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20 Apr, 5 tweets, 2 min read
#SpyCops who deceived women they spied on into relationships inflicted the most complete invasion of privacy that it is possible for the state to enact. That they, as individuals & an institution, are doing all they can to avoid truth & accountability is utterly despicable.
There are no police witnesses at the hearing. The Met say they're all too busy. Not only have they breached their obligation to hand over all relevant facts, police actually withdrew earlier admissions that they knew about Kennedy's relationship with Kate Wilson
#WeStandWithKate
It's the pattern we've seen in the 10+ years since we found out that #SpyCops existed, familiar to other victims of state wrongdoing. First they ignore it, then they may admit a little as damage limitation, but then clamp down and deny everything. It is institutional corruption.
The 'bad apples/ rogue officers' line is a proven lie. Why else would the police's entire institutional machinery automatically close ranks to protect wrongdoers if it thought they'd gone off mission & undermined the police's purpose & good name?
The complete lack of any #SpyCops whistleblowers beyond @realspycop is not only damning of the Met as an institution but of every individual officer who knows more than they're saying, siding with abusers against their victims, prolonging & compounding the damage they've done.

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More from @copscampaign

21 Apr
Finally today at the #SpyCopsInquiry, Oliver Sanders QC, representing 114 #SpyCops. Brace yourselves, his opening statement at the first Inquiry hearings was shocking, rowing back on matters of fact & responsibility the Met have long agreed & accepted campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2020/11/03/ucp…
Sanders reiterates Skelton's point that without complete evidence there can't be fully informed findings [all that shredding paying off now, huh?]. This is reliant on what MI5 retained & have supplied. Some officers remember reports & events that have no documents.
Of the fraction of material that survives, a fraction of that in turn is released to the public, and even then it's redacted [all that lobbying the Inquiry to keep things secret paying off now, huh?] so people get the wrong idea.
Read 30 tweets
21 Apr
Next up at the #SpyCopsInquiry this afternoon, Peter Skelton QC giving an opening statement on behalf of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.

Live-tweeting in a thread under this, or watch it yourself on live stream:
Skelton: The first Met opening statement at the Inquiry last year looked at what went wrong & what the value of undercover policing is. This one is just about the topic in hand, #SpyCops 1973-82.
We reiterate the #SpyCops were intel gathering, so we need to be wary of how we assess the work. We must judge by the standards of the time, not today. We don't have all the reports from the time, nor fresh memories. Also, remember some it was intended for MI5.
Read 25 tweets
21 Apr
Today's #SpyCopsInquiry hearing gets underway. First speaker is David Barr QC, Counsel to the Inquiry, who'll presumably be giving an overview of what we can expect in the next 3 weeks hearings about #SpyCops 1973-82
Barr: The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) #SpyCops unit was set up in 1968, initially to counter anti-Vietnam War protests in 1968 campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2018/03/17/spy…
Barr: Many early #SpyCops were only deployed for a few weeks or months, & were experienced Special Branch officers. Officers began to join social lives of activists.
Read 115 tweets
21 Apr
A new round of #SpyCopsInquiry hearings start today, running for the next 3 weeks, examining #SpyCops 1973-82. We'll be live tweeting every day (as will @tombfowler), & we'll publish daily & weekly summary reports on our website campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/ucpi-public-in…
The first 3 days are 'opening statements' which will be live streamed. From Monday, the #SpyCopsInquiry will take evidence from witnesses & it refuses to live stream these. Instead there will be an eye-straining live transcript, & for people in England & Wales a live audio stream
Today's hearing runs 10-4.15. Opening statements are from David Barr QC, Counsel to the Inquiry, who'll be introducing the new hearings. This afternoon we'll hear from Peter Skelton QC representing the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, & Oliver Sanders QC representing #SpyCops.
Read 6 tweets
19 Nov 20
This afternoon at the #SpycopsInquiry
we hear more from 'Peter Fredericks', #spycops officer HN345....
Join @out_of_lives
over on youtube for their read-along with another special guest: youtube.com/channel/UC9vFz…
@out_of_lives In regard to the Black Power activists
HN345 says he never witnessed any violence, or public disorder. He has no memory of the group committing criminal offences.
@out_of_lives Did they encourage disorder?
HN345 said this was “difficult to answer”, and seemed unable to give a coherent reply.
Read 59 tweets
19 Nov 20
This is outrageous. Earlier today we wondered if a lawyer reading a summary of a #spycops statement without anyone questioning what was said. @PeterSalmon7 has been over the full statements & found the #SpyCopsInquiry is glossing over important facts [thread]
This morning the #SpyCopsInquiry said officer HN339 'Stewart Goodman' was 'involved in a road traffic accident... which necessitated the involvement of his supervisors... [&] suspects this may have been a catalyst for the end of his deployment' [23:12]
The mention of the 'road traffic accident' was immediately preceded by the statement that, apart from flyposting, 'Goodman' was not involved in any other criminal activity while undercover. This is a lie. His own statement says he was driving drunk & wrote off his car.
Read 8 tweets

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