Thread by @copscampaign

5 mins till today's #spycopsinquiry hearings begin - first up today, at 10:00am, is Phillippa Kaufmann QC.
She's speaking on behalf of 21 of the women who were deceived into relationships by #spycops officers

Mitting: has asked people not to name 'Carlo Neri' in their opening statements - on pain of not having their contribution live-streamed today

Phillippa is now asking for clarification about this. She will not be using Carlo's real name...

Phillippa Kaufmann QC, speaking on behalf of twenty one different women who were deceived by #spycops
They are represented by 3 different legal firms: Birnberg Peirce, @hjacivillibs and @hickmanandrose

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose Her written statement gives full details of each woman's story. She will be focussing today on the common issues and themes that the written statement addresses

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose We now know of more than 30 women who were deceived in this way – some of them are represented by other lawyers in this Inquiry – with the earliest case that we know of dating back to 1975 ('Mary' and 'Rick Gibson')

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose It's likely that there are still other women out there who are yet to discover that their personal lives were infiltrated in the same way. The extensive anonymity given to former #spycops by this Inquiry means that these women will continue to be denied the truth.

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose This will also hamper the inquiry from reaching the truth.
Most of the women who were deceived were involved to some degree with political or campaigning activity challenging oppression and injustice and seeking a better, more sustainable world.

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose Such political freedom of speech and protest is the bedrock of democratic societies across the world, protected by both international and domestic law

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose Some of the women were not themselves political, but happened to be useful to officers giving them ‘cover’ to gain entry to, or maintain ties with, political groups with whom the woman had friendships

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose To the extent that there was any 3 legitimate policing interest at all in the groups with which the women were involved, it is out of all proportion to the devastation inflicted by the infiltration of their bodies, emotional lives, families and homes.

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose These relationships amounted to the most serious violations of the women’s human rights, including their rights to privacy, to freedom of expression and association and most significantly, their right not to be subject to inhuman and degrading treatment, a right which is absolute

@HJAcivillibs @hickmanandrose Phillippa made it very clear: “There was -and could be – no lawful excuse for such seriously abusive relationships.”

These deceitful relationships can never be justified and it's insulting to suggest otherwise

Talk turned to the 'institutional sexism' that drove this practice – itself a reflection of deeply sexist attitudes that pervaded the police in general, & the #spycops units in particular.
The women were treated as objects, as props to shore up the officers' fake identities.

It was overwhelmingly women that were affected by this.
The police's sexist attitudes didn't just impact the women they spied on in this way, but also the wives of the #spycops – there seems to have been no consideration or respect of their rights either.

We know that this was a deliberate tactic: deploying married officers was thought to reduce the risk of them 'going rogue' – defecting from the police.

More about some of the women
'Lizzie' met Mike Chitty and began a relationship in 1985
He disappeared suddenly, 'to Florida', then reappeared and tried to restart the relationship

'Belinda' had a two-year relationship with Bob Lambert. During this time she tried to persuade him not to take part in the Debenhams arson action

Helen Steel spent years looking for John Dines after he vanished from her life.

'Denise' had a relationship with 'Matt Rayner' between 1991-94. 'Bea' had a relationship with 'Bobby Lewis in 1992-93'. She didn't find out till 2019 that he had been one of the #spycops

'Jessica' was just 19 when she was deceived by Andy Coles - he is now a Conservative Party councillor in #Peterborough

'Alison' was involved in the Colin Roach centre when she met Mark Cassidy - they ended up living together

'Monica' and 'Ruth' were both involved in Reclaim the Streets when they were deceived by 'Jim Sutton'

Phillippa will go into more detail about 'Rosa' later

'James Straven' deceived three women: Wendy, Sara and Ellie.
He lied to this Inquiry not once but twice about his contact with Ellie

She represents five of the women who were deceived by 'Mark Stone' - who we now know to be Mark Kennedy.
This includes Kate Wilson, 'Lisa' (who had a committed six-year relationship with him and uncovered his true identity in 2010), 'Naomi', 'C' and 'Jane'

By the time 'C' got involved with Kennedy, he had already started working for a private security firm, Global Open

'Maya' met 'Rob Harrison' and began a relationship in May 2006 - he was manipulative and controlling - he disappeared from her life but then reappeared, sending her messages for years

Phillippa would like to go into more detail about 'Rosa' - who was deceived by 'Jim Sutton' - he disappeared suddenly from her life in the summer of 2000, after behaving erratically bizarrely and sometimes abusively

He told her that he was going to go off travelling by himself - to Turkey etc. He phoned Rosa and sent her a postcard... she was so worried about his safety that she contacted the Foreign Office

'Rosa' turned detective, and tracked down some phone numbers - she called the numbers but the men who answered seemed alarmed by her seeking Jim. She searched for years, but couldn't find any trace of 'Jim Sutton'

By the summer of 2001, she was so worried that she travelled all the way to South Africa looking for 'Jim Sutton' - he emailed her saying "you won't find me there; you'll be closer to me in London"

He manipulated her dreadfully - asking that she continue writing to him - so he and his handlers could track her?
She became increasingly worried and paranoid, unsurprisingly.

