Thread by @copscampaign

Today we hear from Celia Stubbs, a non State core participant.
Her witness statement is now at ucpi.org.uk/publications/f…

#spycopsinquiry
#spycops

You can watch on

There is a ten minute delay in place, which we'll do our best to stick to as we tweet

Celia and her partner, Blair Peach, were both members of the SWP.

They attended a demonstration against the National Front (NF) at Southall Town Hall on 23rd April 1979

She told us how she spent three years in New Zealand with her husband, who was a teacher. She met Blair in around 1962-1963. They got together after her divorce, and lived together from 1971 onwards. Celia already had two daughters from her first marriage.
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She has campaigned since Peach was killed – for greater police accountability and in support of miscarriage of justice cases, and other bereaved family campaigns. She was a founding member of @INQUEST_ORG and involved in Hackney Community Defence Association (HCDA)
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@INQUEST_ORG She has learnt that Special Branch held 'Registry Files' on both her and Blair, but she hasn't been shown these. She feels that it would be useful to see these files

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@INQUEST_ORG Hummerstone patronised her a bit, saying that “of course Resigtry Files are held by Special Branch generally” and suggesting that we are only here to focus on the SDS unit.
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@INQUEST_ORG In her statement, Stubbs says that she believes the #spycops reported back to the Met to prevent other police officers form facing justice.
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@INQUEST_ORG The Inquiry asked Celia more about the early 1970s. Stubbs joined the International Socialists (IS) in 1972. They put a lot if emphasis on building the class struggle, and she sold the 'Socialist Worker' places in many places – incl the Metal Box factory in Hackney.
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@INQUEST_ORG She attended the group's meetings, both public and private.
The IS/ SWP attended many demonstrations and supported striking workers.
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@INQUEST_ORG Celia recalled the NF of the 70s, and their base in East London, which the anti-fascists tried to shut down.
She and her comrades sold papers on Brick Lane, and regularly came into conflict with the racist NF paper-sellers.
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@INQUEST_ORG There was organised anti-fascist resistance to the NF, and usually a large police presence too. Stubbs recalled talking to people, lots of shouting at the fascists, banners and of course paper-selling.
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@INQUEST_ORG Blair Peach was a “very fervent trade unionist” says Celia. He was a member of the National Union of Teachers and very active in the national teachers association in the last year of his life.
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@INQUEST_ORG The IS changed its name in 1977 and became the Socialist Workers Party. Blair didn't join the party until after this.
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@INQUEST_ORG Rock against Racism and the Anti Nazi League (ANL) were set up deliberately to attract young people to the anti-racist cause, as Celia recalls.
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

We were shown a report [UCPI 0000010769] about a meeting which took place at Stoke Newington Town Hall on 22nd July. It was attended by 250 people – quite large.
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@INQUEST_ORG She was asked if the animosity and disorder reported at that particular meeting (someone was ejected from the hall) was typical.
She described the NF outside as “intimidating”.

Stubbs pointed out that it tended to be the left-wing activists who got arrested.
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

[UCPI 00000 10779]
this report included details of the IS paper sales and other upcoming events.

Celia talked about the work of the Troops Out Movement – they would often go to army recruitment events and try to talk young people out of joining up.
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@INQUEST_ORG Hummerstone reminded us that the SDS was set up to collect intelligence on demonstrations, so their policing could be planned.
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[UCPI0000021207]

The next report is from a meeting which took place on 24th April 1979.
Tony Cliff spoke at this meeting, held in a pub in NW London
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@INQUEST_ORG He is quoted as saying that he considered it far more important to discuss the battles with the police during the recent anti-NF demos” - comparing events in Leicester and Southall -
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@INQUEST_ORG and pointing out that the lack of preparation/ organisation in Southall had contributed to the injuries, arrests etc (and of course Peach's death) on that day.
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@INQUEST_ORG The report also noted that a peaceful march and vigil would be held on the following Saturday (the 28th) to mark the death of Blair Peach.
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@INQUEST_ORG The NF's meeting at Southall Town Hall was part of their election campaigning (this was just before the 1979 general election, and the BF put up candidates).
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@INQUEST_ORG Stubbs was asked how involved she was in preparations for the demo on the 23rd.
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@INQUEST_ORG She said that Tony Cliff was “absolutely wrong to compare Leicester and Southall”
explaining that Southall was a very tight-knit community, very diverse, well-organised (she mentioned the very strong Indian Workers Associations)...

