Thread by @copscampaign

This afternoon's #SpyCopsInquiry hearing will start just after 2pm.
If you'd like to see a moving transcript of what is said (10 mins after it's said) you can watch this on
#spycops
Or follow our and @tombfowler 's tweets...

@tombfowler David Barr (Counsel to the #SpycopsInquiry ) took us back to the Star & Garter hotel car-park.

HN298 – using the cover name 'Michael Scott' – was arrested at this demo, blocking the British Lions rugby team bus (they were about to head off on a tour of apartheid South Africa).

@tombfowler HN298 claims to have been in the road at the time of his arrest. He has no recollection of his actions on the day, but says he “would have been going through the motions” (of participating in the direct action).

@tombfowler He was summonsed to appear at the Magistrates Court on 14th May.
He did not inform anyone at the court that 'Michael Scott' was not his real name.
He was not told of anyone else doing so.

@tombfowler He doesn't remember what plea was entered at that first court appearance but says “I believe we all voted.. all pleaded not guilty”

<a rare example of a former #spycop remembering his participation in voting?>

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/m…

We saw [MPS-0526782] a report of this hearing. All the defendants pled Not Guilty and were bailed to return to court in June. According to the report, they intended to apply for legal aid.

@tombfowler HN298's written statement says that he “went along with the not guilty plea” as he said “I did not want to make waves”. He explained that it “would have been crazy to plead guilty” as this would have blown his cover.

@tombfowler He doesn't know what his managers thought about all this. “It was never mentioned, as far as I was concerned”.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[MPS-0737109]

According to this report, 13 people attended a meeting at Jonathan Rosenhead's home on 21st May.

@tombfowler Authored by HN298, this report was signed off by one of the #spycops managers, HN294. He does not recall any discussions with the unit's managers about this legal case.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[MPS-0737108]
This includes advice given to the group of defendants by Ben Birnberg.Again, no recollection of the managers commenting on this.

@tombfowler The report went on to say that it was alleged that Birnberg “was only interested in the money”, and that the group went on to discuss setting up a legal defence fund. Again, HN298 does not remember much.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/m…
[MPS-0526782] is a Memo from HN294 to Commander 'Operations' just after the trial in June 1972.
It says that “in the event it was not necessary for our man ti apply for legal aid”.
HN298 does not remember.

@tombfowler “To the best of my knowledge” HN298 says that the court was not informed that he was an undercover police officer. Neither was the prosecution. Or the defence. Or his co-defendants.

@tombfowler He went through this trial under the fake name 'Michael Peter Scott'. He does not recall giving evidence (beyond his name, which he imagines he must have done).

@tombfowler He was found guilty (of obstructing both the highway and the police) and was fined. He thinks he would have claimed this under his #spycops expenses.

@tombfowler Some of his co-defendants opted for trial in the Crown Court. This took place on 12th July. HN298 is adamant that he did not attend court on this day.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/m…
On p7 of this report [MPS-0526782] we are told “HN298 was faced with a difficult decision” when he joined this protest, but had “the impression that other, perhaps more nefarious, activities would be attempted if the current demonstration was successful”

@tombfowler Asked if he could have avoided arrest, he mumbled, and said “there would be no point in going to a demonstration...” and not taking part in what the group was doing.

@tombfowler On page 2 of this document, his manager asks for advice from his superiors – should HN298 be allowed to continue attending the defendants' meetings/ taking part in the trial, or...

@tombfowler disappear from the political scene, therefore losing all the potential for intelligence-gathering from what is described as “a troublesome area of the public order field”?

@tombfowler Ernest Rodker is described:

“this man has been a thorn in the flesh for several years now, having had no fewer than 14 court appearances for offences involving public order”

@tombfowler HN298 says he was not told that a senior Special Branch officer had praised him for his “refreshing initiative”, and did not receive much feedback from his managers at all.

@tombfowler He does remember Rodker:
“I would say that he was quite an intelligent man, and he was probably quite a good organiser, and therefore he was able to organise things that were disruptive and were an irritation to the police”.

@tombfowler Rodker was also careful about security.
HN298 remembers there was no opportunity for him (or anyone else) to slip off, make phone calls etc after that organising meeting.

@tombfowler This Memo from the DAC to Commander 'Operations' [MPS-0526782] describes HN298's arrests as “one of the hazards associated with the valuable type of work he is doing”.