She used her savings trying to identify him. She worked out his real name (Jim Boyling) and found his school records. Her weight dropped and her health suffered

It appears that she got dangerously close to discovering the truth – she managed to find one of the places the SDS used as a base (in Camberwell, South London) – and so Jim was sent back into her life as suddenly as he'd vanished.

He told 'Rosa' that he was an undercover officer, but also told her that he now hated the police/ needed her help to escape them. She was already suffering serious psychological trauma, which he exploited. He groomed her, got her pregnant & set about establishing coercive control

He convinced her to change her name by deed poll, he isolated her from her old friends/ life. Despite his promises, he continued working for the police, alongside Bob Lambert at the Muslim Contact Unit

He told 'Rosa' that her old activist community was riddled with #spycops and told her about Helen Steel's being spied on by multiple officers, including John.

'Rosa' wanted to work out a way of getting a message to Helen Steel. Jim's behaviour had got worse, more erratic, more abusive, but 'Rosa' felt trapped - she now had two children and Women's Aid said they couldn't guarantee that a safe house would be safe

Things got worse... Jim arranged for them to 'marry' at a registry office, the children were diagnosed with serious long-term health conditions, and suddenly 'Rosa' received a 'welfare visit' from two of Jim's police colleagues...

One of them was Bob Lambert, the other was an unpleasant character called 'Noel' who threatened her with the full weight of Special Branch. 'Rosa' finally found the courage to flee in 2007

She finally got a letter passed to Helen Steel in 2010, and was finally able to meet up with activists later that year. Jim remained a police officer until 2018, after a disciplinary hearing

The papers from that case show some of the lies and inconsistencies told by Jim, to his managers as well as to 'Rosa'. He claimed that she was "an apolitical waitress" when they met - while in another report he describes her as a "political organiser"

'Rosa' wonders to what extent will this Inquiry be able to understand the abuses committed by these #spycops units

Another topics that has been glossed over so far is the central role played by the women in bringing the #spycops scandal to light. This is yet another exmaple of sexism - women portayed as victims rather than those who did the work to uncover the truth of these relationships

Mark Kennedy's cover was blown by 'Lisa' - she found a passport in his real name, and references to a child. policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/li…

Having heard from other protestors about the doubts & suspicions around 'Jim Sutton', 'Lynn Watson' & 'Rod Richardson', 'Lisa' did more research to uncover who Mark really was. His cover was finally blown when she confronted him and got him to admit the truth.

Some research had already been done by 'Rosa' and Helen Steel, both of whom had been trying to figure out the truth about their relationships with #spycops – Helen had been deceived into a relationship by 'John Barker' in 1990-92, while she was active in London Greenpeace.

These women used their persistence and skill, and their own resources. They uncovered information that brought them very close to the truth

Helen spent long years trying to find John, and even travelled to New Zealand as part of her search. She worked out that he must have been a police officer, but people told her she was paranoid, “that such a thing would never happen in this country”.

These women included 'Rosa' and Helen and 'Lisa', but also 'Belinda' and 'Alison.
It was clear that 'Mark Cassidy' had also been a police officer.
By 2011 some of the women began legal proceedings...

The women strongly believe that there are too many similarities between their cases to make it credible that these relationships were the result of individual officers lacking adequate supervision - there are obvious patterns of behaviour, of techniques used

The women are able to spot patterns and see these similarities. This is why this Inquiry must allow them to participate meaningfully in the process and get to the truth

This Inquiry should be giving the women the answers they need to hear, not exarcebating the damage already done to them.
Kate Wilson has brought a case in the Investigatory Powers Tribunal

She pointed out that "the only reason these officers entered my life is that I was exercising my right to protest" - she believes that this is a deliberate tactic used by the police.

She has received very limited/redacted disclosure via the IPT, but even this has shed more light on what happened to her than anything else so far.

"The truth is like an onion - there are layers and layers to peel away". The Inquiry needs the assistance of the victims of these abuses if it to have any chance of getting to the truth

These were social and environmental campaigners, not terrorists. Even if they had been, this practice of forming relationships is inherently sexist, degrading, and cannot be justified

These women fell in love, with men who were '"seemingly perfect".
The exit strategies used by #spycosp officers were cruel, caused huge amounts of worry and fear, and all of these women have been left dealing with massive trauma.

"My partner was placed into my life to deceive me by an employer who would inevitably one day pull him out" said 'Lisa'.
"This has shattered my trust in people, and my ability to judge character"

The women describe the deep pain caused by these officers, many years later. They talk about losing their trust, their sense of self, their sadness and grief, their anger, the debilitating effects, how this news has affected them, the impossibility of finding closure

"When the State has put an imposter in your life" that is hugely destabilising.

Almost all of the women no longer feel able to participate in the campaigns and movemnets that were such an important part of their lives

Their ability to trust has been shattered.
These abuses have had an impact on their ability to form and maintain relationships ever since, and an impact on their families and friends, and especially on their children.