@INQUEST_ORG 5000 local residents had signed a petition against the NF being allowed to meet.
Celia described a “town under siege”, factories shutting down in protest etc.
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@INQUEST_ORG She says that the local community actually called for anti-racists from all over London to come to Southall to support them.
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@INQUEST_ORG She heard about this from her trade union. There wasn't an IS branch in Southall at the time.
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@INQUEST_ORG Stubbs recalled the press coverage around Blair's death, and how he was labelled “a Red”, with some people even suggesting that he was “so left wing it wasn't surprising he got killed”.
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@INQUEST_ORG Did she know that huge numbers of people would attend the demo in Southall?
“We hoped there would be” said Stubbs.
“We hoped that people would respond to what Southall had asked us”.
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@INQUEST_ORG Celia has criticised he conduct of the police on that day, and the tactics they used.

She and Blair travelled separately (after work) to the demo, having arranged to meet up at the Town Hall.
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@INQUEST_ORG When she got there she found it very crowded. She had never been there before.

She remembers finding herself near Southall Park:
“we were chased by police on horseback with truncheons, chasing us and hitting people”
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@INQUEST_ORG She made her way back to the station at 6 or 7pm, and got the train back to Hackney, without having seen Blair.

She only learnt that he had been hurt later that evening – at around 10pm she received a phone call from a friend,who was at Ealing Hospital.
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@INQUEST_ORG She knows that one of the #spycops attended the demo in Southall that day

“With most spycops we at least know their cover name”
Stubbs pointed out that we know nothing about who this man was.
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@INQUEST_ORG Undercovers attended Blair Peach's funeral on 13th June.
Police photographs were taken of mourners.
Stubbs has seen a report from that day.
“It was HN106 – he put in his statement that he attended the funeral in case there would be a risk of public disorder”
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@INQUEST_ORG She pointed out that Blair's family had come all the way from New Zealand for it, and that 10,000 people had shown up to pay their respects.

71 people are listed by name in HN106's report of the event.
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@INQUEST_ORG Hummerstone talked more about the sense of grievance that people felt following Blair's death, then brought up this report

ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[UCPI 00000 21218]
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@INQUEST_ORG Stubbs recalled that the Friends of Blair Peach (FOBP) fundraised . They raised £20k towards the legal costs, which came to £12k for the inquest alone.

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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[UCPI0000021270]
The Indian Workers Association were strong in Southall, as we heard earlier. They jointly (with the ANL) organised the demo on the 28th. Hummerstone says that it shows the strength of feeling in the immediate aftermath of the event.
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

Next she showed us [UCPI0000021297] – which included a leaflet produced by the Friends of Blair Peach (FOBP). The objectives of the FOBP committee are listed on page 2.
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@INQUEST_ORG These included calling for the (notorious) Special Patrol Group (SPG) to be disbanded.
Stubbs encouraged Hummerstone to read out all their suggestions

She says she wasn't involved with the Friends group at that stage,
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
The next report [UCPI0000021044] that appeared on screen was from a meeting in East London.
It was titled 'Police are the murderers – disband the Special Patrol Group'
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@INQUEST_ORG It didn't contain what Hummerstone was looking for, and so she brought up [UCPI0000013435], dated October 1979.
ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
According to this, pickets had been planned at Kilburn and Harlesden police stations, to coincide with door-to-door leafletting nearby

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@INQUEST_ORG This was on the eve of the formal opening of what Celia calls “the first inquest”into Blair Peach's death.

Stubbs explained that over 100 police stations were picketed in this way - “people were so angry about it”
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@INQUEST_ORG She explained why she referred to that as “the first inquiry”.
John Burton, the Coroner, refused to sit with a jury or allow the Cass report, so campaigners went for a judicial review, stopping the first inquest on that first day.
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@INQUEST_ORG The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) agreed that there was 'no case to answer' and so no policeman would be charged in relation to Peach's death.

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@INQUEST_ORG In contrast the Cass report (by Commander John Cass) found that a policeman killed Peach.
The Cass report was published on 12th July then updated on 14th Sept.
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@INQUEST_ORG The Blair Peach inquest started again in April 1980 (with a jury) and concluded in May.
Their verdict: 'death by misadventure'

Stubbs was and remains extremely critical of that first Coroner and his attitude
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@INQUEST_ORG Celia jumped in to remind us that Nazi regalia and unauthorised weapons were found in the possession of police officers.
This information was leaked to the campaign and people were understandably angry about the police's violence.

We then had a short (15 minute) break
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@INQUEST_ORG There was a national campaign in 1979-80 to disband the SPG.
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@INQUEST_ORG The Blair Peach case: a licence to kill' is the title of a booklet written by Dave Ransom, who was a teacher at the same school as Peach.
ucpi.org.uk/publications/e…
This is being published as an exhibit: [UCPI0000034077]
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@INQUEST_ORG According to the booklet the SPG played a vital part in the police's overall strategy

Celia interjected to say that one of the undercovers was present at the demo...
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@INQUEST_ORG Yes, that is in the 'gisted' evidence that the Inquiry has provided to Stubbs.
Wiliinson said that this 'gisted' version was prepared by the Inquiry and the officer's details are being kept secret.
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@INQUEST_ORG We are told that the SPG was the only specialist unit in the Met, officers wanted to join it, and there was a high turnover.
The Met's official description of the unit (and their calm professionalism) caused some mirth in the hearing room
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@INQUEST_ORG “Something's wrong there” said Stubbs, to more laughter.