HN298 agrees that this was an inevitable hazard, “part of the job really”

@tombfowler Was any thought given to the possibility of the real 'Michael Scott' gaining a criminal record if he was convicted by the court. HN29 sought to downplay this, saying it wasn't a big deal.

It would mean very little really” claimed HN298.

@tombfowler He chuckled as he stated that he had never thought of himself as somebody with a criminal record, and had never declared this conviction in later life.

@tombfowler He also infiltrated the West Cross Action Group (WCAG). HN298 says he can “vaguely remember” this group.

He says that as they protested about a road, this meant there was a possibility they would do something to stop it and therefore they would be of interest to the police.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[UCPI0000008258]
The next report is of a meeting of this group, in June 1972. 16 people, many of them Young Liberals, attended – it was held in the Hains' living room.

@tombfowler He was asked to explain why he had described the group in these terms. He was also asked about the reference to 'Box 500' Did he know that his reports were going to the security service at the time?

@tombfowler I expected that many of these reports did. In fact, I suspect that many of the reports I've seen were actually written by them” replied HN298.

@tombfowler He admitted that he was present in the Hains' living room but adds bizarrely that”other people may well have been there as well”

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[UCPI0000008260]

The next WCAG meeting report is from a different activist's home. According to the report, it was likely that members of the group would go out painting roads nearby at night.

@tombfowler HN298 talked about the “nuisance value” of protests and insisted that this warranted the police's operations.
“That's what we have the police for: to look after us” (!)

@tombfowler Was the Irish Solidarity Campaign violent?
No.
Were they supportive of people who were?
Probably so, yes

@tombfowler HN298 confirmed that this 'support' was largely confined to words (and possibly funds) but said that some individuals were “connected to “ the IRA.

@tombfowler He doesn't remember how he came to target the ISC. “I guess I just slid into it”
This led to him reporting on the Anti Internment League as well.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

[MPS-0728845] details a speaker at the AIL's national conference, talking about the “tentacles of capitalism” and indicating his support for the IRA;s bombing campaign.

@tombfowler HN298 admitted that the AIL attracted all sorts of people, and they didn't all support 'blowing things up'.

@tombfowler The report went on to say that two members of the IMG had taken over leadership roles in the AIL.

HN298 explained why this sort of intelligence was important to Special Branch.

@tombfowler 'Bob Stuffs' was a South West London delegate at this conference. HN298 says he does not remember.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

This report
[UCPI0000007991] mentions the Troops Out Movement (TOM)

@tombfowler HN298 said that TOM was not violent, and did not seek to overthrow parliamentary democracy.

Asked why Special Branch would have spied on them, HN298 said this campaign was “anti-troops” and so this made them a fair target.

@tombfowler Gerry Lawless was said to have accused HN298 of being a police officer – at a TOM meeting possibly, says the Inquiry.
HN298 disputes this saying it was “nothing to do with TOM”.

@tombfowler He agreed that the IMG had an interest in TOM, and that Special Branch had an interest in the IMG.

In the case of Gerry Lawless, he was Irish of course, and he was “a problem wherever he went”.

@tombfowler “He was just a nasty individual, actually” HN298 went on
“and he was believed to be working for the Irish security service, so...”

@tombfowler “She was Irish, and a very simple woman” he says of the landlady at his cover address.

He recalled a chance encounter nearby – seeing Gerry in a phone box – which led to a physical confrontation.

@tombfowler “I punched him on the nose”
HN298 laughed as he remembered this incident, claiming that Lawless went to take off his belt to hit him back, and “wasn't injured especially”

@tombfowler He told us that he went straight over and opened the door, surprising Lawless.

“He was contained in the phone box” HN298 recalled how this confrontation turned into a violent physical attack on this activist.

@tombfowler HN298 says he did all this as part of an act – “cold and calculated” in that he had decided in his mind that he had to do something about these allegations (of him being an undercover) – and was essential in order to make everyone believe that these were false allegations.

@tombfowler He broke a bone in his hand, so attended the group's next meeting in a bandage.

@tombfowler He was asked if anyone else in the unit had discussed this kind of event (being accused of being an undercover) in advance of this incident? No.

Barr asked if this meant HN298 “was acting entirely off your own bat in deciding to confront and hit Gerry Lawless?” Yes

@tombfowler He does not recall any opinions or instructions from his managers. He cannot recall the reactions of his colleagues.