Quoting one of the women, "it has distorted my perceptions of love and of sex, and had a massive impact on my political activity"

Phillippa has recommenced...
The #spycops used a range of techniques to deceive and manipulate these women - including 'mirroring', emotional manipulation - and there are many questions about what info was shared amongst the unit when they were building their legends

Each of the women has a story to tell - of how attentive and loving the officers were - of the intensity of the relationships they formed - many of them proposed marriage and children [even though they already had these in their real lives]

The #spycops told sob stories of loss and bereavement, playing on the women's emotions - this was a tactic.

The MPS say that they're 'keen to cooperate' with this Inquiry
but have not really shifted in their attitude or behaviour since this scandal first broke - their obstructive tactics have prolonged and compounded the damage to the women

From Kate Wilson's IPT case, we know that to get to the truth, we need disclosure - the women must be given their pink/red 'registry' files - only with these will they be able to unpick the info

Initially, the MPS said they would make disclosure - they then changed their mind and said that the case would have to be dealt with by the IPT [a super-secret court]

The police's next tactic was to create a policy of 'Neither Confirm Nor Deny' (NCND) when asked about any of these officers.
The women brought common law claims but the Met claimed they would be unable to defend them due to NCND.

This legal battle has been running for many years - the women have had to repeatedly challenge the police and their reliance on NCND. The police then admitted that some of these men were #spycops but argued that the relationships were entered into consensually

Eventually, mediation took place, in December 2014 and June 2015, resulting in the infamous public apology from the @metpoliceuk but still no disclosure - it accepted that the behaviour was unacceptable and that the relationships were "abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong"

The police have continued to claim that such relationships may be justifiable, especially if they are 'casual', despite the public aplogy being very clear that they are wrong and unacceptable.

The @metpoliceuk continues to try to prevent these claims from going through court, any disclosure to the women affected.
However they have now admitted - in the IPT - that Kennedy's cover officer & managers knew about his relationship with Kate Wilson, and acquiesced with it.

Kate has now received around 20,000 heavily-redacted items for her case - estimated to be about 20% of the material the IPT has on her - and she has already spotted many inaccuracies, examples of mismanagement, police prejudices etc in the material

Everyone who comes into contact with the groups being spied on is considered fair game for this kind of intrusion - what Kate describes as "thought crime policing"

It has now been established that Kate's Art 8 human rights were breached by the #spycops. She was spied on and reported on by a number of officers, not just by Mark Kennedy.
The implication is that potentially 100s of other people's human rights have been breached in the same way

The police are "desperate not to account, let alone publicly, for the damage done to these women". Human rights breaches were committed over an extended period of time, but the police have retained control over both the information, and the Inquiry into these abuses.

The women’s need for answers is no less burning now than it was when they first suspected or learned the truth.

They need definitive answers (about what was done to them and
why; who authorised, condoned or acquiesced in it; who knew about it; what information was shared and recorded about them; and what will be done to stop it happening to others)

They need to know whether personal
information about their most intimate lives is still on a file somewhere.
They need definitive answers, that they can have confidence in, as to whether anyone else in their lives was a UCO.
They need to know
that it won’t happen again.

The lack of disclosure has served to compound the trauma suffered by the #spycops victims.

Phillippa noted the self-pity of Boyling mentioned in last week's submissions from the police.
She says he, and the other,s should consider themselves lucky that criminal law views rape through a profoundly male-centred gaze
[the CPS has refused to charge these men with rape]

The women have waited for over 5 years for answers.
The extent/ scope of the restriction orders granted means that they are never likely to know the full extent of the intrusion into their lives, how many #spycops were involved in their lives, or knew of the relationships

Was this targeting influenced by sexism?
The Inquiry must look at the institutional culture - that exploration cannot take place in a vaccum - it will need careful evauation and judgement - a subjective assessment.

The women of @out_of_lives endorse the concerns expressed by others last week:
that the #InstitutionalRacism and #InstitutionalSexism that led to these abuses must be explored by people with the expertise & skills to do so

@out_of_lives For this reason the Chair should accept the assistance of a diverse panel.
The Chair's limited life experiences mean that he cannot possibly understand the evidence he is presented with and gain a thorough understanding of the truth.

@out_of_lives The women have had to discuss deeply personal matters with lawyers over the years. The women have had an incredibly stressful experience of participating in these cases and in this Inquiry

@out_of_lives The women’s concerns also come from a lack of sensitivity in the Inquiry’s failure to recognise the urgency of the need for disclosure in the case of the women; in the
manner in which ‘Lizzie’ and ‘Sara’ were notified that men they had intimate relationships with were #spycops

As stated, the women remain involved because they are impelled to know the truth and stop this happening again to other women. But the cost of their doing so is incalculable and it is important that the Inquiry fully understands this.

All the women need to be shown bythe @ucpinquiry that it recognises & appreciates what they are going through in order to help this Inquiry get to the truth

@ucpinquiry The law must be changed to prohibit #spycops from engaging in intimate sexual relationships while in their undercover persona.

@ucpinquiry Phillippa Kaufmann QC has ended her opening statement there. Mitting thanked the women for sharing the details of their cases.
We'll be hearing more after lunch.

@ucpinquiry In the meantime, you can read more of the women's stories - told in their own words - at policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/
Follow @out_of_lives for more news about their continued campaigning.