Day 4 of phase 2 of #SpyCopsInquiry, due to start at 12 noon.
I am keeping an eye on the hearings and will tweet some key points, but am not covering comprehensively.
Today, two activists targetted by #spycops due to be called: Diane Langford and Norman Temple.
I am keeping an eye on the hearings and will tweet some key points, but am not covering comprehensively.
Today, two activists targetted by #spycops due to be called: Diane Langford and Norman Temple.
Diane Langford describes #spycop “Dave Robertson” in witness statement to #SpyCopsInqujiry: “I quite liked him. He was very ingratiating and bluff….
“He’d regularly buy us rounds in the pub and generally tried to be obliging.”
“He’d regularly buy us rounds in the pub and generally tried to be obliging.”
“Dave Roberston” infiltrated the Britain Vietnam Solidarity Front, but the group had suspicions about him, Diane Langford tells #SpyCopsInquiry.
He made “inconsistent comments about his employment”.
“His lack of involvement at meetings had already raised eyebrows.”
He made “inconsistent comments about his employment”.
“His lack of involvement at meetings had already raised eyebrows.”
Diane Langford on #spycop “Dave Robertson” in statement to #SpyCopsInquiry: “We couldn’t be 100 per cent certain that he was a spy, and in any event he was quite useful. He carried banners, gave us lifts etc. We just treated him as a bit of a joke.”
“Dave's cover was properly blown at an Indo-China Solidarity meeting,” recalls Diane Langford on #spycop “Dave Robertson”.
She went to the meeting with a friend, Ethel, who was not an activist but recognised “Dave”...
She went to the meeting with a friend, Ethel, who was not an activist but recognised “Dave”...
“He immediately pulled her away, forcefully by the wrist. She did not return. I will never forget her confused expression,” Diane Langford on #spycop “Dave Robertson”...
“The next few days at work Ethel wouldn't talk to me... Eventually she explained. She said that Dave lived in the same block of flats as her at West End Lane and that it was common knowledge among other tenants in the block that the flat he occupied was a ‘police flat’...”
Diane Langford on #spycop “Dave Robertson”: “He had told her that if she said anything to me about his true identity that something bad would happen to her family in Ireland.
“She was clearly terrified by his threat and it was very courageous of her to tell me.”
“She was clearly terrified by his threat and it was very courageous of her to tell me.”
“This incident completely changed my perception of him… He was no longer the person we had assumed to be, a fairly bland, hapless police officer but a far more ruthless figure performing a sinister role. I never saw him again.”
Diane Langford on outed #spycop “Dave Robertson”.
Diane Langford on outed #spycop “Dave Robertson”.
Diane Langford did not know, until she received disclosure from #SpyCopsInquiry, that a fellow member of the Women Liberation Front was a #spycop, possibly using the name, “Sandra Davies”.
“It feels incredibly violating to know that [she] entered my family home to spy on me.”
“It feels incredibly violating to know that [she] entered my family home to spy on me.”
Diane Langford on learning of #spycop in Women’s Liberation Front: “I felt gaslighted and experienced cognitive dissonance when I realised that a woman, pretending to be an ally, violated my family space by lying to us and spying on women working to improve all women's lives.”
Diana Langford outlines a series of complaints in her statement about how #SpyCopsInquiry has treated her.
For example, she says that when inquiry first contacted her it failed to mention that she could apply for publicly-funded legal advice.
For example, she says that when inquiry first contacted her it failed to mention that she could apply for publicly-funded legal advice.
Norman Temple was part of the Irish National Liberation Solidarity Front in 1970-1, he tells #SpyCopsInquiry.
#Spycop “Alex Sloan” had infiltrated the group, says Temple, but members later accused him of being an undercover police officer.
#Spycop “Alex Sloan” had infiltrated the group, says Temple, but members later accused him of being an undercover police officer.
On infiltration of the Irish National Liberation Solidarity Front by #spycops, Norman Temple tells #SpyCopsInquiry in his witness statement: “I can understand why the police would be interested in the INLSF. Ireland was definitely a hot political topic.”
Report on Day 4 of phase 2 of #SpyCopsInquiry in The Guardian... #spycop David Robertson terrified woman with “nasty” threat of violence to her family after he feared that she would unmask him. theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/a…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