@tombfowler What made him think it was acceptable to commit this violent crime during his deployment? Barr asked.
HN298 refused to accept that this was in fact a crime of violence: “I don't think so, no”

@tombfowler “I felt I had to do it”
Almost fifty years later, he still thinks that it was entirely OK to have done this to Gerry Lawless, seemingly because he was a 'problem'.

@tombfowler Throughout this section of the evidence, Mitting is visible on-screen.
Many of those in the hearing room have complained that he does not appear to be taking this #spycops criminality very seriously - "if he was wearing a mask we wouldn't be able to see him smirking" says one.

@tombfowler Mitting popped up on screen after the break to clarify something.

He thinks that at least one defendant opted for Crown court trial in July 1972 – the person who was charged with driving offences

@tombfowler He thinks that the other activists may have contemplated going to the administrative court instead – he thinks it unlikely that a multi-person trial could have been arranged so quickly in the crown court, even if the charges were 'try-able' in either court.

@tombfowler The Inquiry Legal Team will check this.

@tombfowler The Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) were “worthy of note” says HN298. “Potentially quite dangerous” he says – having reported on this group.

@tombfowler We were shown one example [UCPI 0000006961] from 1975 – about a march being organised from Hull to Liverpool
ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

@tombfowler HN303 also reported on the WRP. HN298 was aware of his deployment, between 1973-77. He spent some of this time spying on a right-wing group, on behalf of the WRP.

HN298 recalls meeting with HN303 at the SDS safe house

@tombfowler He says he was not aware of this extra deployment (into the far-right) and in fact says the two men never even discussed their shared experience of infiltrating the WRP.

@tombfowler He was asked about 'White Meadows' – a WRP training camp in Dartmoor – but has no memory of discussing this with HN303.

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

There are many reports on the WRP, including [UCPI0000012752]
This is about a meeting at the Adelphi hotel in Liverpool on 29th June 1975.
There is much talk of the Shrewsbury Two case.

@tombfowler Does HN298 recall the WRP campaigning about this case? No
Does he remember attending demos at the trial in 1973? HWN298 says if the trial was in Liverpool, no. However, it didn't take place in Liverpool – it took place in Shrewsbury Crown Court.

@tombfowler HN298 does not remember the Wigan building workers action committee marches in 1975. He does not remember meeting Des Warren

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

[UCPI 000000 6931]
This report is dated March 1975, and mentions “sleeping WRP members”

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[UCPI0000007111]

HN298 was asked why this kind of personal information (about the wedding of two activists) was reported on in this way. “well it's important to know when members change their name by marriage and who they're married to” was HN298's excuse

@tombfowler ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

Looking at this next report [UCPI0000007176] Barr asked “were you aware of entryism (by the WRP into the Labour Party young socialists)?
HN298 said he wasn't surprised - “it's parr for the course really”.

@tombfowler We heard about a WRP course at their education centre in Dartmoor, 'White Meadows'.

HN298 was invited -at very short notice- to attend such a course. He says he was orginally authorised to attend by his senior officers.

@tombfowler We heard that this authorisation was revoked (by very senior officers) during that weekend. He claims not to have been informed of this.

@tombfowler He produced an extremely detailed report. However he doesn't recognise the one in the Bundle as his own work. He says that his report was 34 pages long. Barr asked if this shorter report might have been based on his work? It's possible.

@tombfowler We know that Rollo Watts said at the time that it was “very good work and the operation was to be congratulated”. The security service also appreciated this report.

HN298 says none of this positive feedback filtered back to him.

@tombfowler This was shortly before the end of his SDS deployment – his report was referred to as a 'swan song” in the managers' documentation.

“I was kicked off basically, that was it” HN298 recalls the end of his time in the SDS.

@tombfowler There is another organisation – the All Trades Union Alliance – mentioned in relation to HN298. He says these reports were not his work.

@tombfowler Asked about his deployment, HN298 could only think of one occasion of public disorder.
He reminisced about somebody wearing a bowler hat at a demo, trying to hit people with an umbrella.

@tombfowler Barr moved on to ask some questions about Mike Ferguson, another of the #spycops during this era.
HN298 asked if Ferguson was now deceased, and was told that he was.

