchables.html?id=kYZ0QgAACAAJ

In this mini series we are looking beyond undercover police to examine the civilian covert human intelligence sources that are used by police to target protest groups and undermine dissent. In part one Tom Fowler is joined by Donal O'Driscoll from the Undercover Research Group to look at activists that are turned by the police to give them information "Grasses". Part 2 will be out in a day or so. No Comment: the defendants guide to arrest https://libcom.org/organise/no-comment-the-defendants-guide-to-arrest If A Tree Falls: Story of the ELF https://www.IfaTreeFallsFilm.com

From the establishment of the Special Demonstration Squad in 1968, annual reports were published to justify their continued existence. The first 15 year batch of these were some of the first documents to be released by the Undercover Policing Inquiry, you can read them for yourself https://www.ucpi.org.uk/search-results/?fwp_type=annual-report Chris Brian From the Undercover Research Group has read them all, in this episode he tells Tom Fowler the highlights and lowlights covered in the documents, from the death of Kevin Gately https://pasttenseblog.wordpress.com/2019/06/15/today-in-london-anti-fascist-history-1974-the-death-of-kevin-gately-opposing-national-front-demo/ to the Grunwick strike https://grunwick40.wordpress.com and a great deal more besides. These documents represent the link between the grubby role of the secret undercover political police with the civil service and politicians. Chris mentions a PHD on this topic, which you can read here: https://research.edgehill.ac.uk/en/studentTheses/thatchers-culture-of-conformity-the-disintegration-of-partystate- Find links to all our work at https://www.spycops.info please follow us on social media.

This third part on the legal action taken relating to undercover police officer Mark Kennedy at the Investigative Powers Tribunal. This episode looks at the actual trial of Kate Wilson's Human Right's claim at the High Court. Part 1 (Episode 6): https://soundcloud.com/spycops/episode-6-kate-wilson-the-ipt-part-1 Part 2: (episode 16): https://soundcloud.com/spycops/kate-wilson-the-ipt-part-2 Look out for the 4th and final part of this mini-series once the judgement of the Tribunal is handed down. hopefully before the end of 2021.

Kate and Ben return to talk more about the case Kate brought to the Investigative Powers Tribunal, you can hear part one here: https://soundcloud.com/spycops/episode-6-kate-wilson-the-ipt-part-1 You can learn about her case at the Investigative Powers Tribunal: https://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/kate-wilson-case-exposing-institutional-sexism-spycops/ Follow Kate on twitter: https://twitter.com/fruitbatmania Please support the pod by ordering some stickers: https://ko-fi.com/s/df86432870

During the inquiry hearings a number of core participants have used social media to report on developments, in this episode Carolyn who tweeted live reports from https://twitter.com/copscampagin joins regular host Tom Fowler to discuss the challenges of following the inquiry as activists and have a general chat about the state of the whole process. The pamphlet "Was My Friend A Spycop?" you can read online: https://undercoverresearch.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/wasmyfriend.vl3_.pdf If you'd like some stickers, you can order them here: http://ko-fi.com/s/df86432870 You can find links to everything else on this topic at: https://www.spycops.info

Core Participants in the Undercover Policing Inquiry Kate Wilson and Ben have a wide ranging chat with their neighbour Brian on the topic. This episode serves as useful introduction to those not familiar with the details of the whole issue. For Kate Wilson's story check out: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/kates-story/ Kate and Ben first appeared in episode 6 talking about the legal case Kate brought to the Investigative Powers Tribunal: https://soundcloud.com/spycops/episode-6-kate-wilson-the-ipt-part-1

This episode we are joined by Bethany Rielly, reporter for the Morning Star newspaper, and the only journalist to regularly attend all the hearings of the Undercover Policing Inquiry. https://morningstaronline.co.uk/tags/spycops We discuss how she came to cover the story, why most of the media coverage of the topic has been so limited, and a lot else besides. You can follow her at: https://twitter.com/b_rielly Starting on Thursday we are going to going live with the #SpyCopsPod on Twitter Spaces. Tune in at 7pm. https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1lDxLplWNOvxm

"Discussion Paper: SDS targeting strategy and deployment in relation to the Animal Liberation Front" to give it it's full very misleading title is a document authored by former undercover officer Bob Lambert in 1994. https://www.ucpi.org.uk/publications/discussion-paper-on-sds-targeting-strategy-and-deployment-in-relation-to-the-animal-liberation-front-authored-by-bob-lambert/ "Jessica" returns to the show with Chris Brian and Tom Fowler to discuss the document, marvel at the bare faced hypocrisy of the contents, and get disgusted with the cast of unpleasant characters. We have produced some stickers to promote the series, if you'd like some sent to you in the post, order here: https://ko-fi.com/s/df86432870

