No amount of money will ever be enough to compensate the survivors of police spying
Activist Kate Wilson has finally won compensation after winning a tribunal case against the Metropolitan police for breaches of five of her human rights. The compensation amount granted is £230,000, including payment of legal costs.
In 2003, Wilson was tricked into a relationship with an undercover police officer who called himself Mark Stone. They lived together as lovers for two years. He deceived her and numerous others he became friends with, hiding his real identity as a police spy. In fact, he had relationships with as many as ten other women in the seven years he was undercover. Wilson was also spied on by at least five other undercover police officers, emphasising the terrifying lengths that the police will go to in order to keep tabs on their population.
In 2010, Wilson discovered Stone’s true identity. He was a married police officer called Mark Kennedy who had been sent to spy on activists. Kennedy infiltrated a number of protest groups and gatherings in the UK and across Europe, including Climate Camp, Earth First, and animal rights gatherings.
Wilson previously said:
Over 30 women now know that they were deceived into intimate, sexual relationships with undercover officers. Many more people were subjected to similar infiltration by undercover officers. What happened to me was by no means unique, and hundreds of people will have had their rights violated in this way.
Of course, Wilson’s case is yet another example of misogyny that is rife in the British police, and their complete disregard for women as they go to any lengths to spy on activists.
Spying on activists all over the country
Hundreds, if not thousands, of activists and campaigners have been spied upon by the British police over the years, including the family of eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered while waiting for a bus in Eltham. An inquiry into undercover policing is ongoing. There are more than 200 participants who were spied upon taking part in the inquiry.
Read on...
The police have been doing all that they can to obstruct the inquiry while protecting the anonymity of police spies. The inquiry started in 2015, yet seven years later, the majority of core participants have not seen a single shred of evidence over why they were spied on. For some, it may be another two years before they finally get to see their files.
Wilson is keen to stress that her compensation was awarded because the police breached her political rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association. This was never just about institutional misogyny: it’s also about the basic rights of the whole population being violated. Wilson said:
It is compensation for the parts of the claim that the police denied right up to the end: how complicit Mark’s managers were, and the role of 5 other undercover officers in violating my political rights, and the fact that they dragged out those denials for 10 years.
She went on to say:
The finding that these operations breached the rights to freedom of expression and assembly and were unlawful amounts to a long overdue recognition that spying on protest movement is political policing and has no place in a democratic society. It is important, because it goes beyond the scandal of undercover officers deceiving women into intimate relationships. Violating our political rights was the entire reason for these deployments and thousands of people will have had their political rights violated in this way.
‘Jane’, who was also spied upon by Kennedy, said:
For over 50 years, movements such as those against apartheid, racial injustice, and climate change have been infiltrated with impunity, with undercover officers sent in on long-term fishing expeditions. The rights to freedom of expression and assembly and the right to a private life, of anyone taking political action, was considered fair game.
She continued:
As an environmental campaigner, I did not think it possible that my close friend, and sometimes housemate of seven years could be an undercover police officer. It felt instinctively abusive, and a big step too far for the state to do this to us. We have now been vindicated by the IPT which recognises this abuse of our human rights, and our democracy.
Spy cops act and police bill
Despite the ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry, and despite Wilson’s tribunal, the state passed the sinister Covert Human Intelligence Sources Act in 2021. The act legalises the criminal activities of undercover officers and agents working for the police, MI5, and other state agencies.
Human rights organisations have pointed out that:
There is no express prohibition on authorising crimes that would constitute human rights violations, including murder, torture (e.g. punishment shootings), kidnap, or sexual offences, or on conduct that would interfere with the course of justice
And if that isn’t horrific enough, the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is passing its final phases in parliament, will give the state extensive new powers. Campaign group Police Spies Out Of Lives argues that Wilson’s win is extremely important, as the tribunal found that the police breached Wilson’s political rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association. The group says:
With protest rights under attack by the introduction of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, these findings have enormous contemporary significance.