@tombfowler He says he heard that Mike had some involvement with the Stop The Seventy Tour; he says he didn't know much about his work in the anti-apartheid movement but is sure his managers were aware.

@tombfowler Does HN298 remember Piers Corbyn – why did he report on him?
“He was just there, I suppose”.
As a member of the IMG Corbyn would have been of interest to Special Branch.

@tombfowler How did HN298 manage his long deployment?
Did he soclalise much with those he spied on?
Most of the meetings were held in pubs, so he attended those. He didn't go out on other dates/ social events with the activists. He says he's not really a drinker.

@tombfowler He says he was friendly with people, as this made it more likely that he's get information from them.
You don't need a long time to build up a rapport with someone.

@tombfowler He didn't think that he had to get very close to people in order to do his job, and says that there were dangers in getting too close to targets.

@tombfowler The Inquiry legal team came back to tell us that they had fact-checked the details of those convictions. It appears that Rosenhead and Rodker went down the Divisional Court route before being convicted in the Magistrates court.

@tombfowler We are now having another short break, before returning for HN298 to be asked some more questions on behalf of other core partipants

@tombfowler You can read HN298's written witness statement for yourself: ucpi.org.uk/wp-content/upl…
#spycops
#SpyCopsInquiry

@tombfowler According to his witness statement he was not given any guidance about creating a fake cover identity.

@tombfowler There was only one follow-up question for this witness.
He had gone to Somerset House in the past to collect info on behalf of Special Branch: is this why he chose this method of providing himself with a cover name? Yes, he confirmed.

@tombfowler HN298's evidence has now finished.
Next we are hearing about 'Mary' - another woman who was deceived by one of the #SpyCops

@tombfowler This is being read out by a member of the Inquiry team - see
#SpyCops

@tombfowler ‘Mary’ is one of the women who was deceived into a relationship with ‘Rick Gibson’ (HN297) early in his deployment
powerbase.info/index.php/Rick…

@tombfowler The Inquiry has asked her if she remembered other undercover officers activ as well ‘David Hughes,' Jim Pickford' and 'Gary Roberts.'

‘Mary’ said she sadly she can’t be of help without further information, disclosure or contemporaneous photographs.

@tombfowler Mary attended Goldsmiths College1972-1975, and joined the Socialist Society, socialist students of the far left, from the International Marxist Group, International Socialists (IS) and many independents.

@tombfowler The Socialist Society assisted students, and was involved in many campaigns beyond the campus, in workplaces, factories and communities in South London.

@tombfowler The Socialist Society held weekly meetings with speakers on historical, economic and historical issues. These often involved topical issues, such as Vietnam and South Africa.

@tombfowler I recall we also had speakers on issues of anti-racism, women's liberation, academic freedom, civil liberties, free speech and human rights in general.

@tombfowler One of their demands was for a daytime creche for students who were parents.
It was a successful campaign.

@tombfowler We were affiliated to and attended the local Trade CounciI.

We hoped to support local workers in their struggles for pay and improved conditions.

@tombfowler To support the national miners strike in the early 1970s, we adopted a mine in Wales.

I visited the town and stayed with a local family - to show our solidarity and deliver (I assume) financial support.

@tombfowler We also raised funds to support local health workers (nurses, doctors, porters and cleaners), who also took strike action in the early 1970's.

@tombfowler The Socialist Society launched the Troops Out Movement in South East London, following contact with the national TOM office from 'Rick Gibson' (HN297).

@tombfowler The Socialist Society also supported the National Abortion Campaign.
They brought resolutions to the student body to support a woman's right to choose, at a time when various MPs were seeking to restroct access to legal abortions.

@tombfowler One particular MP's Bill was never passed largely thanks to National Abortion Campaign, launched in March 1975 with large support from MPs, the general public and Trade Unions.

@tombfowler The Socialist Society engaged in campaigns against the fascist National Front.
She notes that it's important to understand that during this time the fascists had united in one organisation. They were both racist and anti-democratic.

@tombfowler "The State was standing by as the fascists organised. The police by their nature were institutionally racist, and as a result let the National Front organise at will." says Mary

@tombfowler The Society also took part in the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, the Anti-Apartheid movement, and the Chile Solidarity Campaign.

Mary had come to London from South Africa, so the anti-apartheid movement's struggle was especially close to her heart.

