Spycops inquiry delayed until late 2019
In a double-whammy ruling Sir Christopher Pitchford has said his inquiry into misconduct by police undercovers will hear no formal evidence before the second half of 2019 — but exonerated the Met of using delaying tactics.
The news has astonished participants in the Inquiry, which was opened in 2014 with a projected four-year timeframe but has already dragged on for nearly three years with the Met failing… Continue reading
Calls rise for full Scottish spycops inquiry as police admit holding secret files
Police Scotland has confirmed the existence of 1,168 files linked to the policing of protests in 2005 against the G8 in Scotland, including one described as holding “intelligence briefings” on spycops — prompting campaigners to raise new calls for a Scottish inquiry.
A full inquiry into abuses carried out by the disgraced National Public Order Intelligence Unit at the time should be commissioned, rather than letting the… Continue reading
Campaigners call for spycop inquiry to be opened EU-wide
Campaigners for justice in the spycop inquiry hammered home the international damage being done to human rights by undercover police officers at an EU Parliament hearing today, as members of disgraced British unit the National Public Order Intelligence Unit operated across the zone.
Speaking at the Accountability for state agent Protection Against Police Infiltration conference in Brussels, spycop victims’ solicitor Darragh Mackey (pictured) argued the government’s increasingly discredited official inquiry… Continue reading
New spycop inquiry chair set to cover up names, warns watchdog
Researchers for the Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance (COPS) warned today that, following the first major release of papers by controversial new spycop inquiry chief Sir John Mitting, it looks like the Met may be successful in hiding the names of officers linked to their disgraced undercover operations team.
COPS has finished analysing a large release of papers by the Undercover Policing Inquiry following the recent release of three… Continue reading
Peterborough Mayor bans public from meetings over spycop councillor protests
Having suspended a chaotic council meeting last week amid noisy protests demanding the resignation of former spycop (and current councillor) Andy Coles, Peterborough Mayor John Fox closed today’s planned meeting to the public entirely today fearing “equally disruptive” actions.
Mayor Fox, who was himself a former police officer with the Cambridge force for 23 years and only retired as a community police officer last year, serves with Mr Coles as… Continue reading
Met Police finally apologise to spycop abuse survivor
Sarah Hampton has become the latest woman abused by undercover police to secure an apology in the fallout from the spycops inquiry.
Sarah is the eighth person to have received a formal “sorry” from the Metropolitan police for the actions of their officers, who repeatedly deceived women into beginning relationships while infiltrating activist groups in the 2000s while working for the shadowy National Public Order Intelligence Unit … Continue reading
John Dines joins list of confirmed police spies
After months of putting a survivor of police human rights abuses through the legal wringer at taxpayers’ expense, the Met police have failed to stop the Pitchford Inquiry on undercover policing from confirming that John Dines, now a police training officer in Australia, did in fact operate for them as an undercover police officer under the alias of John Barker.
Dines was employed by the… Continue reading
