Opening statements from core participants examining the legal and institutional framework of Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) operations. Counsel for Lindsay German and socialist activists argues the SDS was political/economic policing rather than legitimate law enforcement. Category F representatives detail the morally reprehensible practice of stealing deceased children's identities for cover names. Category H counsel presents a comprehensive legal framework showing SDS operations violated fundamental common law principles dating back to Entick v Carrington (1762).
00:09:59 miss brown good morning
00:10:05 so
00:10:28 miss brown good morning
00:10:37 you are now going i believe briefly to make an opening statement on behalf of the home secretary yes thank you sir
00:10:50 this opening statement is made by the secretary of state for the home department the home secretary as one of the inquiry's core participants and she represents the interests of the home office at this inquiry the home secretary welcomes the invitation to make this statement at the
00:11:04 invitation to make this statement at the outset of the module 1 tranche 1 phase 3 hearings
00:11:10 hearings as a core participant the home secretary continues to engage fully with the work of the inquiry in particular and as stated in the home secretary's opening statements of the 22nd of october 2020 and the 14th of april 2021
00:11:25 and the 14th of april 2021 the home office has undertaken an extensive electronic and hard copy disclosure exercise both in response to specific requests from the inquiry and on a wider voluntary basis
00:11:41 and on a wider voluntary basis turning to the evidence in issues to be considered during the trench one phase three hearings the home secretary notes that the inquiry does not intend to call evidence from any home office witnesses accordingly the home secretary has
00:11:54 accordingly the home secretary has nothing specific to us at this stage to her previous opening statements for present purposes the home secretary would wish simply to reiterate that the inquiry has her full cooperation as a core participant
00:12:08 core participant thank you very much um you certainly hold the record for brevity um i'm afraid we now have to wait 10 minutes uh before mr scoby will make his opening statement to permit arrangements to be made uh to get everything in order
00:12:21 to be made uh to get everything in order to allow him to do so so we'll break for 10 minutes thank you
00:24:57 mr scoby
00:25:04 are you now ready to make your opening statement
00:25:08 statement i'm afraid i can't hear you at the moment um so i hope that those who are in charge of the equipment can rectify that
00:26:13 has sound been restored
00:26:18 no
00:27:26 hmm
00:27:54 is on his way to the room mr scobia's microphone is off um
00:28:01 mr scoby i hope your microphone has been restored
00:28:06 restored can you hear me i can now hear you and uh
00:28:07 and uh in the hope that the equipment doesn't go wrong again would you like to begin your opening statement of course thank you sir
00:28:14 you sir um
00:28:18 um i appear with piers marquis of darty street chambers and paul herron of the public interest law center and this is the opening statement in trash one phase three to the undercover
00:28:35 trash one phase three to the undercover policing inquiring on behalf of lindsay german
00:28:39 german richard chesson and mary introduction we represent three core participants in tranche one of this inquiry
00:28:53 of this inquiry we address the key issues on behalf of richard chesson and mary in our phase two opening statement in this statement our focus is on lindsay german
00:29:05 lindsay german who was a member of the socialist workers party the swp from 1972
00:29:14 from 1972 and had roles on the central committee of that party for more than 30 years we will demonstrate one
00:29:20 one that there was no justification for the infiltration of the troop site movement and the socialist workers party on the grounds of preventing public disorder two
00:29:35 two that there was no policing justification at all
00:29:40 at all the true purpose of these infiltrations was political and
00:29:43 and economic
00:29:45 economic three
00:29:46 three that neither of these purposes were legally justified and government knew that to be the case four
00:29:57 four that the special demonstration squad the sds intelligence was used to blacklist law-abiding members of the public
00:30:08 law-abiding members of the public we have a limited time available to us and so we ask listeners to consider this opening statement alongside the written
00:30:20 opening statement alongside the written published version which is more detailed and fully referenced and where we refer to the unlawfulness
00:30:36 and where we refer to the unlawfulness of police activity we endorse the legal framework provided on behalf of the category h core participants purpose of the sds justification the sds was was created to specifically deal
00:30:48 deal with the potential public order threat of a single demonstration in 1968
00:31:03 of a single demonstration in 1968 its role was to provide uniform police with intelligence pertinent to their policing of that demonstration it should have ended there it quickly became an intelligence troll of left-wing political groups
00:31:16 of left-wing political groups growing ever more indiscriminate and ever more intrusive increasingly the squad's focus shifted away from anything
00:31:27 away from anything that could genuinely be described as police work
00:31:41 police work suggestions that the sds were involved in law and order are not borne out by the reports that they generated references to disorder became standardized
00:31:53 standardized annually regurgitated in the sds reports it was part of a paper trail protest to justify home office funding and authorization even though in chief inspector craft's words the sds annual reports when
00:32:04 words the sds annual reports when exercise in pointing up the value of the sds in terms of public order the references to disorder in those reports were ever decreasing and increasingly contrived
00:32:16 contrived the 1975
00:32:21 the 1975 annual sds report made so little reference to this order that commander roger of the metropolitan police special branch commissioned a complete review of the sds its activities and objectives
00:32:41 activities and objectives roger noted that over the past seven years disorder and demonstrations has dwindled considerably the response to the review came from the chief superintendent of the sds rollo watts
00:32:52 rollo watts watts accepted the decline but nevertheless attempted to justify the continuation of the sds
00:33:06 the continuation of the sds he argued that the decline in disorder had been matched by a reduction in a number of
00:33:12 number of undercover officers from 26 down to 12. that was not true there had been no reduction in the number of officers at all the number had remained consistent but the lengths of the deployments had increased
00:33:32 the deployments had increased at the same time the public disorder was decreasing the recipients of sds intelligence or customers
00:33:35 customers as di
00:33:39 as di angus macintosh called them were changing
00:33:43 changing at the outset at outset sds intelligence was destined for uniformed officers so they could arguably be better equipped to deal with this order even there as
00:33:58 as as detective sergeant roy creamer put it whilst the sds were looking for information there was simply nothing to tell of
00:34:12 tell of it was a case of no news is good news as time went on the intelligence was increasingly sent elsewhere
00:34:15 elsewhere to customers with little or no involvement in public order issues other special branch departments mi5 other
00:34:29 other generally unnamed government departments external agencies liaison partners those
00:34:35 those customers
00:34:40 customers also specifically tasked the sds i.e
00:34:41 i.e told them
00:34:43 told them what to get and where
00:34:46 and where to get it
00:34:50 to get it by the end of the 1970s the sds management were having regular face-to-face meetings with mi5 including over games of sport that are redacted for some reason
00:35:01 that are redacted for some reason they were also having monthly meetings over lunch with the home office although the name and specific role of the home office representative in question appears to have been forgotten
00:35:18 appears to have been forgotten other unnamed government bodies were not liaised with directly it was considered more appropriate to keep them
00:35:25 keep them at arm's length by april 1980 sds and mi5 were meeting for tricks every fortnight by august
00:35:44 for tricks every fortnight by august 1980 meetings were described as routine at the same time the volume of reports increased exponential exponentially from 200 information reports in 1969 to almost
00:35:53 to almost 10
00:35:54 10 000
00:35:55 000 by november 1971 with thousands being produced on an annual basis thereafter in all of this reporting
00:36:14 in all of this reporting there is a remarkable lack of reports on public order issues the explanation offered for this by the sds is that the metropolitan police have destroyed
00:36:22 destroyed or
00:36:23 or lost their material and the documents that we are able to examine were sourced from mi5 it follows they say
00:36:34 it follows they say that the reports we can see
00:36:47 that the reports we can see are bound to give a skewed impression because special branch did not send their public order reports to mi5 that
00:36:48 that is a very convenient reasonable explanation and it does not fit with the evidence
00:37:00 and it does not fit with the evidence as public disorder was declining liaison with
00:37:00 with other agencies was increasing along with the number of reports generated certainly by 1976
00:37:16 reports generated certainly by 1976 most of the information obtained by the sds ultimately went to the security service
00:37:19 service in relation to lindsay german and richard chester the sds
00:37:26 the sds were doing nothing concerning policing at all
00:37:27 at all they did not report on law and order they had no regard to the law at all they were
00:37:38 they were political and economic police with echoes of the stasi
00:37:49 the socialist workers party policing the national front first
00:37:53 first we're going to look at the fallacy of a public order justification lindsey german was a member of the central committee of the swp for more than 30 years
00:38:10 than 30 years during that time the party was by far the most infiltrated organization by the sds there are at least 24 sds offices that infiltrated them many of those we now know took positions
00:38:25 many of those we now know took positions of responsibility of some sort at branch district or national level they formed relationships with members that lasted for years tricked them into into friendships and sexual relationships
00:38:39 sexual relationships they entered their homes betrayed their trust and exploited them for intelligence purposes we can see the intelligence that they gained in the report they reported on and
00:38:55 they reported on and disseminated the details of thousands of members
00:38:56 members their personal lives physical appearances homes children
00:39:04 children finances
00:39:05 finances jobs
00:39:09 jobs holiday plans weddings sexuality paternity relationships statuses intelligence level trade union affiliation affiliations health
00:39:23 health child care arrangements vehicles studies
00:39:24 studies and opinions there is a striking lack
00:39:34 lack of reports on criminality public disorder or violence
00:39:43 violence even in the annual annual reports where the sds desperately tried to justify their continued existence it's difficult to find a rationale the right to work campaign
00:39:59 the right to work campaign and its annual march the conservative party conference was an important and high-profile demonstration supported by the swp
00:40:11 supported by the swp and endorsed by hundreds of trade unions in the 1980 sds annual report the sds attempt to claim credit for the suggestion that small events on the route of that march were like
00:40:22 on the route of that march were like quite frustrated by advance information close quotes because the right to work campaign was so effectively penetrated by the sds in fact their own internal report had always indicated that the march itself
00:40:38 always indicated that the march itself was not seen as a great threat to public order
00:40:40 order in another internal report the sds attributed the lack of disorder on the march to the presence of local and national media
00:40:51 national media sds infiltration had no impact whatsoever on disorder on that march but
00:41:03 but they presented a different picture to the home office whether that was for their own benefit to secure funding or for home offices to have a policing related explanation to hand
00:41:16 hand should they ever need one is not entirely clear the sds also attempt to claim credit for the lack of disorder of the culminating demonstration inevitably
00:41:27 inevitably there is no reference to the discussions that lindsay german herself had with the infiltrating officer hn 18 colin clark
00:41:38 hn 18 colin clark about taking steps to ensure that no one did get arrested to ensure the safety of everyone through good stewarding equally
00:41:50 equally there is no reference at all to the fact that the swp took great care in steering their events and that clark himself was an swp
00:42:05 and that clark himself was an swp steward at their national conferences the 1981 sds annual report makes reference to pickets occupations and marches as protests against unemployment and cuts in public expenditure and the anti-tory
00:42:19 expenditure and the anti-tory demonstration that marched the march's combination but
00:42:22 but it makes no reference to any disorder previous right to work campaign marches did not even feature in the annual reports
00:42:37 reports the only references to genuine disorder were in respect of processions organized by the national front in terms of justification there were clearly
00:42:49 of justification there were clearly better methods of policing that kind of disorder
00:42:50 disorder one
00:42:57 one the infiltration of the swp does not appear to have generated any intelligence of youth in the thousands of pages of reporting on swp activity
00:43:09 on swp activity there is a distinct lack of anything that actually concerns public order some officers have been open about the fact that their reporting showed no risk
00:43:20 showed no risk there is nothing that could not have been sourced using lawful methods of policing point two
00:43:28 point two any confrontations stemmed from documented historically confirmed attacks by the far right on minorities and leftists leftists
00:43:44 minorities and leftists leftists we highlighted some of the murders beatings
00:43:47 beatings arsons and threats in our last statement to the inquiry in her statement
00:43:58 in her statement lindy lindsay german highlights that in the six years between 1975 and 1981
00:44:04 and 1981 51 black and asian people were
00:44:05 were killed in suspected racist murders one method of preventing disorder would have been removing the root of the risk
00:44:17 of the risk police officers would have been better police resources would have been better spent preventing and solving real political politically motivated crime
00:44:32 crime there were repeated calls by the swp and others