Indeed, when the police bill becomes law, a raft of new protest measures will be introduced. Offences such as tampering with a statue could lead to prison sentences of up to ten years. Additionally, the prospect of up to a decade in prison for causing “serious distress, serious annoyance, serious inconvenience, or serious loss of amenity” will come into force. We’re likely to see a big change in the policing of protests, much more harassment by the police, especially around stop and search. Potentially more serious charges for protest offences could also lead the police to try to justify more undercover cops in our movements.
So let’s celebrate Wilson’s win, but be under no illusion that this will stop the state from continuing to pass its draconian new bill, or stop it from spying on members of the public.
Featured image via David Mirzoeff/Police Spies Out of Lives
We know everyone is suffering under the Tories - but the Canary is a vital weapon in our fight back, and we need your support
The Canary Workers’ Co-op knows life is hard. The Tories are waging a class war against us we’re all having to fight. But like trade unions and community organising, truly independent working-class media is a vital weapon in our armoury.
The Canary doesn’t have the budget of the corporate media. In fact, our income is over 1,000 times less than the Guardian’s. What we do have is a radical agenda that disrupts power and amplifies marginalised communities. But we can only do this with our readers’ support.
So please, help us continue to spread messages of resistance and hope. Even the smallest donation would mean the world to us.
-
Show Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to leave a comment.Join the conversationPlease read our comment moderation policy here.
I feel for the victims, ii can speak from personel experience of having a couple of tossers installed in the according to agents, “ empty. Flat” for the last ten years. If my spelling skills go of rails, indo apolagise for the wankas from the digital assistance dept tossers in the empty flat above, had i known i was going to be taxes all my life to end up with a pair of wankas like the two above, would have demanded a full tax refund. No offence towards the bodily challenged, but if i had popped down to the loacal spacker school with a couple of kids toy drums, and a hammer to beat the crap out of said drums, i would have felt less agreaved at being taxed all my life on this septic isle. Jimmy bond, aston martin, casino royale. Hell no, johnny english has nothing to worry about. If you rem plastic maggie may and her “ oh look the spys are hiring” comment, at the gchq ad in the gutter press were osbourne has to atend now and then to top up his meager income from blackkrock, obviously £600,000 is not enough. I has been noted that since his theft, asset stripping and sale of uk.plc assets, like the nhs areas, back in 2012-14. With jeremy the -unt having been caught bundling up part of nhs for theresa mays fav company, which later on to cost rolls royce 9000 jobs. Whats a few k plebs jobs compared to shares in lockheed martin. Maggie may over saw the incorperation of nhs areas into private companies in 2017.
The sheer implication that there are victims of gov stasi spyng on british citizens, based on the legalising of the already aquired info ilegally aquired for 20 years previous to o the signals telling us they were going to continue spying on us all, but in case you missed it, heres a marker, 7/7, home spun, east enders on steroids. The see through story lines, the cover ups of the fuk ups, the aleged terrorists are prob dead now, having gotten onto a train that did not run at that time of day, they must be. Picked clean skeletons in a rail sidding by now. The miriad of fuk ups, wrong intel del at wrong day, wrong time, the mistakes were immeasurable, near on par with titanic sinking. Operation prevent should have been oppo procure, its reasonong was flawed, and proven by every act of terrorism our gov insigated spooks comit on britih soil against british subjects, is just further proof of our unelected imposed dictator distain for the great unwashed, plus its yet another enditement of british education, if the police, mfi, the stasi, gistapo have not worked it out yet, that a traitors “usefulness is a temp thing, as the gov ministers found out. The dolphin square “ procurement of useful idiots” was only a small part of the procurement of blackmailed morons, that maybe kept as sleepers, to do their bidding later on. The ministers police chiefs, head of off shore mfi, and other such. The kids, oh dont worry about them, they are relatively cheap to get for the minister to put his hands inside their shorts, besides its good practice for future fukin over of the plebs, they are only plebs kids dont worry, they are cheap enough, now smile for the camera. The numerous similar things that sprung up over the country, was due to a place with the right level of bone idle fuks who are either pissed up in a pub all day and night or near a supply of fresh stock. The real reason was they sprung up out of ministers, using locals who were prob in care homes before hand, recommended on meets to lay the first victim, er brick at a new closer to care home, when intro to victims they would have been recruited to supply others, which