We are delighted to have worked together with award-winning actor Maxine Peake and the Spycops Info Podcast to amplify the voice of ‘Jenny’, one of the women from our group who was deceived into an intimate, sexual relationship with Trevor Morris, the undercover police officer who infiltrated her political group.
This episode (#32) of the Spycops Info podcast, ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ features:
- The ‘hitter squad’ that never existed;
- The ‘firebomb plot’ against the BNP bookshop that didn’t happen;
- And how it feels to learn on Facebook that you’re one of two – or more? – notches on the bedpost of a self-styled ‘Black James Bond’
We asked Maxine Peake to voice Jenny’s interview which she recorded for the Spycops Info podcast after having given evidence to the Public Inquiry into Undercover Policing [UCPI]. Jenny had spent three days watching lawyers question former spycop Morris, who joined activist groups under the aliases Anthony Lewis, Bobby Lewis and Bobby McGee.
Hours before the Spycops Info interview, activist researchers discovered that Trevor Morris has carved out a whole new career, post-Metropolitan Police, as a self-published author and podcast host with a new alter ego – Carlton King, “the real-life James Bond”.
‘Jenny’ tells activist, inquiry witness and Spycops Info host Tom Fowler about her shock hearing her abuser’s lack of remorse for spying on Black family justice campaigns and left-wing activists – he even scolded the Met for its public apology to women its spycops deceived into sexual relationships.
Fowler’s interview explores Morris’ shocking claims to have thwarted a riot, a firebomb plot and plans by the group he infiltrated to form hitter squads to fight BNP racists on the streets. Multiple other witnesses to the Inquiry have quashed Morris’ claims.
But the interview also explores the emotional costs of discovering someone close to you was a police spy, about the stresses of giving evidence to a drawn-out, heavily unequal Public Inquiry and about the damage from both to people who’ve discovered that they were spied on by the state.
“The Inquiry reveals that spycops swept like trawlers through family justice campaigns, anti-racist groups and the UK left. No detail was too small to be recorded – by officers and handlers who still try to justify systematic intrusion. And that includes sexual intrusion. PSOOL knows of 60 women – and counting – that spycops deceived into intimate relationships. And because we haven’t seen our files we have no idea what made us targets. Behind Trevor Morris is a system of political policing that enabled him. The Inquiry must address this, give us disclosure –and make these abuses stop.” – ‘Jenny’
Maxine Peake voiced ‘Jenny’s’ vital testimony to protect her privacy. Peake is a long-time ally to women spied on by UK police. She stepped in when the UCPI refused to broadcast the hearings, offering only a rolling transcript with a ten-minute delay. Police Spies Out Of Lives (PSOOL) and Peake re-recorded the transcripts on YouTube so that members of the public could follow in almost real time.
On Day 13 of Tranche 1 Phase 1 when the first female undercover officer HN348 “Sandra” came to give evidence, Peake read her section of the transcript, whilst PSOOL members ‘Lisa‘ read the words of the lawyer and ‘Alison‘ read the Clerk & Chair. As result of this campaigning the UCPI now broadcasts at least the audio most of the time at the hearings.
Peake also helped to record PSOOL’s spoof spycops training manual, ‘Just Say No!’, a campaign to outlaw officers using and abusing intimate, sexual relationships while under cover.
The UCPI returns on Monday 30th September 2024 with Tranche 2 Phase 2. It will hear more evidence from undercover political police and from women they deceived, including ‘Jessica’, Belinda, and Helen Steel.