00:44:35 others for the police to do exactly that
00:44:37 that but they did not in the 1979 special branch annual report references made to the murder in may 1978 of altab ali
00:44:52 of altab ali the language used by the police to describe
00:44:56 describe that murder is illuminating they said
00:44:58 they said this death though not attributable to any racialist attack
00:45:06 attack was nevertheless used by the extreme left to influence an already deteriorating situation in the bengali community
00:45:16 community those words were written over a year after al-tab ali's murder at the time they were written there was no doubt whatsoever the murder was racially motivated
00:45:29 racially motivated one of the suspects had told the police if we saw a we used to have a girl i beaten up pakis on at least five occasions
00:45:39 occasions in september of 1978 altab ali's former employer the secretary of the bric lane mosque had published a report
00:45:49 report it was called blood on the streets it detailed the number of racist attacks on the community in brick lane
00:46:04 on the community in brick lane in just the first four months of 1978 there were 33 it listed hammer attacks stabbings
00:46:10 stabbings punctured lungs slashed faces air gun shot wounds people beaten with bricks
00:46:22 shot wounds people beaten with bricks and sticks and not unconscious in broad daylight
00:46:28 daylight but the police denied racial motivation even when it had been confessed they then suggested that the terror in local communities was somehow the fault of left-wing activists
00:46:45 fault of left-wing activists if there's going to be infiltration why were the national front not infiltrated there has been a suggestion that special brands already
00:46:56 brands already had excellent sources in the far right they clearly did not any sources that they did have were not doing a very good job of preventing the almost daily
00:47:09 job of preventing the almost daily disorder and violence the national front and their ilk were perpetrating on london streets certainly in 1975 the sds knew that most of the public order problems were concerned with the activities of the national front
00:47:28 national front special branch knew that national front members were responsible for several brutal attacks on members of ethnic minorities and they knew that this brutality heightened opposition to them
00:47:41 opposition to them sds offices experience the national front violence themselves although
00:47:45 although we rarely see it reported the recent evidence of hn 21 emphasizes the point he said
00:47:54 he said you would be selling the papers and then suddenly from out of the blue some national front or national party people would turn up and try and have a go at you
00:48:04 you physically i had a fight with someone who was trying to attack me they were quite big and you know some of us were puny
00:48:15 and you know some of us were puny characters so it wasn't in our interest to confront them physically
00:48:26 to confront them physically from the swp side it was mostly shouting from the far right thing it was mostly physical violence
00:48:27 violence but
00:48:28 but there was no infiltration d.i angus macintosh hn 244 recalls there was a high level policy decision not to infiltrate the
00:48:46 policy decision not to infiltrate the far right a policy decision is the only explanation that makes sense what was that policy far-right demonstrations were deliberately provocative of violence by their very nature they targeted minority areas
00:49:02 they targeted minority areas with as large a show of force as they could muster the same minority areas they were targeting with extreme levels of politically motivated violence
00:49:15 politically motivated violence there is no justification for the violations of individual rights perpetrated by the sds but at least if they were infiltrating a political or organization as criminally violent as the national
00:49:33 as criminally violent as the national front they might have an argument their work was in some way connected to policing
00:49:37 policing listening to the communities themselves they were frightened as well they might be the national front was an advantage nazi party the people of southall lewisham wood green did not want their
00:49:49 want their community cohesion fractured
00:49:57 fractured by fascist demonstrations they called for bans or at least relocation they were ignored
00:50:09 they were ignored the sds annual reports of 1981 and 82 note that confrontation with the far right did not happen in those years on both occasions the sds put that down to the commissioner banning
00:50:25 banning national front possessions because they were deliberately provocative of disorder and violence they always had been the national front marches in southall louisiana and wood green were all deliberately provocative of disorder and violence
00:50:36 violence surely
00:50:37 surely special branches excellent
00:50:42 excellent sources could have pointed out inherently obvious if police had listened to the communities they were supposed to be serving the disorder at southall lewis would never have happened
00:51:01 would never have happened instead they are used as excuses for the wholesale infiltration of the swp the metropolitan police themselves contributed to or cause public disorder at demonstrations the only sds report on the leadership
00:51:16 the only sds report on the leadership disorder was retrospective and highly critical of policing methods at southall the national council of civil liberties were also highly critical of policing methods one undercover officer hn 41
00:51:31 one undercover officer hn 41 was warned off attending the southpaw demonstration by his managers his explanation for this warning was that
00:51:45 that the uniform police were going to clamp down on the demonstrations and the dangers would be more than normal the pre-planned dangerous clampdown would explain the account of former swp member joan rudder
00:51:59 member joan rudder she'd been helping injured demonstrators when she was ordered out of a house and made to run a gauntlet of police officers who beat her
00:52:10 officers who beat her until her head split open at red lion square lindsay german witnessed police officers throwing demonstrators over railings onto an underpass
00:52:21 underpass at both southall and red lion square police actions caused the deaths of demonstrators
00:52:33 caused the deaths of demonstrators the world in action documentary of the right to work campaign march in 1980 demonstrates the issue the march has traveled the length of the country with a low-key police escort
00:52:48 a low-key police escort the exchange between the marches and that escort was good natured and even jovial the sds report on this march had listed the time and place of the arrival in london and made it clear that there was no
00:53:01 no public order concerns but
00:53:04 but when the march arrived in southall it was met by a legion of police they flanked the roads in the same way they had done two years before on the day they killed blair peach
00:53:20 on the day they killed blair peach finally it was understood the police were doing nothing about far-right violence and disorder or were complicit in it that was not paranoid paranoid or imagined
00:53:33 imagined it's not just racist language evidence in some of the reporting or the widespread perception the police protected the national front
00:53:49 protected the national front or the massively disproportionate stops and searches of young black people or the subsequent findings of institutionalized racism in the police one of the most interesting documents to have been disclosed in this phase deals with the chief superintendent of special
00:54:03 with the chief superintendent of special branch directing two senior sds officers di uh ruby wilson and hm 332 to meet with lady jane birdwood at her home in 1968
00:54:18 birdwood at her home in 1968 lady birdwood was described as politically well informed
00:54:31 politically well informed and well-known to special branch for her anti-communist views and activities the sds officers thanked for her
00:54:34 for her interests and asked her to pass on any information that she or her friends with similar interests may
00:54:40 may have
00:54:43 have lady birdwood and her friends were far-right activists and well-known as such at the time she was a racist and an anti-semite he became periodically associated with
00:54:57 he became periodically associated with the national front the british movement and the british national party stood as a far-right candidate in three elections and was later
00:55:08 elections and was later convicted for multiple offenses of inciting racial hatred why infiltrate the far right if you can have tea with your
00:55:21 with your excellent sources on their lawn it is apparent that nothing was done about the far right violence
00:55:32 the far right violence it was almost as if there was a reason for not doing anything a divided society is useful to the establishment
00:55:43 establishment even at the expense of public order historically far-right movements prosper at times of economic crisis immigrants are blamed for unemployment and that is a distraction
00:55:58 and that is a distraction from the failing policies of government what is never mentioned in the sds annual reports is the swpp
00:56:09 annual reports is the swpp emphasis on positive methods of undermining fascists everyday local activity to protect minorities themselves the organization of a state residents to paint out nf graffiti
00:56:21 paint out nf graffiti set up telephone links for mutual support and warnings against racist attacks
00:56:29 attacks organizing a protection rotor to protect minority residents and then there is rock against racism that the swp had a crucial role in that did more to unite people and
00:56:44 that did more to unite people and prevent disorder and violence on the streets
00:56:45 streets than the sds ever did the joint leader the national front admitted
00:56:52 admitted that it had been effectively destroyed by the campaigns of the anti-nazi league again contributed to by the swp
00:57:04 by the swp there was no anti-government or anti-state disorder there was nothing that could have been said to have been violent subversion or
00:57:15 or revolutionary violence public order issues and the troops out movement
00:57:23 movement we dealt with public disorder issues in respect of richard chesser and the troop site movement in our last opening statement quite simply there were none the undercover officers and their management do not even pretend
00:57:35 management do not even pretend there were any public order concerns
00:57:42 political and economic policing the real
00:57:43 the real rationale
00:57:45 rationale so what was the real rationale the sds was a part of special branch their roles and motivations are inseparable
00:58:01 and motivations are inseparable the role of special branch was reviewed in 1970 by what were called terms of
00:58:02 terms of reference
00:58:11 reference described as originating from the home office and prepared in collaboration with the security service and other interested parties the function of special branch was to gather intelligence secretly and overtly for two
00:58:20 for two purposes the first of those was easily
00:58:32 purposes the first of those was easily justifiable from a policing perspective to assist in preserving public order which was a police function the second was assisting the security service in two identified roles a
00:58:44 a in respect of espionage and sabotage which again were clearly relatable to police functions as both are covered by the criminal law and
00:58:53 and b
00:58:57 b more personally as far as this is inquiry is concerned from actions of persons and organizations which may
00:59:05 which may be judged to be subversives or
00:59:16 be judged to be subversives or subversive of the security of the state the specific tasks of the branch included
00:59:19 included consultation with the security service to collect process and record information about subversive or potentially subversive organizations and individuals
00:59:31 individuals the terms were accompanied by an annex which clearly instructed senior officers that it was important that special branches should have a clear idea
00:59:43 clear idea of what constitutes persons and organizations which may be judged to be subversive of the security of the state however
00:59:55 however they then failed to provide those senior officers and their special branches with any definitive idea of what subversive actually meant
01:00:09 actually meant this may have been the source of some discomfort for chief constables because ill-defined mi5 lackey work is not what the police are supposed to be about however the good officer
01:00:23 however the good officer conscious of the principles of policing could interpret the terms consistently with special branches pre-existing responsibility which was
01:00:34 which was the prevention of crimes directed against the state that responsibility preventing crime was also enshrined in the legal definition of subversion
01:00:48 definition of subversion widely published accepted and acknowledged from 1963 when lord denny had reported on the
01:01:02 when lord denny had reported on the roles of mi5 and special branch after his inquiry into the perfume affair the verses are those who who
01:01:10 who would contemplate the overthrow of the government by our lawful means that definition is clear it speaks
01:01:18 it speaks very obviously of the overthrow of the body appointed from those elected by the mandate of the people and it poses no difficulty for a peace officer
01:01:28 officer because from a policing perspective what is unlawful and what is not is defined by the criminal law applying that definition to the terms
01:01:43 applying that definition to the terms police officers can still do their work professionally they can collect and record information about criminal potentially criminal organizations and individuals
01:01:55 individuals or investigate criminal backgrounds to demonstrations or industrial disputes all of those activities had to be conducted within the limits on police powers
01:02:01 powers imposed by the law what they cannot do is pry into political opinions and private conduct because
01:02:13 conduct because as lord delling said that would be in the nature of a gestapo or secret police unfortunately because the terms were deliberately opaque officers were
01:02:28 deliberately opaque officers were encouraged to be flexible in their interpretation of subversion the security service certainly considered themselves to have an unfettered discretion to define it as they wish
01:02:39 they wish and in 1972 mi5 unilaterally redefined it subversion became
01:02:52 subversion became activities threatening the safety or well-being of the state and intended to undermine or overthrow
01:03:02 overthrow parliamentary democracy by political industrial or violent means that definition is very different it prioritizes the well-being of the state
01:03:13 state which of course is not democratically elected it could arguably encompass any democratic
01:03:27 arguably encompass any democratic movement which seeks to amend the basis of democracy or change the established order but most importantly from a policing perspective it no longer makes reference to the law
01:03:42 the law violent means are well covered by the criminal law but political and industrial means are not because the terms do not include a definition and were not adapted to