The Spycops Info Podcast is a weekly series that features the voices of activists, researchers and campaigners who have been targeted by Britain's secret undercover political police. Turning the tables on the units that infiltrated over 1,000 groups from 1968. Visit our website: https://www.spycops.info/spycopspod

As well as being a member of the Undercover Research Group, Donal O'Driscoll is also one of very few core participants representing themselves at the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI). We discuss what litigating in person is like in practise, chat about the direction of the inquiry, and consider why a bunch of anarchists are engaging with the British legal system like this. You can read everything you need to know about what has happened so far at the UCPI: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/ucpi-public-inquiry/

The Registry Files are the huge database of secret files Special Branch keep on anything it considers seditions. They are the documents that the undercover officers from the Special Demonstration Squad and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit contributed to. We're joined by Donal O'Driscoll From the Undercover Research Group to chat about how we've long believed these files existed, but that through recent revelations from the Undercover Policing Inquiry, we have been able to learn some specifics about them. You can read more about the Registry Files here: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Special_Branch_Registry

Retired #spycops officer HN106 alias "Barry Tompkins" was deployed between 1979 and 1983. He infiltrated the Spartacist League of Britain & Revolutionary Communist Group among others, and even founded his own faction, the "Revolutionary Labour League": https://splitsandfusions.wordpress.com/2018/03/29/revolutionary-labour-league-1980/ Nearly recruited by the USSR and accused of at least one possible relationship with an activist, his reports were some of the most odious, containing explicit personal details of his targets. Read more about him here: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Barry_Tompkins_(alias) & http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2021/05/14/ucpi-daily-report-12-may-2021/#barry-tompkins

Paul Heron is one of the lawyers representing activists at the Undercover Policing Inquiry as part of the Public Interest Law Centre https://www.pilc.org.uk/ We discuss the pros and cons of the legal process and what campaigners can get out of it. You can read everything you could ever want to know about the inquiry here: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/ucpi-public-inquiry/

"Madeleine" (false name used for privacy) was an active member of Walthamstow branch of the Socialist Workers Party during the 1970s. During that time she was deceived into an intimate sexual relationship by the undercover police officer HN354, alias "Vince Miller" https://powerbase.info/index.php/Vince_Miller_(alias) She was the first woman abused in this manner to give oral evidence to the UCPI. You can hear the session of the inquiry when she was questioned: https://youtu.be/K8bxgNaIfY0 You can also read the reports from that day and the next, when HN354 was giving his evidence: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/tag/madeleine/

Kate Wilson was one of the women deceived into to a relationship by undercover police officer Mark Kennedy. Like several others she brought a civil claim against the police about it, unlike anyone else she was able to finally get a day in court about it. You can read her personal story here: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/kates-story/ Learn about her case at the Investigative Powers Tribunal here: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2021/04/24/kate-wilson-case-exposing-institutional-sexism-spycops/ And follow her on twitter here: https://twitter.com/fruitbatmania This is just part one of what is likely to be a very long running series, look out for part two in the months ahead.

The second phase of the first tranche of the Undercover Policing Inquiry is currently ongoing. This episode is two different chats about what's been happening: First Chris Brian from the Undercover Research Group talks to Penny about Day 9, when we heard from HN298 "Michael Scott" & "Mary. Second, Tom Fowler talks to "Lisa" - https://twitter.com/JustLisa2010 about Day 11 when we heard from Celia Stubbs. As ever, find out more at https://www.spycops.info

The Undercover Policing Inquiry has returned for Phase 2 of the first tranche of evidence. Here is a mixed bag of reflections on the first week. You can read detailed daily and weekly reports on what is happening at the inquiry: http://campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/ucpi-public-inquiry/ You can also tune in to live reaction videos whenever the inquiry goes to a break: https://www.facebook.com/groups/spycops

Referred to as HN345 at the inquiry, the undercover officer who went by the alias "Peter Fredericks" as not deployed against any one specific group but reported back on an number, including the Black Power movement, Operation Omega and Young Haganah for six months in 1971. You can read more about him here: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Peter_Fredericks_(alias)

Referred to as HN2 at the inquiry, Andy Coles went by the alias "Andy Davey" when he infiltrated animal rights and anti war groups in London between 1991 to 1995. Whilst deployed, despite being 32 and married with a baby daughter, he used his undercover role to manipulate and deceive a 19 year old woman who now uses the alias "Jessica" into a year-long intimate sexual relationship. You can read more about him here: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Andy_Coles You can find "Jessica"'s story in full here: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/jessicas-story-2/

Retired #spycops officer HN326 alias "Doug Edwards" was deployed between 1968 and 1971. He infiltrated West Ham Anarchists where 'things got a bit tasty' as well as '"very pleasant, sociable people wrapped up in the world of intellectual Marxism" in the Independent Labour Party. Read more about him here: https://powerbase.info/index.php/Douglas_Edwards_(alias)