Secrets and lies: untangling the UK 'spy cops' scandal

Those duped into having relationships with undercover police are hoping for answers from the inquiry.

The existence of a squad of police officers sent deep undercover in political groups was so top secret that many of the UK's most senior officers were completely oblivious until they began reading reports in the Guardian 10 years ago.

When Lisa Jones - who uses a pseudonym - and her friends established that Kennedy was a police officer who had been spying on climate change activists, the story caused a firestorm, collapsing a major trial and quashing the convictions of environmental activists who had been prosecuted for conspiring to shut down one of the UK's biggest power stations.

Senior officers tried to quell the outcry, insisting Kennedy was merely a rogue officer. In fact, the opposite was true. Kennedy was just the latest foot soldier in a very long line of undercover police who had been routinely infiltrating political groups, mostly on the left, since as far back as 1968.

Police spying inquiry to examine targeting of UK black justice groups [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) October 28, 2020