By Tom Fowler, reposted from: https://ko-fi.com/post/The-inquiry-returns-in-July-F1F4YOAFN
International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC)
Tranche two, phase one of the Undercover Policing Inquiry commences from Monday 1st July 2024 at the International Dispute Resolution Centre (IDRC), 1 Paternoster Lane, St. Paul’s, London, EC4M 7BQ. This tranche of proceedings will be concerned with the deployment of the Special Demonstration Squad officers and managers between 1983 and 1992.
This tranche is split into two phases that have been arbitrarily divided by the inquiry, with the first phase only lasting one month, finishing by Wednesday 31st July 2024. Phase two is due to start on Monday 30th September 2024, we’ll look at all that closer to the time.
This set of hearings will be held Monday through Thursday and will be streamed on youtube, though much of it will not be live, and if previous sessions are anything to go by, may be subject to further restriction at short notice.
The first few days will be opening statements from the Council to the Inquiry, followed by the lawyers representing the various core participants, from the Metropolitan Police, Home Office and former officers, to the civilian members of the public who were spied on.
This will then be followed by several weeks of evidential hearings which will include the questioning of ten former undercover officers:
▪ HN19 – real name restricted, alias “Malcolm Shearing”, who was deployed between 1981 and 1985 infiltrating the Revolutionary Communist Party and the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). Once arrested and cautioned for fly-posting, he was known as ‘The Man with the Van‘.
▪ HN25 – real name restricted, alias “Kevin Douglas”, who was deployed between 1987 and 1991 infiltrating the Troops Out Movement.
▪ HN33/HN98 – real name restricted, alias “Kathryn Lesley ‘Lee’ Bonser”, who was deployed between 1983 and 1987 infiltrating the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp and Socialist Workers Party. Only the second woman undercover officer to be called to give evidence at the inquiry, it is claimed she was the only undercover deployed into her target group.
▪ HN56 – real name restricted, alias “Alan ‘Nick’ Nicholson”, who was deployed between 1990 and 1991 infiltrating the British National Party. The first infiltrator of the far right called by the inquiry. His lawyers claim “his level of infiltration was comparatively superficial”.
▪ HN65 – real name restricted, alias “John Kerry”, who was deployed between 1980 and 1984 infiltrating the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Do you recognise ‘John Kerry’, the police spy placed in CND’s head office?
▪ HN78 – real name Trevor Morris, alias “Anthony ‘Bobby’ Lewis”, who was deployed between 1991 and 1995 infiltrating the Anti-Nazi League and Socialist Workers Party. The first known black officer in the SDS, he spied on the family of Stephen Lawrence and had a year-long relationship with activist ‘Bea’ during his deployment and of having a sexual encounter with ‘Jenny’.
▪ HN85 – real name Roger Pearce, alias “Roger Thorley”, who was deployed between 1979 and 1984, infiltrating Freedom Press and other anarchist groups He went onto become Commander of Special Branch and Director of Intelligence for the Met.
▪ HN88 – real name restricted, alias “Timothy Spence”, who was deployed between 1983 and 1987, infiltrating Hackney Campaign Against the Police Bill and the Stoke Newington and Hackney Defence Campaign. Do you remember Hackney spycop Tim Spence?
▪ HN90 – real name restricted, alias “Mark Kerry”, who was deployed between 1988 and 1992 infiltrating City of London Anti-Apartheid Group and the Socialist Workers Party.
▪ HN122 – real name restricted, alias “Neil Richardson”, who was deployed between 1989 and 1993 infiltrating Class War and the Revolutionary Communist Party. He stole the identity of Neil Robin Martin who died age 6, using the first and middle names, and date of birth to create his undercover identity.
The running order has not been announced, and there has been not yet been a confirmed list of civilian witnesses whose evidence hearings will precede the questioning of the police.
I’ll be attending all the hearings and will be giving a running commentary to all the proceedings, posting on twitter during the hearings themselves [alongside Police Spies Out Of Lives], broadcasting live reaction videos in the facebook group (and probably elsewhere – any suggestions?) during the breaks, with new podcast episodes in the evenings of notable days. I’ll pop up on any other platform that is willing to talk to me about it too (get in touch if you want me to appear on your podcast/at your event or suggest me as a guest to someone else).
As always I’ll be bringing in as many other voices by those affected and others following the inquiry. Please help raise awareness of the revelations as they come out, I’ll be sharing all the coverage at every opportunity, any support gratefully received.
Without the assistance of people on this site I would not have been able to cover all the hearings so far, and I’ll need help to keep covering it into the future. Thank you to everyone who has been part of making sure the significance of these glimpses into the mostly hidden world of secret policing do not go unnoticed. Join in the conversation, tagging #spycops on any social media.
