Undercover Policing Inquiry Tranche 2 (Phase 2): The Search for The Truth Continues…

On Monday 14 October 2024 Tranche 2 (Phase 2) of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) will commence with opening statements from Counsel to the Inquiry, and Core Participants, both police and activists. Evidence hearings will commence the week commencing 21 October 2024 and continue until 23 January 2025.

In Tranche 2 (Phase 2) the Inquiry will continue to examine the actions of the Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch undercover unit, the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), officers and managers, and those affected by deployments between 1983-1992 (Module 1). Additionally, the Inquiry will examine the management and oversight by middle and senior officers, other agencies and government departments such as the Home Office (Module 2).

Phase 2 follows on from Phase 1 which took place between July – August 2024. As a recap, during this period, the Inquiry heard evidence from non-state witnesses and the Under Cover Officers (UCOs) who reported on former members of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), and the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp among other groups. It also heard from women who gave evidence of being deceived into a sexual relationship with UCO, HN78 Trevor Morris. Overall, the actions and deployment of 14 UCOs were considered, with 7 providing oral evidence. It lifted the veil of the relationship between the Security Service (MI5), Special Branch, and the SDS to report on political and social groups which it deemed subversive or posed a threat to public order, actions which are said to amount to political policing.

Phase 2 will continue to consider evidence from numerous witnesses, including several core participants represented by Hodge Jones & Allen. At the forefront of Phase 2, the Inquiry will scrutinise the SDS’s targeting of social justice and animal rights groups, and the unethical tactics deployed to infiltrate the lives and campaigns of its activists. By unravelling further evidence of ‘political policing’, it is expected that the Inquiry will examine the SDS’s focus on the animal rights movement, and campaigns such as London Greenpeace, and the Animal Liberation Front (Supporters Group). The Inquiry will also continue to hear evidence from various justice campaigns, and the UCOs who infiltrated them.

Evidence will also be heard from former SDS undercover officers deployed into animal rights groups and managers between 1983-1992 – for example, HN10 Robert Lambert (cover name “Bob Robinson”). As a part of this exercise, it is expected that the Inquiry will review the extent of the SDS and Metropolitan Police’s duty to make disclosure of the SDS undercover operation during a criminal investigation or prosecution, and the likelihood of miscarriages of justice arising as a result of the police’s apparent failure to uphold its duty.

Phase 2 will take place among increasing concern on the part of the activists that the Inquiry is, through pressures imposed on it by its sponsoring department, the Home Office (the department responsible for the police and undercover policing), in ‘crisis’, unable properly to fulfil its terms of reference.

The search for the truth continues.

More information about the Undercover Policing Inquiry can be found here, and access to the livestreamed hearings here.

If you believe you or anybody you know has been affected by undercover policing and wish to share your experience, please reach out to our team promptly. You can get in touch via email or request a callback at your convenience.

For assistance with legal representation in the inquiry or overturning convictions please contact Partner, Mike Schwarz or Jessica Davis on 0330 822 3451.