01:03:53 a definition and were not adapted to compensate for the whims of the of the security service the police were now encouraged to depart entirely from the basic principles that underpin policing to convert to covertly collect
01:04:06 to convert to covertly collect information about individuals who were simply
01:04:07 simply potentially subversive people who the police knew had no involvement whatsoever in any kind of unlawful conduct
01:04:19 kind of unlawful conduct the security service have attempted to add some legitimacy to their unilateral redefinition by referring to it as the harris definition
01:04:30 definition formally adopted by lord harris of greenwich minister of state at the home office in a debate in the house of lords on the 26th of february 1975
01:04:41 on the 26th of february 1975 what they neglect to mention is that they had briefed lord harris with that definition in advance of that debate
01:04:50 debate his assertion that this
01:04:56 that this definition was generally regarded as appropriate actually means nothing more than this is how mi5 defines it but
01:05:07 but mi5 cannot change the law having a lord repeat a brief definition and a debate does not change the law
01:05:18 does not change the law in fact lord harris had continued his speech with an implicit endorsement of the lord telling definition it is fundamental to our democratic
01:05:29 it is fundamental to our democratic traditions that people should be free to join together to express and further their views whatever others may think of those views provided they do not break the law
01:05:48 provided they do not break the law that reiteration of fundamental policing principles has been comprehensively ignored
01:05:49 ignored the clear shift in the in the activity of the sds in terms of their customers and reporting coincided
01:05:57 coincided with the introduction of the mi5 definition read alongside the 1970 terms and then
01:06:07 and then the selective force legitimacy of a lord's debate police think public order became policing the political like richard chessom and the troop site movement
01:06:18 chessom and the troop site movement and the political and industrial like lindsay german and the socialist workers party the home office and social security service expanded police powers without
01:06:31 police powers without democratic or electoral scrutiny and without any regard to the law it's worth noting in the course of the lord's debate four
01:06:42 lord's debate four of the speaking lords describe themselves as subversive forcefully pointing out that revolution need not be violent almost anybody
01:06:53 almost anybody could be described as potentially subversive the police could and did pry into the political opinions of private conduct of law-abiding citizens
01:07:07 conduct of law-abiding citizens doing away with our freedom of political thought and association of free assembly and expression these were the secret police that lord denning spoke of this was the reason why government was
01:07:21 this was the reason why government was so terrified of the people finding out about the sds the correspondence that accompanies every sds annual report emphasizes the home office's constant need
01:07:35 home office's constant need for reassurance about security avoiding
01:07:36 avoiding embarrassment and the political sensitivity of their continued
01:07:45 continued funding of this stasi like unit
01:07:47 unit government knowledge
01:07:52 knowledge the home office documents provided in this phase of the inquiry show the extent of their collusion with the security service the hidden codes of the state maneuvering the duplicity
01:08:09 the duplicity the avoidance of accountability and the creation of the veil of plausible deniability they encouraged the considerable increase in the size and responsibility of special branches in the 1970s special branches that
01:08:21 special branches that working with mi5 were more heavily involved in those aspects of their duties which are which are more sensitive
01:08:30 sensitive politically i.e
01:08:32 i.e spying on innocent people they were particularly concerned about criticism criticism from within parliament and from investigative
01:08:48 parliament and from investigative journalists that special branches were over secretive and under accountable and
01:08:48 and interest themselves in and recall the activities of people who are merely undertaking proper political
01:08:57 political or industrial activity it is interesting the members of parliament and journalists that they were concerned about had no idea of what was really going on
01:09:14 idea of what was really going on the criticism and public outrage came from incidents such as police taking photographs of demonstrators or asking an arrested student to be an informant
01:09:24 informant or carrying out checks on aeroflot passengers this
01:09:26 this was nothing compared to what the home office was were actually funding the sds to do thermos first inclination respect in
01:09:40 thermos first inclination respect in response to those legitimate concerns was to lie about it saying it may be possible to describe much of this criticism as either misguided or mischievous
01:09:54 misguided or mischievous while knowing that not only was it all true
01:09:59 true but they were signing off secret authorities for sds officers to do far far worse we ask the inquiry to be conscious of this level of duplicity
01:10:11 of this level of duplicity when engaging with government about their authorization of the sds a number of senior police officers were distinctly unhappy about
01:10:21 about what they were being told to do 1974 commander gilbert was of the view that for the most part work done for mi5 had little or no
01:10:38 work done for mi5 had little or no relevance to sb's proper charter and tied up staff of which he was chronically short in totally unproductive activity chief constables raised concerns that mi5 sought more intelligence from
01:10:49 mi5 sought more intelligence from special branches than they needed the work they were doing for mi5 was damaging police relations with the public most importantly the chief constables had no idea
01:11:04 constables had no idea whether there was even ministerial approval of or authority for the work that they had been doing on behalf of mi5 for the past 10 years
01:11:14 10 years they knew the terms the mi5 definition and the artifice of the 1975 lords debate
01:11:27 the 1975 lords debate did not constitute lawful authority in a democracy
01:11:33 democracy and they knew that no minister will be willing to formally put their name to this
01:11:37 this when the home office concede in internal documents that there is not a watertight basis on which to justify the work of police officers in investigating
01:11:49 work of police officers in investigating and recording the activities subversives what they mean is it is not lawful the home office knew that there was no justification they asked themselves the question
01:11:58 question how can the work of police officers which all members of special branches are
01:12:04 are in investigated subversion as currently defined be justified given that the definition covers some activities which are not as such
01:12:16 such unlawful
01:12:18 unlawful but they could not answer it there was no legal justification and of course
01:12:27 course they were only referring to what special branch was doing the anti-democratic incursions of the sds were far more invidious the home office attempted to retrospectively
01:12:44 retrospectively legitimize special branch activity by reformulating the terms but they failed ultimately the security service blocked any attempt to update
01:12:51 to update or amend them a more honest and straightforward way of having police investigate the activities of political and industrial active activists
01:13:05 activists would have been to pinpoint the behavior that government was concerned about and attempt to legislate to criminalize it as appropriate but of course that could never have happened
01:13:18 happened fundamentally because the activists were not doing anything wrong parliament and the people would not understood the criminalization of their fundamental rights
01:13:31 fundamental rights so the government orchestrated the increased police powers by guile and duplicity unlawfully and anti-democratically it is a sad irony that government activity was far more approximate to
01:13:44 activity was far more approximate to lord denning's submersion definition of subversion than any of the organizations that the sds infiltrate
01:13:56 sds infiltrate in passing to suggest that knowledge stopped the home office and went no higher is beyond comprehension in our phase two opening statement we stress the links between sds sign-offs and ted heath and harold wilson
01:14:08 wilson james
01:14:09 james callahan have been the home secretary who presided over the inception of the sds in 1968 he had personal meetings with conrad dixon
01:14:20 dixon and was well aware of the sds remit one of his last acts as home secretary
01:14:31 one of his last acts as home secretary of 1970 was to oversee the introduction of the terms of reference it is not credible to suggest that when he was prime minister between 1976 and
01:14:46 he was prime minister between 1976 and 1979 he did not check on the progress of his two creations equally he'll be stretching credibility to suggest that prime ministerial knowledge ended in 1979 with margaret thatcher
01:14:59 with margaret thatcher undoubtedly the civil servants ringing their hands about illegality or special branch activity such as sir robert armstrong to james waddle rj andrew and david heath
01:15:14 rj andrew and david heath were the same civil servants signing off the funding for the sds firmly reminding the sds managers of the need for security the impact
01:15:30 the impact the swp was an open democratic centralist organization that held predominantly open and publicized meetings it had an open membership and a democratically elected structure
01:15:44 and a democratically elected structure with positions of responsibility open to all
01:15:45 all members
01:15:55 members it published its aims campaigns and political theories in an open way the metropolitan police even had subscriptions to the publications those theories were socialist and revolutionary it is important to set the record
01:16:08 it is important to set the record straight in respect of a fundamental misconception the socialist workers party were not arguing for any kind of push against the state
01:16:23 push against the state there was no talk of guillotines or bombing campaigns the aims of revolutionary socialism are to transform society from within
01:16:38 society from within readdressing the balance of power away from the minority that holds it to
01:16:38 to the majority that
01:16:41 that should
01:16:42 should that process has to be democratic by definition
01:16:53 by definition they campaigned on is issues such as sexual discrimination racism low pay unsafe working conditions unemployment and poverty all of which needed transforming
01:17:11 needed transforming they focused on building a mass movement and broad-based campaigns with the aim of helping to create a better society transforming society for the benefit of the majority by the majority should not be seen as a threat
01:17:25 should not be seen as a threat to the safety of the well-being of the state
01:17:33 state using an open democratic organization to try to create a broad-based democratic movement
01:17:40 movement should not be seen as an attempt to undermine or overthrow parliamentary democracy but transforming society on the issues that the swp were campaigning on would
01:17:54 would ultimately have a detrimental effect on the establishment and that
01:18:06 the establishment and that explains the timing of the 1972 mi5 redefinition of subversion 1972
01:18:11 1972 was the year of three major industrial disputes
01:18:12 disputes saltly gate the dock strike and the builders worker strike
01:18:18 strike all were designed to better the living conditions of the workers
01:18:26 workers all were examples of unified people power
01:18:28 power all were successful and ultimately all impacted negatively on capitalism
01:18:40 on capitalism it also explains the obsessive focusing of the sds on the personal details and employment of trade union affiliation of their targets and the massive data troll
01:18:51 data troll of leftists rather than writers that the operation had become colin clark
01:19:02 colin clark hn 80 and phil cooper hn one
01:19:03 one double five mi5 had had a long-standing interest sds officers
01:19:13 officers rising up the hierarchy to the swp headquarters they made it clear to the sds management that their ideal will be a permanent well-placed employee in
01:19:24 in headquarters not necessarily too high up in the organization the sds did exactly as they were told colin clark and phil cooper both became
01:19:40 colin clark and phil cooper both became the national treasures the right to work campaign
01:19:43 campaign and both were close to the central committee
01:19:47 committee in headquarters but not too high up the fact that they took those positions in direct succession to each other meant
01:20:05 each other meant that for six years between 1978 and 1983 mi5 had their permanent source exactly where they wanted it this tasking was not a public order related tasking that is why the sds struggled in their
01:20:21 that is why the sds struggled in their annual reports to attribute any disorder to the campaign in the words of the sds themselves the campaign was
01:20:35 campaign was an organization to fight for the rights of trade trades unions individuals and groups of workers and against the oppression of management and government in particular at this time of high employment and anti-union legislation
01:20:51 and anti-union legislation the aim again in the sds's own words was for
01:20:55 for pressure to be brought to bear against management and government when fighting short time working redundancies and unemployment or demanding
01:21:10 or demanding improved pay and or conditions that description given by the sds is an accurate assessment of the swp
01:21:21 assessment of the swp engaging in militant trade unionism militant trade unionism was an area neither mi5 nor special branch were permitted to investigate however
01:21:32 however the infiltrations into the swp targeted as they were were designed to do exactly that
01:21:49 do exactly that clark and cooper's roles were different to those who had obtained positions of responsibility in the troop site movement rick gibson hn 297
01:21:55 hn 297 and mike james hn 96 had left that organization destabilized and ineffective after their successive leaderships there is some evidence that cooper was
01:22:10 there is some evidence that cooper was deliberately creating discord within swp head courses and was doing so with the connivance of mi5 and sds senior officers but the security service disclosure is silent on the detail
01:22:26 silent on the detail and of course the police do not know where their papers are primarily clark and cooper took their positions to harvest intelligence on the swp's organizational structure
01:22:41 swp's organizational structure administration finances and membership that's what they did they used their attendance at almost every national delegate conference an
01:22:56 every national delegate conference an annual skegness rally from 1977 to 1983 to speak to hundreds of members and gather personal details they used their access to the party