As Wilkinson herself went on to highlight, the SPG officers involved in Peach's death had served far longer than the supposed maximum – one of them had done 14 years.
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@INQUEST_ORG There was an interview with former Inspector Alan Murray in the Sunday Times in June 1980. Murray is quoted as recalling the comments he made to the unit on 23rd April about “the loony left”, promising that things were going to get “tasty”.

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@INQUEST_ORG That gives a (nasty) flavour of the police's thinking.

The Cass report was only disclosed to Celia Stubbs in 2010. It makes it clear that the fatal blow that killed Peach was “almost certainly struck” by a member of the SPG.

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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
[UCPI0000020094]
SWP and ANL groups organised more pickets at police stations all over London, to mark the anniversary of Peach's killing, as we see in this report of 18th April 1980.

@INQUEST_ORG A full list was published in [UCPI0000013891]
ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
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@INQUEST_ORG A year later, on the second anniversary, public feeling was still high.
This report [UCPI0000016434] includes details of the South London Right to Work group's plans to picket Eltham police station on 23rd April 1981.
ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…
The next report [MPS-0001219] was from decades later.
It was written in the summer of 1998, regarding the plans to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Blair Peach's killing
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@INQUEST_ORG Wilkinson hastened to tell us all that the line 'Intelligence: Touchy Subject' refers to the code-name used by the officer who filed it, not her or the Peach case.

Stubbs filled in this gap for us all...
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@INQUEST_ORG She knows that this report was authored by another of the #spycops – who used the name Mark Cassidy to infiltrate the HCDA and the Colin Roach centre (also in Hackney) and deceived a woman ('Alison') into a long-term relationship.
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

[UCPI0000014149]
The next report was about the formation of a new network of justice campaigns.

Stubbs mentioned a plaque that had been erected to mark the death of Gurdip Singh Chaggar. He had been killed by white racists in 1976.
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@INQUEST_ORG Celia told us more about the other campaigns that the FOBP hooked up with
- another death in custody – someone who died after being force-fed inside Ashford prison. - someone who had been beaten up by police officers in Newcastle and died shortly after...
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@INQUEST_ORG - someone whose diabetes was left untreated in Pentonville prison, who died after being kicked in the stomach by a police officer...
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@INQUEST_ORG Celia explained that they wanted to get together with these other justice campaigns so they could support each other, through the process of inquests etc.
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@INQUEST_ORG ucpi.org.uk/publications/s…

We were next shown a report from 1999 [MPS-0001707]. The Lawrence Inquiry report had just been published. This report mentions many of the family justice campaigners who were active at this time, as well as the Lawrence family themselves.
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@INQUEST_ORG We are told that Suresh Grover from The Monitoring Group was one of the main organisers of the 20th anniversary event.
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@INQUEST_ORG Wilkinson thanked Ceila Stubbs for all her evidence.

Before the session ended (there will be a break before any additional questions for Celia)
she was given a chance to add her comments.
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@INQUEST_ORG She had plenty to say

Despite the death of Blair Peach being “the most significant event of the year” (according to the police's own annual report), she still has not seen any police officers' statements about the events of that day.
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@INQUEST_ORG She notes that there are also no officers' reports on the events of Red Lion Square (when Kevin Gately was killed).
This is in stark contrast to all the reporting that we know went on – at Lewisham and other large demos.
She asks where all these reports have gone
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@INQUEST_ORG Celia was told that she would find HN106's statement “pertinent” but she rejects this: “there's nothing in his statement that involves me”.
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@INQUEST_ORG She is left with as many questions as she had before.

She hopes that this Inquiry “will protect core participants”

She went on to say that many core participants (herself included) felt violated by the #spycops

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@INQUEST_ORG She reminded Mitting that her partner, Blair Peach, was killed by police officers.

She believes that her campaigning was infiltrated (by the #spycops ) in order to prevent his killers being held to account.

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@INQUEST_ORG There were no further questions for Ms Stubbs

Mitting himself thanked her for her evidence.
With that, today's #spycopsinquiry hearing ended. It restarts tomorrow morning.
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@INQUEST_ORG You can watch the entirety of it at
#SpyCops

@threadreaderapp unroll

@INQUEST_ORG See Celia talking more about the #SpyCopsInquiry at facebook.com/groups/spycops