is why the places were child trafficking took place was based round a ministers gold plating, which is bullet proof, given by the bankers. Do what we want and we wont show your wife n kids, who are 2meters u the road, as you romp with a couple of rent boys and a bag of sniff. Oh now your our health minister, full set. Tedross has charges of genocide standing against him, for his part in the genocide of Ethiopians, so why not. Mengele matt had the badge before, he used a badly set up back door to bail n run. Then we have our long distance viewing cummings who had less than suitable eye sight, but managed to drive to durham, on his wifes birthday, how coincidental oh i forgot his got long distance eye sight, he could see she was in durham looking at jewelery and drive there to get an eye test. Oddly enough, the cops at durham could not “see” that cummings had broken any laws, dumb fuks. Try using a motor vehicle on a public highway whilst having less than suitable eye sight. Then the two years of lies, the crap by media, the three weeks to flatten the curve. What curve, we stood on our door steps and clapped like wind up tin momkeys, clap mnkey clap, whilst we provided the base beat for the learned choreographed dance routine. It must have taken some kind of empty A&E or. Wings where they could learn
The choreographed dance routine. Not having entered the uk on one of the british gov funded identical inflatables with identical motors, which are used to flea war torn calais , i know the yellow vest protesters are in paris, but i had not relised they had moved into trafficking to fund their anti rothchild banker imposed upon them protests, funding in france must be tough. Boris saying he is giving macaroni £45 o help the immigrants, of which tory imposed dictators have been importing immigrants since 2009/10. There was a period of not keeping up with imported shafting by tory gov as i was up against the wall being shaken down for loose change under osbournes austerit, after all it was our fault we allowed the 2008 bankers robbery and pension pot fundmagic disappearing act, conjured up by the central bankers, and ver seen by their implant osbourne and his side kick plastic maggie, using gideons account in blackrock to move the ill gotten gains. Pre 2008 black rock was worth apr 4mill, now second biggest hedge fund in world. N terms of er seen banking and financial overseen by regulators, if the revolving door is not working properly, he hedge fund is the go to replacement for off shore accounts and tax avoidance. Loading leman bros up with others toxic debts, then pushing them off the sacrificial cliff, to give the visual of a bank crashing, was paramount to fooling the native indian who lives in the middle of the amazon, with no tv,, radio, outside contact, but has 5/ 6 d five n six pence worth of hares in the bull doo doo dept, and used his share certs as wipping material when he ran out of palm leaves, hey ho. The banker robbery was aided by using ca moron to get the ever so sickly osbourne in to assist the glass deagle-less omercil banker robbery of the high street banks, pension pots, little jimmys savings pot pi, every thing not nailed down was swappedout, robbed, even the estate agents were ahead of the market, and rubbing and salavating at they handling the central banks repo of your home, whilst the ever obliging x-CPS kier stammer and the pre corrupted courts, were only to happy to assist the poor rent over due central bankers foreclose and boot you out onto the streets fe, kids dog n flat screen etc, and esp when the footy was on. Oh and all your neighbours are out watering there lawns in dec, coincidence, nah. The courts used to be obliging, both ways, since stammer stuck a stick through the sokes of the wheel of injustice, the courts only go on way, against the pleb, if you take the example of several atempts to screw the gov over on various infringements varying from the medazalam murders, to fraud n embezzlement of ver two trillion pounds in the second half of 2020. To trying to get mengele matts local pub landlord to refund the £30 mill he got in unsecured ppe contracts. Or the brazillian rent boy who got £20 million contract for PPE, and thinks ppe means were is the toilet. We live in hope. The numerous transgressions by blow job doris n co, have ensured one of two things, A. A full on civil war. B.climb over the metal gates in front of armed cops at downing street, being a wino, they wont question .then setting up a cheese n wino party in boris back garden inviting all his work mates n nut nuts fellow attention seekers from a gene pool of tadpoles, not inviting boris to the party in his garden. It i such a easy accessed area, anyone could have sneaked in setting up one of the 17 parties, that boris did not know about and only attended for 25 mins at each one of them. Why was he parked on a parking meter on downing street. The lies, deciept, the obvious nowledge that the wuhan covid virus thing was a scam, going to durham. Going to st thomas pretening to have covid, then going to chequers to be with nut nut fir 12 days, then asking the nurse to lie for him, saying he was in hospital with covid, when he must have left his armed cop uard at chequers, sill village idiot boris. Fancy going to work n leaving the pm body guard enterouge at home. Silly bugger.