01:23:12 they used their access to the party headquarters and computer system to steal the organization's data and the data of its members as ordered by mi5 cooper
01:23:21 cooper even ended up in complete control of the right to work campaign bank account the scale and scope of the reporting the number of people with files open opened on them
01:23:30 on them is astonishing just by aware of a few examples from a
01:23:41 just by aware of a few examples from a massive reporting the annual 1980 annual easter rally at skegness the sds listed over a thousand named attendees from across the corn from from across the uk their addresses and the majority of cases their special
01:23:54 and the majority of cases their special branch file numbers were noted alongside their names on a list of 198 named attendees at a peaceful blair peach demonstration only seven
01:24:09 only seven were listed as having no trace on special branch files from the swp's national delegate
01:24:22 from the swp's national delegate conference in 1978 just under 300 names were listed alongside the addresses trade union membership and file references the report on the national delegate conference on 1978 is 171 pages long
01:24:33 171 pages long it contains detailed analysis of administration and finance breakdowns
01:24:44 breakdowns of of branch by branch membership nationwide an extensive list of unions that had swp members
01:24:53 members and a full breakdown of educational institutions with swp members the report on the 1982 right to work campaign march was more a detailed list of financial contribution contributors
01:25:09 of financial contribution contributors than anything else with pages and pages of photocopied checks the sds reported on people and sent their details to mi5 simply for buying copies of the socialist worker newspaper
01:25:24 socialist worker newspaper on one occasion that we know of a 15 15-year-old boy had his personal details recorded and sent to mi5 because he read the socialist worker and had been to anti-nazi demonstrations
01:25:41 and had been to anti-nazi demonstrations clark cooper's reporting covers the same themes as other undercover officers their indexes contain more reports on personal details such as the physical
01:25:54 personal details such as the physical appearances and relationship statuses of female activists than anything remotely disorder related but the real focus is on members employment
01:26:09 employment details and trade union affiliations and that brings us to a topic that is of particular importance to richard chesson that plainly impacts on the members of every
01:26:17 every leftist organization that was infiltrated by these officers blacklisting where the reports of these officers
01:26:28 where the reports of these officers impacted on the financial well-being security and prospects of targets and their families wrecking countless lives
01:26:40 wrecking countless lives blacklisting and the trade unions the evidence of the senior officers disclosed in this phase
01:26:52 disclosed in this phase in this phase makes repeated reference to sds reports being used for vetting
01:26:56 vetting which was an activity of both mi5 and special branches sds
01:27:00 sds officers
01:27:01 officers have been answering specific mi5 requests for information on employment since
01:27:08 since at least
01:27:09 at least coincidentally 1972
01:27:19 1972 there was a real danger of blacklisting for the swp membership with individual members of the swp losing their jobs uh for often spurious
01:27:26 spurious reasons
01:27:29 reasons at the same time there were reports the metropolitan police often visited the off the office of the economic league with files about trade unions
01:27:44 with files about trade unions richard chaston gave evidence as to how despite his qualifications and
01:27:45 and decency
01:27:51 decency he was repeatedly refused employment the inquiry disclosure in phase three gives a great
01:28:02 disclosure in phase three gives a great deal of insight into the liaison between mi5 and special parts on the issue of vetting
01:28:04 vetting an example is a fractious exchange of doctrines between the two where mi5 set down a marker
01:28:17 marker the passing of information to employers about their employees is the role of mi5 rather than that of special branch the document is clearly meant and taken as a rebuke
01:28:31 as a rebuke it clearly indicates that special branch had been relaying employment intelligence to employers the special branch response is phrased extremely carefully
01:28:46 extremely carefully it emphasizes that there are rules to prevent them passing such information
01:28:57 passing such information and that the provision of intelligence to employers is mi5's job however
01:29:02 however it then goes on to state that it has its own
01:29:03 own contacts
01:29:07 contacts predominantly former police officers with the employers and a close and mutually profitable relationship with them
01:29:14 them before telling mi5
01:29:26 mi5 in in no uncertain times that any measure tending to restrict or inhibit our inquiry work is
01:29:27 is not acceptable to them stripping away the veil of plausible reliability that is a feature of most of these official documents
01:29:40 official documents special grants says that there might be rules but they have their ways of getting around them and
01:29:47 and they are going to continue to do so this inquiry work between special branch employers is also referred to on the face of this of the disclosed home office documents in 1974
01:30:00 office documents in 1974 a number of mps raised concerns in a meeting with the home secretary about the relationship special branch had with employers and trade union management
01:30:13 employers and trade union management in particular that special branch for
01:30:25 in particular that special branch for passing on lists of photographs of those who attended demonstrations of meetings interestingly the note of this meeting was passed on to james waddle who was responsible for reminding the sds
01:30:32 sds at the knee of the need for security one's response in a letter directly to the home secretary is illuminating unsurprisingly it suggests reminding
01:30:49 unsurprisingly it suggests reminding special branch of the need for care and discretion on the issue whether or not special branch were passing intelligence to employers
01:30:56 employers he said this we know ourselves that some employers plead to be given warning if known
01:31:07 plead to be given warning if known agitators seek or obtain employment with them
01:31:11 them the official response has always been refusal
01:31:15 refusal sometimes with a hint that there are unofficial bodies which might help but when a special offer officer is himself see seeking help from an
01:31:32 himself see seeking help from an employer or from a trade union official is asking a good deal to expect him to insist
01:31:37 insist invariably that he's engaged in one way traffic
01:31:39 traffic this is the close and mutually profitable relationship between special branch and employers
01:31:52 branch and employers the passing of intelligence gleaned from sds operations for the purpose of blacklisting these are the customers that so many sds managers refer to in their statements
01:32:05 managers refer to in their statements the employers referred to include not just government departments and the civil service but also public corporations such as bank of england the bbc
01:32:16 bank of england the bbc the british council and personally for richard chesson the post office most importantly also include list x
01:32:29 most importantly also include list x firms which are private corporations engaged in government security con contracts
01:32:31 contracts of course
01:32:34 of course those files were not only involved in government security contracts once they had the list of people who were concerned enough about their society as to demonstrate in order to change it
01:32:49 demonstrate in order to change it they could ensure that those people never worked again to give an idea of the scale between 1970 and 1973 the top 50 firms that held government defense contracts were all
01:33:06 government defense contracts were all household names they covered all sectors that included for example british leyland
01:33:07 leyland rolls-royce laird group british steel shell
01:33:12 shell ici
01:33:14 ici wear group and standard telephones we do not know how many ex firms there were in total but once those lists were passed on there
01:33:28 once those lists were passed on there was nothing to stop them being passed on again
01:33:30 again and again
01:33:31 and again amongst federations of employers lists that were continually updated by the sds
01:33:42 updated by the sds we raised these issues of blacklisting in our first opening statements we are grateful to the inquiry for sourcing and disclosing this material that that puts sds
01:33:55 sds and special branch involvement in blacklisting beyond doubt
01:34:02 doubt these lists of demonstrators and meeting attendees will also pass the trade unions it's important this stage to put right another
01:34:10 another misconception trade unions were not founded by people who routinely liaise with police officers to assist them in blacklisting their memberships
01:34:24 their memberships trade unions were founded by people like eleanor marx and tom mann both marxists the narrative that organizations like the swp
01:34:37 the swp infiltrated trade unions as if they were a separate species is
01:34:40 is false
01:34:41 false it is terminology used by the sds and the home office via sir james waddle as part of their attempt to justify sds
01:34:53 to justify sds infiltrations this is the same home office when faced with mp's concerned about special branch infiltrations of unions
01:35:04 unions told them they were not directly or indirect or indirectly that
01:35:12 that was an outright lie we asked that the inquiry be very careful
01:35:18 careful about adopting that narrative if anything the infiltrators were those that betrayed their rank and file
01:35:31 file by passing their names to employers
01:35:33 employers the police say there was no direct reporting on trade unions
01:35:42 unions any reporting was indirect just a by-product that
01:35:45 that is a bending of the truth
01:35:49 the truth many trade unions supported the swp campaigns and when they did they were reported on 500 trade union branches sponsored the 1980 right to work march
01:36:04 right to work march and the detail of that support was sent to box 500 by the sds same process was adopted on every part of the right to work campaign
01:36:16 of the right to work campaign many trade unionists joined the swt the swp
01:36:17 swp and when they did they were reported on indeed if a trade union subscribed to the social worker newspaper
01:36:25 newspaper it was reported on these reports are littered with the trade union related intelligence that mi5
01:36:36 mi5 and the home office have been seeking since 1972 the bulk of reporting on the swp membership is related to employment and industrial issues but this was not to be used for national security vetting
01:36:52 national security vetting as the senior officers would try to have us believe these reports were on
01:37:02 were on probation officers and social workers hospital workers teachers farmer
01:37:03 farmer dhss staff workers at ford and general motors bank staff caterers
01:37:10 caterers ambulance staff british rail staff post office staff trades people more often than not these reports
01:37:25 these reports detailed nothing other than their name employment employer details and trade union membership special branches were involved in blacklisting nationally
01:37:36 blacklisting nationally the true spies documentary deals with one example of special branch collusion with industry the ford motor
01:37:48 the ford motor company made investment decisions on the basis of a secret assurance involving mi5 and special branch that deal meant that ford would send lists
01:38:02 lists of job applicants to special branch who would strike a lie through names and return them the deal was designed to prevent strikes
01:38:12 strikes that
01:38:13 that is
01:38:14 is economic
01:38:15 economic policing
01:38:16 policing clark
01:38:17 clark and cooper's thousand strong lists of swp members across the united kingdom must have been incredibly useful it is no surprise that clark was
01:38:33 it is no surprise that clark was officially commended for his work it is also no surprise that sds chief inspector trevor butler considered the true spies documentary to be an earth-shattering breach
01:38:46 be an earth-shattering breach of the need to know principle in their phase one opening statement the designated lawyers assured the
01:39:02 the designated lawyers assured the inquiry that sds personnel were not involved in trade union blacklisting the evidence from phase 3 demonstrates the sds did not ask and did not care what use their reports were put to
01:39:14 were put to it is clear that the swp members were right to be afraid of being blacklisted
01:39:25 afraid of being blacklisted the answer to the problem the government faced after the successful industrial action of 1972 was to find the workers who were prepared to stand up
01:39:36 prepared to stand up and take them out of the workforce conclusion the home office knew that the intentional vagueness of their
01:39:50 that the intentional vagueness of their terms and definitions had left officers uncertain about the proper extent of their role but they were not in any hurry to do anything about it equally
01:39:58 equally mi5
01:39:59 mi5 bound as they were by their own public terms of reference were darkness happy to continue
01:40:11 to continue using the sds to gather information barry moss who was both chief inspector and superintendent of the
01:40:17 the sds during the deployments clark and cooper was certainly one of the officers who was uncertain about his role
01:40:30 role his definition of subversion was so loose
01:40:32 loose that it is no wonder mi5 looked forward to mutually useful cooperation with him nothing was ever done
01:40:44 nothing was ever done to dispel the uncertainty as a result the sds continued to just hoover up everything irrespective of the consequences for their targets
01:40:58 their targets their senior officers encouraged them to do so
01:41:00 do so ironically it was colin clark himself who came closest to an accurate assessment of the swp
01:41:14 he spent five years deployed at the heart of the organization with access to every detail of its aims and activities and was fully debriefed by mi5
01:41:25 by mi5 at
01:41:29 at the end of his deployment he was not operating among subversives he said the swp was strongly opposed to government policy but were
01:41:44 opposed to government policy but were not seeking to subvert the institutions of
01:41:45 of the state
01:41:52 the state none of these people posed any threat to the security of the nation roy creamer had it right all the way back the beginning
01:41:57 beginning he said
01:42:06 he said whilst we were looking for information there was simply nothing to tell of there were no hidden conspiracies anywhere
01:42:09 anywhere and there was nothing hidden going on
01:42:16 you mr scobee um for reasons that are not um wholly your responsibility you've overrun a little on the time we estimate it for you that will involve some reorganization of the program after you but thank you for your statement
01:42:32 but thank you for your statement we will now adjourn for 15 minutes which means that we will restart sometime between of course 2 and 10 to 12.