@tombfowler Mary says in her statement:
"I was a committed activist and wanted to see an end to injustice and discrimination. I wanted to see a better future and for me that would be a socialist future."

@tombfowler I was a supporter of the International Marxist Group, and allowed to attend the local branch meetings in South East London.

@tombfowler Mary sold the 'Red Weekly' paper.

During the period I was spied upon I supported the IMG, the Socialist Society, National Abortion Campaign and the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
#spycops

@tombfowler "I feel uncomfortable continuing to answer the questions about the IGM and my involvement in it. The questions appear loaded."

@tombfowler ‘Seriously, I thought this public inquiry was meant to be investigating undercover political policing..."

@tombfowler Mary goes on to say
"'political policing' should be the centre of this investigation not the campaigners — it is the #SpyCops who should be investigated."

@tombfowler My activities were for social justice and in defence of human rights, — which the last time I checked, are allowed in a democratic society.

@tombfowler With the passage of time, the issues we were campaigning around have been shown to be completely justified.

We were on the right side of history.

@tombfowler She lists the campaigns that she was involved with back then:
the struggle against apartheid, and the boycott movement....
campaigning against the racism of the police, and their treatment of Black people...
the national liberation movements in Vietnam...

@tombfowler They were opposing xenophobia, racism and anti-semitism, and promoting the right to freedom of religious expression and also the right to not follow any organised religion.

@tombfowler "I do find these questions about the IMG and the Socialist Society and methods to be loaded and futile."
she goes on to say

@tombfowler In order to campaign effectively it required challenging the State, which is our legal right and responsibility as citizens.

@tombfowler At no point was I ever involved in conspiracies or discussions to involve myself in illegal or violent activities.

@tombfowler In fact, there were a number of occasions where I felt unprotected by the police when I should have been protected —

Our meeting in East Ham Town Hall was smashed up, fascists coming into the building. The police who were outside, stood back and let it happen.

@tombfowler I had forgotten that I had a 'party name' but have discovered from Rick Gibson's own notes that my alias was 'Millwall.'

I sold Red Weekly every other week outside the Den, Millwall Football Club's ground, and outside factories in south London.
#Millwall

@tombfowler Mary: ‘I have to say I was a braver woman than I thought I would ever be.’

@tombfowler Invited to correct information in Gibson’s reports, she says that she moved to Cardiff from London, not to Norfolk.

@tombfowler We now get to the topic of the sexual relationship with Rick Gibson.

"He was easy to befriend, he was a harmless sort of person and he was not predatory. He was very mild, very bland and also very boring."

@tombfowler Last week we’ve seen that Rick Gibson built his career infiltrating activist groups, using relationships with four different women to win trust/ build his cover story.

@tombfowler He was a frequent visitor to both myself and to my flatmate (who was also an activist) at the fiat we shared.

I assumed that our sexual encounters were a manifestation of a mutual attraction. They proved to be half-hearted and fizzled out.

@tombfowler Had I known he was a police officer there is absolutely no way I would have had any sexual contact with him at all.

His use of sex was a way of consolidating his history, and to cement his reputation. He was using it to get closer to us as a group of activists.

@tombfowler I do find it appalling that in his reports for senior #spycops management 'Rick Gibson' has seemingly left out the sexual contact.

@tombfowler Mary has now seen the SDS Tradecraft Manual authored by disgraced former #Spycop (and @PbConservatives councillor) Andy Coles

@tombfowler @PbConservatives She says:
I find the whole strategy and practice of #spycops having sexual relations with activists as immoral unprincipled and a criminal abuse of emotions.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives It is also an abuse of their own partners and families.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives I am totally opposed to any acts of violence.

That stems from my background of being aware of State violence in South Africa.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives I would also add that the sexual contact that I and other women faced was a form of State violence.

@out_of_lives

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives Looking back, I reflect that 'Rick Gibson' was always strangely unobtainable.
He would not exchange contact details and he always had reasons why he could not be contacted. He said he worked for the Water Board and was often away.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives Finally, I am angry with the Metropolitan Police. It took it upon itself to do this and had a cavalier attitude to privacy.

