Spy cop lied about an animal rights gun plot, inquiry hears

A spy cop who deceived women into relationships also made up a plot about animal rights activists trying to get hold of guns, according to new testimony. James Thomson is currently giving evidence to an official inquiry. His own police managers said his claim about the guns was “bollocks”. Thomson had previously denied having deceitful relationships with two woman during his time spying on activists. He has since admitted he did.

The Guardian reported that he had also:

admitted that he disobeyed his managers’ instruction not to travel aboard, ripped out pages from his passports to conceal his travel from them, and obtained identity documents without authorisation.

Spying on the left

The inquiry is examine covert police spying on left-wing movements between 1968 and 2010. Thomson infiltrated hunt saboteur groups between 1997 and 2002. The Guardian said:

In 2001, he [Thomson] drove in his car with an activist to France claiming that they were getting a gun from a campaigner to take revenge.

Assessing Thomson’s information to be credible at the time, his managers believed they had foiled the alleged plot by making it look as if his car had been stolen in Marseille. The car contained a gun when it was recovered.

The activist involved, known as L3, who Thomson claimed tried to get a gun to take on hunt supporters who rain over a fellow activist, said the cop’s account sounded:

 like some sort of Boys’ Own adventure story. But then I realise that this could have been the most incredibly serious event of my life. It could have led to me spending years in jail.

Protecting the powerful

 Thomson has insisted the gun plot was real:

L3 and I did receive a gun from the people we met in Marseille.

Thomson’s own managers have been highly critical of his claims:

There has not been a shred of independent corroboration for what allegedly took place.

As the Canary reported recently, undercover cops spent decades doing the establishment’s dirty work by spying on the left. Spycops.info‘s Tom Fowler said:

a huge part of their role was destabilising, undermining, and destroying social movements. And the way they did that was by fostering internal division, through gossip and scandal, by taking personal disagreements and turning them into political one.

The state will no doubt continue to intervene in social movements and activist groups on behalf of the powerful. The left needs to be aware of the dangers and have processes in place to make sure people are protected from state spying.

Featured image via the Canary