01:59:56 miss murphy thank you sir
02:00:04 so this opening statement to tranche one phase three of the inquiry is made on behalf of families who became aware that the identities of their dead children
02:00:17 the identities of their dead children were appropriated for the purposes of constructing the cover identities of the undercover officers the focus of this statement will be upon the families and the significance of the evidence
02:00:31 and the significance of the evidence that you will likely hear in this phase so in the interests of brevity we have abridged our written statement for the purposes of this oral statement and it will therefore follow a somewhat
02:00:42 will therefore follow a somewhat different structure to the document that you have in front of you we will also address the submissions of mr skelton and mr saunders and the exchanges yesterday as they relate to category f issues
02:00:59 um first sir the families on behalf of whom we make this statement lisa crossland and mark crossland the stepmother and brother of kevin john crossland who died on the 1st of
02:01:10 crossland who died on the 1st of september 1966 at five years of age
02:01:24 september 1966 at five years of age frank bennett and honor robson the brave brother and sister of michael hartley who died on the 4th of august 1968 at 18 years the father mother and sister of anthony lewis
02:01:34 lewis who died in the 30th 31st of july 1968 at seven years faith mason the bereaved mother of neil robin martin who died on the 15th of october 1969 at six years
02:01:49 at six years emma richardson the daughter of barbara shaw
02:01:50 shaw whose brother rod richardson died on the 7th of january 1973 when he was just two days old
02:02:03 when he was just two days old emma and rord's mother barbara shaw who was a core participant to this inquiry
02:02:08 inquiry sadly passed away on the 12th of may 2021
02:02:13 and finally sir a family who have been required to participate anonymously by reason of an order restricting the relevant cover name and therefore the family name
02:02:27 in their opening statements to earlier phases of this inquiry the bereaved families told you about the devastating loss of their children and the horror they suffered when they
02:02:38 and the horror they suffered when they learned that the children's identities had been appropriated by the undercover officers
02:02:50 officers those statements also address the moral appearance of the practice and the gross repeated
02:02:56 repeated and long-standing unlawful interferences with their rights of common law and those protected by article 8 of the european convention on human rights
02:03:08 on human rights the evidence that you heard sir in april and may last year has further crystallized for the families the absence of any necessity for adopting or maintaining this practice
02:03:19 practice and indeed the very existence of the sds
02:03:31 the current stage of the inquiry is a particularly important one for the families
02:03:32 families as it is in this phase that you will hear the best available evidence as to the origins of the practice its adoption and how it came to be normalized within
02:03:46 and how it came to be normalized within the practices of the sds leading to its adoption by the mp oiu
02:03:59 so you heard last year and the families had taken note that some junior officers did appreciate the moral implications of what they were being required to do that they were both mindful of the
02:04:11 that they were both mindful of the possibility that families would come to learn of what was being done in their loved ones names that their grief would be compounded that evidence provides an important context for the evidence that you will hear
02:04:24 hear from the early managers over the coming days
02:04:32 days the evidence of the most senior of them retired chief superintendent jeffrey kraft
02:04:33 kraft retired commander barry morse retired chief inspector angus mcintosh and retired chief inspector trevor butler
02:04:42 butler is to similar effect the sds was a secret operation operating in isolation from
02:04:57 operating in isolation from and outside both moral and legal norms they had every confidence that its secrets
02:04:58 secrets would remain secret
02:05:05 the practice there was antithetical to the policing by consent model the model by which the metropolitan police
02:05:15 police have asserted legitimately legitimacy for two centuries it is a recurrent feature of the evidence you will hear that these senior officers saw no difficulty in pursuing practices
02:05:30 no difficulty in pursuing practices that the families and the public at large would obviously condemn they were at all times confident that they would not be found out
02:05:43 that they would not be found out we invite you sir to conclude that this confidence derived as it was from the exceptional secrecy that was gifted to the asds was the cause
02:05:56 was the cause of the illegality that became the hallmark of the sds
02:06:04 so confidence in not getting fined art is an extraordinary foundation the decision-making senior police officers judged by the standards of any decade
02:06:20 the references we have heard to mercenaries to fictional assassins to the kgb
02:06:22 the kgb tell you sir that public approval for the existence actions and behavior of the sds could not have been further from the minds of these senior officers
02:06:39 so you will recall that barbara shaw was a central figure in the bereaved family's pursuit of information and accountability it was she who recorded a formal
02:06:55 it was she who recorded a formal complaint to the metropolitan police in 2013 concerning the use of her son's identity
02:06:57 identity and it was she who challenged the metropolitan police's reliance upon the policy of neither confirming nor denying the practice
02:07:09 shortly after her death her family learned that the cps had found sufficient evidence to justify a criminal prosecution of en 32
02:07:21 a criminal prosecution of en 32 the officer who had appropriated rod's identity
02:07:26 identity the identified charge was of making an untrue statement for the purposes of procuring a passport contradiction 36 of the criminal justice act 1925 however it was assessed that such a
02:07:39 however it was assessed that such a prosecution would not be in the public interest
02:07:43 interest because en 32's actions were in accordance with his training and the working practices of the mpoiu at the time those working practices where as you will recall inherited from the sds
02:07:59 will recall inherited from the sds we will return to the topic of criminal offences
02:08:04 offences when we address you concerning the prosecution and conviction of mr mulvener
02:08:13 it is of course desperately sad that mrs shaw has not lived to hear the evidence from the managers nor to hear your conclusions many of the other family members are also of advanced years they have clung to the hope of answers only to have
02:08:27 to the hope of answers only to have those answers elude them by the pace of the inquiry's work they seek answers within their lifetimes about why their loved ones identities were taken
02:08:38 were taken and the extent to which their personal lives were violated
02:08:44 we turn to the circumstances of the family who may only currently participate in this inquiry anonymously
02:08:55 so we know that you are acutely aware of the circumstances of this family the restriction order was imposed after they were notified that their loved ones identity have been used
02:09:08 identity have been used and as the order inevitably relates to their loved ones identity it also relates to their identity the consequence is that the family may only participate in this car inquiry anonymously
02:09:23 anonymously in common with other restriction orders breach would pay place the family and those from whom they have sought support in jeopardy of imprisonment fines and acid seizures
02:09:38 fines and acid seizures they have the family have been informed that no reasons for the imposition of the order can be extended to them
02:09:50 as you say are fully aware this family suffered the traumatic early death of a much-loved child related family traumas of the most extreme character and
02:10:03 and re-traumatization when they learn that their loved ones identity have been appropriated your team met with the family members in april uh of this year and no one in attendance and app meeting
02:10:16 and no one in attendance and app meeting can have been left in any dart as to the impact of this inquiry charged as it is with investigating the misuse of their loved ones identity
02:10:27 misuse of their loved ones identity itself imposing restrictions upon the family's use of their identity against a backdrop of unspeakable trauma the family feel degraded humiliated
02:10:42 humiliated debased and silenced both in the public domain and in their personal relations the family have been shut out from the opportunity to scrutinize whether even the process that resulted in the imposition of the restrict restriction
02:10:57 imposition of the restrict restriction took proper account of the ongoing gross interference with their rights the full circumstances of this family's experience cannot currently be addressed in this opening statement
02:11:09 in this opening statement nor currently form any part of the
02:11:22 nor currently form any part of the inquiry's considerations in open session the inquiry's consideration of category f issues is inevitably impoverished in consequence nevertheless the bare facts that it is possible possible to set out an open session
02:11:34 session exemplify the legal and moral repugnance of the sts operational practice so we hope that progress can be made in alleviating this family's distress at the closed hearing
02:11:47 at the closed hearing that you have requested your team to convene in the coming weeks
02:11:58 i turn to the transition to a practice of relying upon the identities of dead children
02:12:04 children and the lack of operational justification for that change so you expressed confidence yesterday that the evidence will allow you to
02:12:17 that the evidence will allow you to identify the point in time to within a month or two when the transition from alliance upon fictitious to real identities occurred the families look forward to
02:12:29 the families look forward to understanding the evidential basis for that confidence from the disclosure shared with the families today we can only say this first that officers deployed prior to 1974 relied upon fictitious identities
02:12:44 1974 relied upon fictitious identities and secondly that many officers deployed from
02:12:54 from 1974 between 1974 and 1982 relied upon real identities but others did not we note in the designated lawyer group original opening statement they assert that reliance upon upon fictitious cover identities was quote
02:13:11 fictitious cover identities was quote reviewed and abandoned after a number of undercover officers were compromised or outed
02:13:16 outed and that the practice of relying upon the identities of dead children was formalized in about 1973. the evidential basis for those assertions is entirely unclear on the basis of the open material
02:13:28 basis of the open material among those relying upon fictitious identities who have given evidence in tranche one there is not a single instance of their deployment uh being
02:13:40 instance of their deployment uh being compromised in consequence so far as we are aware
02:13:49 absence of operational justification for the practice is though clear on the open material
02:13:53 first the regional and national crime squads policing operations who were deploying undercover officers in the 1960s 70s and 80s
02:14:10 70s and 80s did so without reliance upon the identities of dead children there were alternatives
02:14:17 secondly undercover officers who relied upon fictitious identities where we know able to find uh to secure official documents
02:14:29 official documents documents which they considered sufficient conrad dickson referred to the ucos obtaining necessary papers long before the practice became to
02:14:41 long before the practice became to exploit the identities of the dead the need to obtain identity documents cannot reasonably be advanced by way of justification
02:14:56 thirdly compromise of uco's cover in these early years was entirely independent of identity
02:14:57 identity choice
02:15:03 choice significantly rick clark one of the first ucos to deploy using a dead child's identity was confronted by activists with the birth
02:15:11 birth and death certificate of that child in 1976
02:15:16 1976 this event was well known upon among senior sds officers at the time and no doubt beyond it is even referenced in the tradecraft manual
02:15:26 manual prepared many years later
02:15:33 the reality acknowledged by hm126 was that rick clark alone bore the responsibility for the compromise of his cover
02:15:42 cover he was not assisted by having relied upon the identity of a dead child the existence of a death certificate made his cover less secure
02:16:00 angus macintosh should be able to offer particular assistance to you in your scrutiny of the sds response to the compromise of rick clark and its aftermath
02:16:05 aftermath notably his his statement is silent on the topic
02:16:11 the topic although he admits to an advisory role in the process of officers acquiring cover identities
02:16:17 the manager's statements do not reveal why there was a change in practice nor who took responsibility for the change
02:16:25 change it is their evidence that it was the preferred method or the norm although mr bryce would have it that he had no awareness of the practice
02:16:36 had no awareness of the practice certainly none except responsibility other than tacit endorsement in seeking to unravel all of this we invite you sir to consider the
02:16:48 we invite you sir to consider the transferring governance of the sds from c to s squad in july 1974. we note the stated intention of increasing oversight
02:17:00 increasing oversight significantly recruitment of ucos occurred alongside um those government changes that those governance changes and significant recruitment in numbers the change in the sds practice and the
02:17:17 the change in the sds practice and the creation of cover identities on the open documents appears to have been contemporaneous and potentially related to those events
02:17:28 but we also invite you to scrutinize with care the discrepancies between the evidence of the ucos the managers and the contemporaneous records as to how identity creation was managed and how the processes were reported up the chain of command
02:17:44 of command our analysis of that material is set up in our written statement and it's not repeated this this this afternoon but we invite catholic scrutiny because it will in the family's view assist you
02:17:57 it will in the family's view assist you in establishing where the truth lies and whether the managers are presenting to you
02:18:04 you a full accurate and complete picture and of course the families invite scrutiny
02:18:11 scrutiny of why the obvious and inherent risks of relying upon a real identity do not appear to have come into focus
02:18:20 they invite consideration of the role that the uco's played in their own compromise and ask who if anyone was taking responsibility for managing all of this
02:18:33 we turn next to the potential inspirations for the practice
02:18:40 operation han and the families in their statements to this inquiry have considered the potential cultural and media origins of the practice
02:18:51 media origins of the practice in tranche one phase two you heard from hn126
02:18:58 hn126 who explained that that they had quote all watched the day of the jackal a couple of years earlier um and it was his understanding that the idea of using the identity of someone dead had sprung from that film
02:19:12 dead had sprung from that film similar evidence is offered by mr kraft and mr moss in their statements to this phase although it may be that mr kraft's evidence in this regard has now developed
02:19:26 so in his statement the 23rd of february 2022
02:19:28 2022 mr
02:19:29 mr kraft has provided an additional perspective he explained that he had
02:19:40 perspective he explained that he had quote prosecuted someone who would use this method to create passports for members of the kgb so we knew in mr craft's words that it was a pretty secure method
02:19:53 secure method so mr kraft's statement made with the benefit of hindsight referencing the workings of the security agency of the soviet military
02:20:06 agency of the soviet military as a basis for operational confidence in the practice of relying upon the identities of dead children is highly significant from the perspective of the families the designated lawyers have now
02:20:21 the designated lawyers have now helpfully provided a substantial bundle of press clippings concerning that prosecution a prosecution that led to mr mulvane pleading guilty in respect of offenses associated with his having obtained a
02:20:34 associated with his having obtained a pass report in the name of a dying and then dead man and his being sentenced to the maximum term of imprisonment available
02:20:48 term of imprisonment available the press reporting referred to the dead man's unsuspecting family and a loophole as you referred to yesterday's fair in the british passport system uh and indeed somerset has been quoted as stating that a system
02:21:02 as stating that a system or of automatically stamping birth certificates deceased would obviously involve tremendous additional costs to the overheads at somerset hearts
02:21:17 so we learned from those press reports that dci matt roger as he was at that time
02:21:23 time uh was the special branch officer responsible for that prosecution prosecution and you will recall sir he went on to become the special branch commander with responsibility for the sds between 72 and 75.