Nor did the Metropolitan Police consider the rights of people to be involved in legal and genuine political activities.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives I am appalled that Rick Gibson and others were allowed to befriend activists and to spy on people holding legitimate political views.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives Asked when she first met Rick Gibson, and how soon after he first attended a meeting:
I think I first met him in possibly in December 1974 or early January 1975. I recall first meeting him when he approached me at a political stall.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives I spoke to Rick Gibson in Dec 1974 or early Jan 1975, when he approached me at a political stall -prior to his first meeting.

Gibson wrote to the national office of the TOM in Dec 1974. So, his membership application was likely prompted by Birmingham pub bombing in Nov.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives His letter prompted myself and other activists, such as Richard Chessum, to meet with him and launch TOM South East London. Before his letter, it didn't exist.
ucpi.org.uk/publications/m…

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives His meeting with me and other activists at Goldsmiths College we were just a stepping stone to bigger things.

He became London organiser of the Troops Out Movement relatively quickly. And the convenor of the national officers, as I understand.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives I saw Rick Gibson probably for the last time in late 1975.
As he became more and more involved in TOM nationally and moved up the 'career' ladder he become more and more peripheral to me.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives The #SpyCopsInquiry has asked Mary if she remembers other #spycops - incl 'David Hughes' (HN299/342) - but she does not.

And has not been provided with photographs that could have aided her memory. His real name is being kept secret by the @ucpinquiry

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry This is for the spurious-sounding reason that disclosure of his real name would lead to unwelcome attention in his 'small community'.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry Where was my right to privacy?
asks Mary.
"Withhout full disclosure I am concerned that this Inquiry will struggle to satisfy its remit"

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry Mary asks the Inquiry to provide her with a photograph of 'David Hughes', and also one of 'Jim Pickford' (HN300) whose 'right to privacy' has also been revoked (despite his death, years ago)

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry She has no memory of 'Gary Roberts' (HN353) who reported on the IMG and IS too.
Again, she questions why he is given anonymity and why his human rights are considered more important than hers.
Without photographs, she cannot provide any further evidence about these officers

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry Mary explains how she felt when she found out that 'Rick Gibson' had been one of the #spycops
"I was simply astounded when I found out he was a police officer. Certain aspects of Rick Gibson's behaviour clearly fell into place..."

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry He had no political back history, no other back history, he seemed to be "extremely politically naive and also uttery new to the idea of activism"

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry Now I look back, it is clear that his sexual advances, and the use of sex was a way of ingratiating his way into the group as a whole.

I feel horrified that undercover policing did occur and that it carried on through the decades.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry I am disgusted that the police felt it appropriate to spy on people campaigning for better conditions for working class people, for democracy, civil liberties and human rights.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry The use of sex as a strategy is appalling, and the fact that it carried on throughout the decades is wrong on many levels.

I am not traumatised, just feel embarrassed and foolish being used and conned. It really angers me as the police had no right to do this.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry The only solace I can take is that that everybody else was fooled by 'Rick Gibson' as well until Big Flame found out who he really was.

Finally, I am anxious to establish what other personal information is held on me by the police, Special Branch and MI5.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry Mary also wants to know what info the SDS and the @metpoliceuk passed on to Special Branch or MI5 when she moved to Cardiff.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry @metpoliceuk She believes "the intelligence reports that have been disclosed only form a small part of the whole picture" and hopes the Inquiry will disclose more.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry @metpoliceuk She also wants to know what the @metpoliceuk and MI5 etc hold in terms of correspondence, whether her phone was tapped and what records there are of her conversations with her friends.

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry @metpoliceuk This type of political policing is completely unwarranted.

The reports disclosed to me must have been seen by senior civil servants and Ministers.

"I would like to know who authorised this activity by the police, and how it was justified."

@threadreaderapp unroll

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry @metpoliceuk "In a democratic society there is a duty to campaign and protest when and where necessary, the actions of the police and the undercover officers bring democracy into disrepute."
Mary's statement is at ucpi.org.uk/publications/f…

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry @metpoliceuk You can read more about this case at undercoverresearch.net/2018/01/30/mar…
#spycops

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry @metpoliceuk Today's #SpyCopsInquiry hearing is now over. Back tomorrow at 10am, when we are due to hear from more Richard Chessum (part of Big Flame and also spied on by 'Rick Gibson') and HN200.
#SpyCops

@tombfowler @PbConservatives @out_of_lives @ucpinquiry @metpoliceuk @threadreaderapp unroll