Then we have the massive fraud n enbezelment of over two trillion pounds, in unsecured ppe contracts, subverting parliamentary procedure under covid crap which would have been achieved by paroguing parliament as well how odd, pure coincdence im sure, it does beg the question though how wasvit tbey managed o present a over 600 page coronavirus act 2020, on a fri afternnin m and in double quick time, like it was pre written. Or was it just good house keeping by doris. Hmmm. I like the unsecured £1 pound contract which was at first osted as a trial peiod, bu t within a month it was a £23 million contract. Its not coruption, not tory chumly robbery, not fuk u plebs, im making sure im ok. It is the e set to fail boris system, thats designd to cost a lot more than previously , like the already sold off nhs, full price paid out. Then in mid scam demic they wanted more, MORE or im telling. Oh ok, another 7.6 billion do for now, yea, 16 billion to run a stolen asset stripped half the orig size nhs that used to cost 9 billion. Pre tory gov loading it up for foreign doctors to rob, and numerous quangoes created at silly per anum salary plus exorbitant bonus, tory chums only need apply, use back door to number ten, brown envelopes stuffed with plebs public funding cash only accepted. Aving up for long relaxing hols in ritish tax avoidance off shore island in behamas. Were the tax exiled tory minister is hauled up at, he got £800 million contract for ppe. The maths dont stack up, 9 peopke living on island 5 servants, two minors for fun and de stressing, and some guy with a beared. Gislaine mexwell keeps calling him geof. So uncouth that girl, the enquiry who boris told when questioned about his latest round of theft, it was a emergency, in sept oct 2020, no lets try again, when was the emergency boris, spt/ oct, no double delete your emails after sending out party invites and and her ability to make enquiries go the tory way, seems to be her forte, i thought younsaud she was untarnishable straight down the line, uncoruptble, she is, she works for boris, paid by boris, who has offered her p45 for the wrong typeof enquiry outcome and a back dated 1% pay rise inline with the nhs staff pay reduction, offered infeb 2020, ignoring the negotiated 6% pay rise in 2019,: thats inflation for ya. 5% valued plus taxes, meaning all nhs nurses own a further 5000 pounds in taxation, which has recurring 25% no amp it up to match the rt-pcr test loading, ok, 45% the earlier pcr tests were shipped world wide in 2017/18. It seemed to evin sync with the post covid recovery funding page on world banks website, updated in nov/dec2019. T&C’s appy, see her at IMF. Soz now ECB just in time to take deusche bans toxic debt it was hidding. Swapping the toxic debt for eu members paid in funding. If there is a unexpected virus loose in 2020 dont expect the EU transforming into the European devision of the UN one world gov, the law of the jungle, not the law of the land. Communist ruled world, which boris is installing in the uk. Oh dear, not again, we tried a zionist central bnker instigated and of communism in ussia in 1917. Trotsky, lenin, stalin all worked for theCFR in new york, were the bolshevic revolution was run from. It was not very plesant, and the suppression of free speech and death camps nd the genocide of 60 mllion non jews. Oh not again. Had tooth ache last time. Heck. Laterz DMWout.