02:21:38 72 and 75. he was a visitor to the sds safe pass
02:21:42 safe pass and he socialized with the ucos whether it was he commander cunningham or another who introduced the practice to the sds
02:21:53 if that is the route by which it was introduced the movina case can hardly be a basis for confidence in the operational effectiveness of the tactic the exposure of mr mordena's tactics in
02:22:08 the exposure of mr mordena's tactics in securing a british passport for the kgb was front page news it was little wonder that activists were able to confirm their suspicions in relation to rick clarke by confronting him with a death certificate
02:22:20 him with a death certificate what is really more surprising is that the sds did not immediately abandon the technique at that point
02:22:33 so it strains credulity that no living witness can assist you as to why and when there was a significant departure from the historical reliance upon fictitious cover identities
02:22:46 upon fictitious cover identities that was a tactic which had proven both effective and secure which had not resulted to our knowledge in compromise and which did not in itself offend societal norms or the fundamental principles of policing
02:23:07 were the drivers the publication of the novel the day of the jackal in 1971 or perhaps more significantly the release in cinemas of the movie in may 1973
02:23:16 1973 there is certainly a temporal relationship or were the sds relying upon kgb tactics and ones that had not even proven successful
02:23:30 successful were they introduced by mr roger or mr cunningham what scrutiny was brought to bear on the whole endeavor if any
02:23:46 if any we invite you sir to pay particularly close scrutiny to the evidence of mr kraft and mr bryce on this topic we invite you not to assume that the evidence being presented to you is fully frank and complete
02:24:01 we turn them to a central issue the moral perspectives on the practice
02:24:13 in the previous phase hn 200 told you that he had challenged the instruction to rely upon the identity of a dead child
02:24:14 child he said
02:24:18 he said i can't remember at all who told me because i was a bit upset and they actually said why is that necessary because it wasn't something that sat comfortably with me
02:24:30 that sat comfortably with me it was his evidence that he assumed he had no alternative hn 80 who deployed between march 77 and march 82
02:24:41 march 82 uh was managed by mr kraft and mr ferguson
02:24:48 ferguson he told you that while some ucos used the identity of a deceased child he refused to do so he said that it distressed him to consider using the details from a dead child's birth certificate and he knew that it would necessarily
02:25:02 and he knew that it would necessarily cause distress to that child's family if it was discovered
02:25:10 no manager admits to similar reflection contemporaneously david bicknell states the use of deceased children's identities chimed with his experience of world war ii and said
02:25:20 and said that quote we had an unsentimental attitude of getting on with the job no matter what
02:25:33 matter what it is telling that his perspective was upon police officers overcoming their discomfort not
02:25:39 not the family's perspectives jeffrey kraft observes quote the only potential harm of using the deceased child's identity was to renew the grief of brave parents
02:25:52 renew the grief of brave parents that had suffered the worst loss anyone could suffer looking back on it that is the way i see it
02:26:00 it i am not aware of what thought was given to the issue by more senior individuals he considered it inconceivable that the breve families would become aware
02:26:11 reflection had revealed the obvious moral implications of the practice but there had been no reflection at the time
02:26:20 time only confidence that no one would ever know
02:26:25 mr moss states with hindsight reliance on this practice was regrettable as he saw it there was no other option i think the sds believed the
02:26:36 i think the sds believed the operation would remain secret and that families would not be caused to stress by learning about this practice
02:26:50 again hindsight revealed him the moral implications but that at the time confidence in secrecy overwhelmed the thinking
02:26:58 thinking similarly mr butler once i was aware of practice i tacitly approved it i did not believe i do not believe the
02:27:12 i did not believe i do not believe the potential impact on the families of the deceased children was ever discussed the sds was a top secret unit carrying out highly sensitive work and the assumption was that relatives would never become aware of the practice
02:27:31 mr mcintosh i made no attempt to stop the practice as i did not think it was wrong it was not against the law mr bryce does not even address the harm that has been caused to the brave families
02:27:42 families nor does he provide any evidence for way of purported justification there is an obvious tension between the evidence of mr kraft who derived reassurance as to the operational effectiveness of the tactic from the
02:27:57 effectiveness of the tactic from the experience of successful prosecution of someone who had assisted the kgb and mr mcintosh's assertion that the practice was not against the law
02:28:09 practice was not against the law the category scps invite you to conclude that the practice was in fact clearly unlawful
02:28:11 unlawful both at common law by reference to international human rights standards and as the decision of the cps in relation to en 32 may explain and the
02:28:26 relation to en 32 may explain and the experience of mr kraft confirms there was every prospect of criminal law infringements also
02:28:33 there is no significant evidence available to the inquiry that senior officers either appreciated the very real harm to brave families and chose nevertheless to run that risk or that they were callously oblivious
02:28:47 or that they were callously oblivious wherever the truth lies those managers were in dereliction of their duties when they authorized and or condoned practice without any critical reflection
02:28:58 without any critical reflection upon the risk of real harm and the lack of any reasonable justification for the change in practice the belief that they would not get caught out
02:29:10 caught out is no justification at all
02:29:17 we move on to address the calls for additional evidence from the temporary commissioner of the metropolitan police and the designated lawyers group we address only their suggestion that
02:29:28 we address only their suggestion that you might find answers in relation to the practice of relying upon the identities of dead children by delving into the practices of the security service mi5
02:29:40 service mi5 or the secret intelligence service mi6 or even to the extent there is this suggestion by delving into the practices of the kgb we make a few brief points as you sir have identified your
02:29:56 as you sir have identified your responsibility is to examine the practices of the sds a policing body the practices of mi5 or mi6 in identity creation are irrelevant
02:30:08 creation are irrelevant they offer neither explanation nor mitigation
02:30:13 there is evidence before the inquiry from the ucos and the managers that the inspiration came from the actions of the fictional assassin in the day of the jackal and we are not invited by the designated lawyers group and it
02:30:30 by the designated lawyers group and it would appear jeffrey kraft to consider whether as an alternative it was the involvement of those with close connections with the cds in the modena prosecution that led the cds to adopt a practice learned from the kgb
02:30:41 practice learned from the kgb that evidence of course merits investigation because it assists you as to who within the sds initiated the practice
02:30:49 practice why and when it also assists you on the issue of the
02:31:01 it also assists you on the issue of the purported justification for the practice and the failures of managers to provide legal and moral leadership within the sds
02:31:06 sds but what practices those other agencies in fact adopted does not we invite you to reject that invitation
02:31:17 we invite you to reject that invitation as a distraction from your central task of scrutinizing the actions of the metropolitan police
02:31:23 so by way of conclusion we say there this it was the manager's responsibility to ensure
02:31:32 ensure that the workings of the sds were ethical and within the law a responsibility that was all the more acute
02:31:40 acute given the extraordinary levels of secrecy that surrounded the unit the very nature of the operation of the sds carried obvious risks
02:31:53 sds carried obvious risks obvious risks to the public perception of the metropolitan police and those risks are repeatedly acknowledged within the contemporaneous records
02:32:04 records the unique features of the unit increase the need for probity they do not provide a justification for its absence
02:32:15 for its absence the manager's reliance upon secrecy was in any event ill thought art there were of course multiple ways in which the bereaved families could find out
02:32:29 out through the compromise of aauco's cover through publicity by accident and in the manner in which the families did ultimately come to find art
02:32:42 did ultimately come to find art as a by-product of the exposure of the broader unlawful and reprehensible actions
02:32:43 actions of the ucos
02:32:50 so the sds was an entirely misguided enterprise targeted as it was on at civil society without any reasonable justification
02:33:09 justification it operated in secrecy and in isolation it developed practices that were the stuff of spine movies and novels and we now learn the kgb in the post-1974 period the ucos were compelled by their superiors
02:33:21 superiors in their very first steps towards deployment to place policing at policing ethics and legalities to one side
02:33:34 legalities to one side in the words of mr kraft cover identity creation
02:33:35 creation was the key issue and first matter to be done illegality was compelled by the very
02:33:48 illegality was compelled by the very individuals whose duty it was to ensure that the ucos operated within a legal and ethical framework those managers must bear the responsibility for the development of a toxic culture
02:34:00 toxic culture that pervaded the unit and became its internal fabric
02:34:08 the temporary commissioner of the metropolitan police has recently acknowledged that failures of leadership within the metropolitan police have permitted toxic cultures to fester within certain units
02:34:23 within certain units with the result that extreme misconduct has permeated them and which he has acknowledged is not a matter of a few bad apples
02:34:35 matter of a few bad apples thus sir the inquiry's work remains of critical relevance to modern policing the families encouraged the inquiry to identify the malpractice that permeated every layer of the sds operation
02:34:47 every layer of the sds operation and where the responsibility lay in their view the inquiry will be compelled to conclude that the sds managers
02:34:56 managers officers who went on to hold the most senior positions within the metropolitan police over a further two decades
02:35:11 police over a further two decades not only failed to challenge and expose the heinous goings-on within the sds but actively encourage them and indeed compel the ucos to commit criminal acts and civil wrongs
02:35:22 criminal acts and civil wrongs and to base their entire deployment upon the morally repugnant practice of assuming the identity of a dead child
02:35:36 their direction sir set the tone for everything that followed thank you sir though that is the opening statement for this phase on behalf of the category f core participants thank you very much something that you said uh led me to believe i may not
02:35:54 said uh led me to believe i may not express myself yesterday with sufficient clarity may i do so again to avoid future misunderstanding i said
02:35:58 i said i have no expectation that i will be able to
02:36:00 able to identify the date when
02:36:02 when the use of deceased children's identities started within a month or two but i had every hope and every reason to believe that i would be able to identify the approximate time i think you um
02:36:18 the approximate time i think you um slightly misunderstood my words you're quite right i did sarah thank you for that clarification thank you very much indeed we will now uh adjourn for 15 minutes and uh we will uh start
02:36:27 uh start with uh miss kilroy she knows and has kindly agreed to vary her timetable so that we will have a break in the middle for lunch rather than
02:36:37 than carrying on until well into the afternoon before she stops thank you very much
02:49:57 miss gilroy ah
02:50:06 we all know your start of your submissions has been delayed for reasons that are outside your control and mine and um i it means inevitably that they're going to be interrupted by the lunch break please take your time and whatever moment is convenient to you to break
02:50:17 convenient to you to break i'm very grateful for that sir so at 260 years ago on the 11th of november 1762 the then secretary of state the earl of
02:50:35 the then secretary of state the earl of halifax sent nathan carrington and three other of the king's messengers to the home of john entick with a warrant to seize and apprehend him together with his books and papers and bring them all to the secretary of state for examination
02:50:46 state for examination it was a time of high political ferment stirred by multiple issues including war
02:50:58 stirred by multiple issues including war with france concerning overseas colonies entick was one of the contributors to a political journal the monitor which regularly criticized the government he
02:51:18 regularly criticized the government he was said in the warrant to be the author of several weekly very seditious papers which contained gross and scandalous reflections and invectives upon his majesty's government and upon both houses of parliament the four messengers duly ransacked john entick's house they were there for four hours
02:51:29 they were there for four hours searching for and reading books and private papers in several rooms in fact they found nothing seditious but nonetheless seized papers and took them and entick away
02:51:40 and entick away in due course he sued for trespass the resulting judgment of lord camden chief justice entick and carrington is widely acknowledged as one of the most
02:51:53 acknowledged as one of the most important constitutional judgments in the common law a judgment which reinforces this juristic jurisdiction's commitment to the rule of law in short it established that the
02:52:11 in short it established that the government must have legal authority in statute or common law before it can interfere with individual rights including by trespassing on private property
02:52:17 property and the state cannot simply assert by warrant or otherwise state necessity as a justification
02:52:28 a justification that case also confirmed the common laws aversion to general warrants
02:52:39 aversion to general warrants warrants which authorized state officers to search private persons or property for evidence of alleged crimes on a non-specific or speculative basis the earl of halifax's warrant fell foul of both these principles and carrington had therefore committed trespass
02:52:51 trespass as lord camden explained had the point been determined in favor of carrington the secret cabinets and bureaus of every subject in the kingdom will be thrown
02:53:04 subject in the kingdom will be thrown open to the search and inspection of the messenger whenever the secretary of state shall think fit to charge or even to suspect a person to be the author printer or publisher of a seditious libel
02:53:24 libel his house rifled and his most valuable secrets taken out of his possession so the principle in antique and carrington together with the common law fundamental rights of personal security liberty and property
02:53:34 property underpin much of modern policing and state security law it is of course the police who are most frequently called upon to interfere with fundamental rights of person and property
02:53:44 property using arrests searches and seizures in order to prevent and investigate crime and maintain the peace
02:53:55 and maintain the peace their ability to do so is in british law heavily circumscribed they must be able to point to statutory powers or common or permissions which usually require the existence of
02:54:08 usually require the existence of imminent risks or evidence of serious crimes
02:54:10 crimes fast forward 200 years to another politically febrile era in 1968 in the midst of the cold war a large protest
02:54:22 midst of the cold war a large protest against the vietnam war turned violent and shook the political establishment the secretary of state appears to have considered special branch the division of the police which monitored protests and political groups had been caught short
02:54:37 had been caught short another large march was expected on the same issue later that year consequently a decision was taken to establish a secret policing unit whose undercover officers would infiltrate
02:54:50 undercover officers would infiltrate various groups thought likely to join the demonstration and gather intelligence aimed at preventing a
02:55:06 intelligence aimed at preventing a repeat of the same violence and disorder unfortunately the unit appears to have been created without any regard being paid to the legality of the police's conduct
02:55:09 conduct no statute was passed to give them special powers instead extraordinary lengths were taken to keep the unit's existence secret including from parliament before very long undercover officers
02:55:30 before very long undercover officers were being deployed for years at a time given cover names accommodation and cover employment and instructed to infiltrate left-wing political or protest groups posing as trusted fellow members they would be invited to and did attend private meetings including in private
02:55:42 private meetings including in private homes and properties where they spied on people they were given very little direction as to who to target and what to report and in practice reported almost everything
02:55:53 almost everything they gathered huge volumes of private and sometimes clearly confidential information about members of the groups their political views and any impending plans for protests and then they shared that information with other agencies
02:56:09 that information with other agencies sir these activities plainly conflicted with the law and not just any law the law set out in enticing carrington one of the bedrocks of the rule of law and policing
02:56:18 policing undercover officers trespassed in private property they operated without any warrant at all on instructions so wide they could select for themselves who to target and what to collect
02:56:31 who to target and what to collect and they recorded and shared with other agencies private information about people's thoughts political opinions and lives
02:56:38 lives but those in charge of that unit the special i'm going to call the sds the special demonstration squad had a weapon the earl of halifax did not have secrecy
02:56:50 secrecy neither the courts nor the public knew what they were doing and so they carried on doing it for decades with successive secretaries of state authorizing the continuation of the unit
02:57:05 continuation of the unit i need to take another leap forward in time
02:57:11 time in july 2010 alone in her car a woman the inquiry knows as lisa opened the glove box
02:57:14 glove box she was on holiday in italy with her partner of six years mark stone his passport was there she opened it the photograph was him but the name was mark kennedy he made excuses but before long by
02:57:29 he made excuses but before long by october 2010 his story has unraveled what happened is now well known it turned out that for seven years he had been an undercover police officer in the national public order intelligence unit npoiu
02:57:42 unit npoiu posing as environmental activist mark stone
02:57:43 stone it's now apparent he had other sexual relationships with between six to eleven women
02:57:51 women mark's story was not the only thing that unraveled
02:57:52 unraveled after it appeared in the press it eventually emerged that for at least three decades schools of other officers from the sds and mpoiu had infiltrated
02:58:05 from the sds and mpoiu had infiltrated social political and justice movements posing as members they had invaded the private lives and homes of thousands of law-abiding citizens the vast majority of whom neither had nor ever would commit any
02:58:18 neither had nor ever would commit any criminal offence still less a serious one
02:58:23 one incredibly mark was just one of many officers who had engaged in sexual relationships some had had children the secrecy shrouding the acts of the sds since 1968 had finally lifted
02:58:35 sds since 1968 had finally lifted sir it is as a result of this accidental discovery that this inquiry has been established and before i come on to the core of my statement i want to reflect on that
02:58:43 on that in class and germany in the 1970s the very era we are examining the european court of human rights said this about secret surveillance powers
02:58:56 about secret surveillance powers they are a menace to all citizens they
02:58:57 they characterize the police state this is the court's words they pose a danger of
02:59:10 the court's words they pose a danger of undermining or even destroying democracy on the ground of defending it why did the court say that so in my submission in secrecy abuse of power thrives and so while increasing the risk of abuse
02:59:24 while increasing the risk of abuse secrecy also interferes with people's ability to detect and correct it that is so even when there are safeguards and a40 uri when there are none
02:59:32 none that is why in all democracies governed by the rule of law covert powers are reserved for the most serious crimes and threats in those cases the risk to democracy from the use of covert powers
02:59:46 democracy from the use of covert powers can reasonably be said to be outweighed by the risk they seek to curtail but no one should ever be under any illusions
02:59:53 illusions covert powers are always dangerous to democracy and must always be sparingly used and only where absolutely necessary
03:00:09 so i'm here today on behalf of the cat h core participants or cps who are women who were deceived by npoi and sds undercover officers into intimate sexual relationships
03:00:20 relationships together with the child of one of those relationships and one man who was deceived into a close long-term friendship the inquiry has already heard
03:00:31 friendship the inquiry has already heard evidence from undercover officers active in the the trash one period that's 1968 to 1982.
03:00:33 to 1982. that evidence has shown that at least six officers had sexual relationships with numerous uh with many women in the next week the inquiry will hear evidence from some of their managers
03:00:46 evidence from some of their managers the cat hcps wish to make clear that
03:00:59 the cat hcps wish to make clear that while they abhor and condemn the acts of the ucos the undercover officers who so grossly debased and deceived them they do not accept that the responsibility stops there after all young policemen were sent into people's homes and private lives to pose it as activists for years
03:01:14 to pose it as activists for years that created the obvious risk that relationships would occur and yet
03:01:18 and yet no steps at all were taken to meet that risk
03:01:19 risk and that is even as managers permitted the theft of the identities of deceased children which we've just been hearing about spent public money on cover
03:01:31 about spent public money on cover accommodation and vehicles and created cover employment to avoid the risk of undercover officers being detected and of course decisions were also taken
03:01:45 and of course decisions were also taken to abandon all the central principles of english common law and core tenets of policing
03:01:48 policing as i've explained when the invasion of homes was authorized simply to find out how many officers to send to police demonstrations and we'll come on to some of the evidence about that and
03:02:01 to some of the evidence about that and whether people's views were subversive or not
03:02:06 or not it wasn't these undercover officers who kept the true extent of the activities of the sds and npoi shrouded in secrecy for decades so that cessation of all of this
03:02:18 so that cessation of all of this scrutiny and accountability when it finally came came only by accident the responsibility for all of this lies with inspectors chief inspectors superintendents commissioners mi5
03:02:32 superintendents commissioners mi5 officials and politicians in the home office
03:02:34 office so you will be exploring with those managers who are giving all evidence their responsibility for
03:02:48 their responsibility for and or complicity with what went wrong the conclusions to be drawn from that evidence will be the subject of submissions in due course in this oral opening i will address the legal issues raised by the sds's operations and the legal framework
03:03:00 operations and the legal framework against which we say the issues raised by the terms of reference must be assessed and i will also set out cat h's position on that law so the primary focus of this statement
03:03:14 so the primary focus of this statement and of the written statement which is in much more detail is the common law but i do say in response to um observations that you made yesterday sir
03:03:28 made yesterday sir that the uk's international obligations under the european convention of human rights are also relevant to this inquiry's terms of reference and that is for three reasons
03:03:40 for three reasons first and most straightforwardly this was applicable and relevant law even though international the uk had at international law an obligation to comply with those laws had made a commitment to do so and clearly intended to do so
03:03:54 intended to do so any failure to so comply is relevant to this inquiry's assessment of the adequacy of the statutory policy and judicial regulation of undercover policing and that is one of the questions that this inquiry has been
03:04:11 questions that this inquiry has been asked indeed in my respectful submission it is difficult to see how the inquiry could conclude that regulation governance and oversight was adequate if it had failed to ensure compliance with the uk's international obligations the second reason sir is as already
03:04:28 the second reason sir is as already explained um one of the great iniquities of secrecy is that it obstructs accountability so following one case in the european
03:04:39 so following one case in the european court concerning secret powers in 1985 the uk changed the domestic law again after another case um khan at the end of the 1990s the uk changed domestic law in relation to the sds's
03:04:51 domestic law in relation to the sds's operations it is reasonable to assume that in the absence of secrecy a successful claim to the court of human rights would have led to a change in law and practice earlier than the regulation of investigatory powers act and
03:05:02 of investigatory powers act and furthermore would have likely likely have been more effective than that act in eliminating some of these practices that has got to be in my submission relevant to this inquiry's
03:05:13 relevant to this inquiry's recommendations as how as to how to ensure greater accountability for secret practices in future
03:05:24 practices in future thirdly and relatedly the inquiry is asked to examine the effect on individuals in particular and the public in general the breach of their fundamental rights at international law in relation to
03:05:36 at international law in relation to which but for secrecy they could have achieved redress in strasbourg is plainly a serious effect in a number of different ways so i should also address section two of the inquiries act which was raised by
03:05:54 the inquiries act which was raised by both um the metropolitan police service and the um designated lawyers uh representative uh for the mps and mr skelton accepted that notwithstanding that provision the legal framework was relevant to this inquiry's task
03:06:06 inquiry's task mr sanders on the other hand tried to suggest otherwise he was wrong section 2 does not prevent an inquiry from examining lawfulness when it is relevant to the issue which must be addressed
03:06:23 addressed what it says is that no individual civil or criminal liability may be determined that is a quite different prohibition aimed at leaving determinations of liability and of course the redress or remedies which flow from them to ordinary courts as far as this inquiry's function is concerned
03:06:38 concerned as you who said yesterday how can an act be considered justified when it was unlawful and that must be a fortiori or even more so when that act is of the police sworn to uphold law and order
03:06:51 police sworn to uphold law and order if there were any doubt about this it has been resolved in the course of
03:07:02 has been resolved in the course of inquests and inquiries and just one case i mentioned here today is pounder from 2009 where the high court quashed an inquest which had failed to address lawfulness where rule 42 of the coroner's rules provided an almost identical prohibition to section two um if it comes to it i can provide the inquiry with these examples although mr
03:07:17 inquiry with these examples although mr sanders may retreat from his provisional submissions so turning to the law uh what is the law sir m more detailed uh submissions are
03:07:28 sir m more detailed uh submissions are in our written opening and this is going to be um a short summary i want to start with freedom of expression because that is the right that those spied on by the sds were exercising
03:07:42 exercising it is a right integral to democracy and it is protected both by common law and the convention lord staying in ex party sims said in a democracy it is the
03:07:53 sims said in a democracy it is the primary right without it an effective rule of law is not possible article 10 of the convention consequently expressly protects the freedom to hold
03:08:06 expressly protects the freedom to hold opinions without interference sorry and to share them without interference and that includes being able to do so without attracting the attention of the police and without being monitored and placed under surveillance and confirmation for that
03:08:19 confirmation for that comes from the recent taste of the ipt in wilson
03:08:23 in wilson to be lawful any interference with the right of freedom of expression by the state must meet a pressing socially need and this is all familiar territory to you sir and and be no more restrictive or intrusive than required
03:08:40 or intrusive than required our courts have said in this regard that there is no difference in principle between english law and article 10 um and the references are in our written statement to attorney general and guardian newspapers and derbyshire county council and times newspapers
03:08:54 county council and times newspapers equally as we've already heard of as i've already touched on the subject of muscular protection and common law and under the convention is the home and the family
03:09:03 family the commonwealth has for centuries zealously protected the sanctity of people's homes and the freedom and security of their persons and processions
03:09:14 processions it has consequently imposed limits on police interference with those fundamental rights through the law of trespass
03:09:19 trespass as the courts have stated
03:09:33 as the courts have stated our law holds the property of every man so sacred that no man can set his foot upon his neighbor's close without his leave if he does he is a trespasser though he does no damage at all if he will tread upon his neighbor's ground he must justify it by law
03:09:45 ground he must justify it by law and that is antiquing carrington the courts have also said the fundamental principle plain and incontestable is that every person's body is in violent any interference with it however slight
03:09:57 any interference with it however slight constitutes a trespass in the absence of lawful excuse the private citizen is thus entitled entitled to assert the inviolability of her home her person her goods and her
03:10:11 her home her person her goods and her private information against trespass and breach of confidence article 8 of the convention 2 protects home family private life and correspondence now importantly sir
03:10:22 now importantly sir has already touched on the police like any other citizen must strictly justify their trespasses or other torts the burden lies on them to do so and
03:10:33 the burden lies on them to do so and there are countless references in our written statement and elsewhere to that effect
03:10:38 effect that burden lies on them under common law and under the european convention which is closely modeled in my submission on the law of trespass i pause here to respond to something mr sanders said
03:10:50 respond to something mr sanders said yesterday he suggested anything a public authority does is lawful until set aside in a public law court i'm afraid that submission is wrong it's correct that a statutory instrument is presumed lawful
03:11:07 statutory instrument is presumed lawful until set aside it's not correct that a trespass to land or person is presumed lawful until shown otherwise at common law prior to the passage of the police and criminal evidence act 1984
03:11:24 1984 police could enter property and execute searches when arresting offenders and preventing imminent crime injury or breach of the peace importantly however as lord denning confirmed in ghanian jones and i quote the common law does not permit police officers or anyone
03:11:39 not permit police officers or anyone else to ransack anyone's house or search for papers or articles therein or to search his person simply to see if he may have committed some crime or other if police officers should do so they would be guilty of a trespass
03:11:54 would be guilty of a trespass and that 1970 statement is of course echoing entic which i opened with um earlier on even when a power is vested in a person to issue search warrants no warrant can be lawful
03:12:04 be lawful which requires the exercise of judgment
03:12:15 which requires the exercise of judgment or discretion by the official executing the warrant as to which individuals or which property should be targeted that was
03:12:17 that was the position explained recently in privacy international by the divisional court were such a power to exist it
03:12:32 court were such a power to exist it would be quote totally subversive of the liberty of the subject that is wilkes and wood and that is 1763 lord camden so we've set out in the written legal framework some of the other ways in which a police officer like a private person might justify a trespass
03:12:49 person might justify a trespass but using deception or tricks to gain an invite is not one of them and that is a point that you put to the police representatives uh core participants yesterday
03:12:59 yesterday similarly article 8 ec of the convention protects people's homes families and private lives from interference by the state
03:13:07 state and as i've said the rigorous standards set in relation to ordinary state interference are enhanced where the powers exercised are covert
03:13:20 powers exercised are covert so there are other rights in play also article 3 which prohibits inhuman and degrading treatment article 14 which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of gender or political beliefs
03:13:33 or political beliefs all these rights were addressed in the context of undercover policing in the case of wilson
03:13:41 so both mr skelton and mr sanders have attempted to diminish the importance of the judgment in wilson in that case the ipt or investigatory
03:13:52 in that case the ipt or investigatory powers tribunal concluded that the mps and the national peak police chief's council had violated kate wilson's article 3 8 10 and 11 and 14 rights over several years of infiltration and surveillance of the social and
03:14:06 surveillance of the social and environmental groups of which she was a member
03:14:07 member six undercover officers from the npoi were involved and one of the undercover
03:14:18 were involved and one of the undercover officers mark kennedy had entered into a sexual relationship with kate wilson now we have addressed that judgment in detail in the final section of our legal framework
03:14:26 framework and i won't repeat that summary but i do want to highlight a few points concerning its relevance to this inquiry at this stage of the inquiry the judgment is obviously highly relevant to the question of whether the
03:14:40 relevant to the question of whether the rights of those spied on by the sds were violent also were violated mr skelton says it's a judgment on its facts that is of course correct but the parity between the acts and the facts
03:14:54 parity between the acts and the facts concerning the sds and those of the np poru
03:14:55 poru in the wilson period and the parity of the impact on individuals spied on makes it all but impossible to distinguish the ipt's conclusions in many
03:15:09 conclusions in many instances before this inquiry secondly
03:15:11 secondly the mps and the mpcc made significant concessions which are applicable in this context too but it's important to note that the
03:15:25 but it's important to note that the ipt's findings are not confined to those concessions they made additional findings thirdly the ipt found that two managers in the npoiu
03:15:38 in the npoiu knew about mark's sexual relationship despite those managers and the mps's denials of knowledge as for other senior managers the evidence was not clear enough to impute actual knowledge but the ipt concluded
03:15:53 actual knowledge but the ipt concluded that there was something akin to a don't ask don't tell policy in the remainder of the unit whether
03:15:56 whether that
03:16:01 that is also true of the sds management is one of the issues in my respectful submission that this inquiry will have to address
03:16:12 fourthly the nps is in the npcc's argument that the deployment was necessary
03:16:16 necessary um in a democratic society on the basis that
03:16:20 that as they said the intelligence provided allowed the police to provide a proactive and measured response to prevent crime and public disorder and to ensure the safety of the public and of those engaged in legitimate peaceful
03:16:32 those engaged in legitimate peaceful protest that argument was rejected by the ipt which concluded on the contrary that while the deployment of undercover officers to gather intelligence on serious criminality might justify some
03:16:47 serious criminality might justify some intrusion into people's lives it would be unlikely that the test of proportionality and necessity would be satisfied in relation to policing protests generally or preventing public disorder
03:17:04 disorder in in my submission that is a conclusion which has obvious relevance not just to article 8 but also to any attempts to justify trespass the ipt also found that the actions of the undercover officers in gathering recording storing and transmitting information about
03:17:16 information about kate wilson's political activities interfered with her article 10 and 11 rights
03:17:22 rights as i've already mentioned and since that is what the sds did for thousands of individuals throughout its the duration of its existence again those findings are of clear significance it is also significant i say that
03:17:34 it is also significant i say that neither the commission nor the npc neither the mps nor the mpcc appealed any of the findings in this judgment indeed they accepted those findings
03:17:48 so turning to police and security service powers in this relevant period during the period covered by trash one 1968-1982
03:17:56 1968-1982 neither the police nor the security service had any statutory powers to conduct undercover surveillance and that means that all the common law
03:18:10 and that means that all the common law and human rights restrictions that i've been discussing applied squarely
03:18:14 squarely to their actions just as they do to obert police action
03:18:20 finally in relation to the law policing by consent um
03:18:32 the there is a tradition in uh uh of uh in the in this jurisdiction of something called policing by consent which is expressed in nine principles known as the pillion principles and they were set out in general instructions issued to every new police officer from 1829 and
03:18:51 every new police officer from 1829 and remain the foundation for that tradition of policing by consent i've set those some of those out in the written statement but i just want to highlight one in particular principle five the principle that in which um officers were injuncted to maintain at all times a relationship
03:19:03 maintain at all times a relationship with the public that gives reality to the historic tradition that the police are the public and the public are the police the police being only members of the public who are paid to give
03:19:16 the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence and that underlines once again why the police must comply with the law in their actions they are the public
03:19:30 in their actions they are the public just as the public are the police and it also raises serious questions about the extent to which the police can properly trick other members of the public uh when carrying out their duties unless given um express
03:19:42 given um express permission to do so so consideration of legality by the police
03:19:51 police it's a striking feature of the evidence from transgen despite all this applicable law that the common law and human rights of individuals and the impact on those rights of long-term undercover policing was rarely if ever
03:20:03 undercover policing was rarely if ever considered there's no evidence of that um so far that um we have seen and it's
03:20:14 um so far that um we have seen and it's not clear why that was and i do suggest that that will be an important area of investigation
03:20:21 so in the written opening statement we have summarized the evidence that has already been heard and presented and i don't intend to repeat that now but i do just want to highlight um a couple of points
03:20:33 points um the evidence shows that there was no guidance for training on privacy concerns or intimate relationships it shows that undercover officers were given free reign to decide how to run
03:20:45 given free reign to decide how to run their own surveillance and that tasking was usually broad brush with no restriction on entering homes and no restriction on surveillance or on recording information
03:20:58 recording information on the contrary they were officers were expected to hoover up as much information as possible no consideration was given to the welfare or privacy of those under surveillance and overall
03:21:12 and overall they reported very little crime disorder or intelligence about real risks to democracy
03:21:13 democracy often
03:21:14 often the intelligence gathered showed an absence of any serious threats to public order
03:21:26 managers were aware the evidence shows that there was a risk of undercover officers engaging with in sexual relationships but there was still no guidance on how on this issue
03:21:39 and finally uh highlighting from the general points in our written statement managers describe a practice of undercover officers maintaining their cover and
03:21:51 officers maintaining their cover and misleading the court if arrested and prosecuted
03:21:58 so um the position of the cat age poor participants on all of this is that it is clear that inserting undercover of police officers for long-term deployments into social and political groups
03:22:10 political groups meant that the police was closely monitoring recording and influencing the lawful exercise of their fundamental democratic rights
03:22:21 democratic rights including freedom of expression and political thought but there was trespass into private lives
03:22:28 lives that women were exposed to inherent and discriminatory risks of degrading and abusive sexual relationships when it was the state's obligation to protect them from those risks and that the police force
03:22:39 and that the police force was being corrupted by these practices and was betraying the public's trust and the values of truth integrity and honesty which underpin law and order
03:22:52 honesty which underpin law and order by their willingness to lie to courts for example the police were attacking the very institutions which it was their duty to support and it's plain that this
03:23:03 that this all of this was incompatible with the applicable contemporaneous standards of law whether those standards were common law administrative law or international human rights law
03:23:15 human rights law all those sources of law spoke then and speak now with one voice on three basic principles
03:23:30 principles no general authorization may be given to the police or the security service to search individuals or property for evidence of wrongdoing secondly police powers to trespass on
03:23:41 secondly police powers to trespass on land property in the person will only be lawful when necessary and proportionate to meet a pressing social need such as prevention or investigation of serious crime or an imminent breach of the peace and thirdly that the use of
03:23:54 and thirdly that the use of covert powers by the police and the security service is itself
03:23:59 is itself a danger to democracy and subject to a particularly strict necessity test both in terms of the serious of the seriousness of the threat said to justify it and the lack of any alternative method of meeting it
03:24:15 alternative method of meeting it all of these basic principles were breached
03:24:20 breached in cat ages and that is cat h's position on the evidence and the law so in relation to sexual relationships um it is obvious that the invasiveness of the undercover policing method
03:24:32 of the undercover policing method was extreme so that the invasion that was already present um from
03:24:36 um from trespassing in people's homes and private lives extended to their bodies and the intimacy of romantic relationships so the mps now disavows this as wrong
03:24:52 so the mps now disavows this as wrong but it is important to be aware that the position of the police on this has not always been so clear and we've highlighted this in our written statement that the commissioner at the time in 2012 told the home affairs select committee that the fact sexual
03:25:04 select committee that the fact sexual relationships may sometimes happen in undercover work was almost inevitable now cash hcps agree that abusive sexual relationships are an inevitable risk of long-term infiltration by undercover police
03:25:22 infiltration by undercover police officers and that is yet another reason why the undercover tactic should be reserved for the most serious threats and crimes and that every safeguard should be in place to prevent risks from occurring when used
03:25:32 when used none of this occurred for the duration of the sds and the npiu that is already in my submission clear but the inevitability of this risk as understood at the time alongside the
03:25:44 understood at the time alongside the lack of any meaningful safeguards does raise serious questions about the direct and or indirect involvement
03:25:57 and or indirect involvement knowledge and awareness of managers and other senior officers and so in conclusion the cat hcps make plain their view that what happened to them was the inevitable byproduct of an approach to
03:26:08 inevitable byproduct of an approach to undercover work which was ill-conceived in policing terms because the end could not justify the risks entailed
03:26:20 not justify the risks entailed which through lack of boundaries and supervision quickly spiraled out of control
03:26:24 control which operated unaccountably in secret and in which at all stages minimal regard was had to the rights of and impact on members of the public the evidence shows that the maintenance of
03:26:37 evidence shows that the maintenance of the secrecy and integrity of the sds and npoius undercover operations swiftly became an end in itself with constitutional principles that i've mentioned the justice system in other words the courts and the rights of
03:26:49 words the courts and the rights of members of the public coming second
03:26:56 so i wanted to briefly address next steps
03:26:58 steps um in this circumstances the that i've described the cat hcps respectfully suggests the starting point for the next phase of investigations
03:27:12 phase of investigations must be that unless the pattern of undercover policing substantially deviates from that that is already apparent
03:27:18 apparent for tranche one it is already clear that the sds's activities were unlawful and unjustified and that must mean that the key question is how
03:27:29 is how this managed to happen given the hallowed principles of british democracy that were at stake and that the fact that senior police officers and ministers must have known
03:27:42 officers and ministers must have known about that those principles and why it lasted so long um and in particular survived reforms to police practices elsewhere um such as
03:27:54 police practices elsewhere um such as the police and criminal evidence act the introduction of human rights act and of course reaper now
03:27:57 now it nonetheless remains essential in order to fulfill the inquiry's terms of reference that the full extent of the wrongdoing in tranche one is established and explored in the evidence of the
03:28:08 and explored in the evidence of the managers and more senior officials and we've suggested in our written statement a number of themes for exploration uh in that um inquiry and if and i think sir you've already
03:28:23 and if and i think sir you've already put this to the police but if the other core participants disagree at least with the legal points that we've made underpinning our position they should be asked um to say why
03:28:37 they should be asked um to say why because establishing the legal framework and any disagreements about it and its consequences would we suggest significantly assist in identifying and possibly narrowing issues under consideration and it would also assist
03:28:50 consideration and it would also assist in identifying the scope of any further examination of the evidence and we note in that regard that the police the mps and the designated lawyers have made a number of requests for new evidence
03:29:04 for new evidence which you have um rejected yesterday but the cat h um core participants suggest that in any event the point at which to decide on whether such a request should be acceded to is after the legal framework and any respect relevant disputes about
03:29:20 and any respect relevant disputes about it have been established because then it can properly be ascertained whether these requests will be relevant to any issue which the inquiry still needs to address and
03:29:35 and my final point is to just highlight that in the written statement the cat h call
03:29:46 in the written statement the cat h call participants have made some points about rule nine questions and also disclosure i'm not going to repeat them now but that is not um because um they are not of a considerable importance to the cash h call participants and but for time reasons and i do ask that they um be carefully
03:30:02 and i do ask that they um be carefully considered in particular the request for full and early disclosure of documents um which record the activities of the undercover officers with whom they had sexual relationships and more broadly the police's surveillance of them
03:30:13 the police's surveillance of them and of the groups of which they are members
03:30:14 members um they have explained that waiting is a painful process for them um and also that they may be of assistance to the inquiry once that material is
03:30:25 the inquiry once that material is produced will be of assistance to the inquiry so sir unless there is anything else um that i can address those are that that is my oral opening on behalf of the cash h for participants
03:30:38 of the cash h for participants thank you thank you i i'm apparently not going to respond in detail at the moment but um
03:30:49 but um i would like however to say two things first of all i agree with you wholeheartedly that the legal framework for the conduct of undercover operations by a police unit
03:30:57 unit is
03:31:03 is something that has to be determined and cannot be shirked i do not intend to check it
03:31:05 check it secondly i'm afraid i must repeat the disappointment that i know that the category h core participants have failed
03:31:19 have failed in telling them that i cannot without utterly disrupting the orderly progress of the inquiry ensure that they get everything before
03:31:30 ensure that they get everything before everybody else i'm afraid they will have to wait their turn along with everybody else although i do bear in mind i'm well aware of the
03:31:43 bear in mind i'm well aware of the concern and worse this causes to them as a result of having to wait but i'm afraid it's unavoidable so well um they will have heard um what you have to say about it and and we have explained you know why it is a
03:31:57 we have explained you know why it is a particular problem for them um and we i i must
03:32:03 i must reiterate on their behalf that it may engage the state's obligations under articles 3 8 and 14. and i have suggested we have suggested in the um
03:32:14 um in the written opening statement that the police themselves need to think carefully about um the possible disclosure directly to these women because it is wrong and that they should
03:32:25 because it is wrong and that they should be deprived of this material for so long when the police have um on their own admission acted wrongly in relation to these women i can't answer on their behalf but i'm
03:32:38 i can't answer on their behalf but i'm afraid the answer that i've given you on behalf of the inquiry is simply unavoidable um it's not out of any wish to uphold a principle or anything of that kind it simply
03:32:50 that kind it simply we cannot do it and and that practical reason i'm i'm afraid has to um surmount any any um other consideration if we can't do it we can't
03:33:06 um you have further opening statements to make not um we're now 25 past
03:33:08 25 past would you like to start at 25 past two i'm in your hands sir i mean i will go
03:33:21 i'm in your hands sir i mean i will go as quickly it will be quicker obviously the um the next two opening statements so i'm in your hands whether we start early or at 25 past well i think it takes time to organize the courtroom and everybody needs their lunch and
03:33:35 and apart from anything i i personally would like um to be able to listen carefully to what you have to say without um uh having uh to worry about having bolted my lunch
03:33:47 we'll resume at 25 past thanks thank you
03:34:24 you