Women targeted by undercover police hit back at calls for inquiry to be wound up
Women who were tricked into relationships with undercover police officers have pushed back at claims that a public inquiry into a secret unit should be ended as soon as possible.
The cost of the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) could top £200 million, the Daily Telegraph reported, quoting shadow home secretary Chris Philp as saying the cost was out of control and the inquiry should be 'rapidly wound up'.
Former detective Martyn Underhill told the newspaper: 'The time taken, and the spiralling costs, are now becoming a national embarrassment.'
The Telegraph also quoted an unnamed political source as claiming the inquiry had become a 'gravy train' for lawyers.
But campaign group Police Spies Out of Lives, which represents women deceived into relationships with undercover officers, said their outrage should be directed at the practices of the police moles rather than the cost of officially exposing them.
A spokesperson said: 'Whilst we agree that the public inquiry into undercover policing has taken far too long to deliver its findings – in part by allowing the police to delay matters with endless requests for anonymity for their officers – we are dismayed that the outrage expressed by the shadow home secretary, 'political sources' and others is simply the inquiry's cost.
'The real outrage should be in response to the appalling actions of this unlawful, undemocratic undercover policing unit and the lack of legal safeguards in place to prevent this happening again.
'To end the inquiry now would waste the opportunity to understand this abusive state overreach and to make meaningful recommendations for the protection of current and future citizens.'
The UCPI was set up in 2015 to look at the activities of two shadowy police units – the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), which existed between 1968 and 2008; and the undercover part of the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), which existed between 1999 and 2010.
A public outcry was sparked when it was revealed women had been tricked into sexual relationships with undercover officers and that police spies had used the identities of dead children without their families' permission.
Family justice campaigns, including for murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, were spied upon; and there are claims that some officers were arrested or prosecuted for crimes under fake identities, leading to potential miscarriages of justice for their co-defendants.
The next batch of evidence hearings, looking at the SDS between 1993 and 2007 which will cover the murder of Stephen Lawrence, are due to begin in October, and the inquiry itself is planned to finish in 2026.
To date, the cost of the inquiry itself is just under £110 million.
An inquiry spokesman said: 'The inquiry remains committed to getting to the truth of undercover policing and completing its investigations into over 50 years of secret policing into people's private lives and political movements.
'This includes uncovering the deception of women into sexual relationships, the use of deceased children's identities as cover names and reporting on political and justice groups.
'To date, the inquiry has heard evidence of allegations of serious criminality by undercover officers in their undercover personas.
'The inquiry has made several referrals to the Miscarriage of Justice Panel in respect of convictions believed to be unsafe.
'In some cases this has led to the quashing of convictions, including that of an activist who had their conviction quashed earlier this year based on evidence uncovered by the inquiry.
'The inquiry is transparent on its costs and publishes quarterly updates on spend on the inquiry website.'
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This single residential street in Kensington is home to a Rolls Royce, a Maserati, multiple Porsches, Jaguars and a range of high-end BMW, Audi and Mercedes models. Some of the owners have fitted steering wheel locks, while others are trying to deter thieves with direct messages. 'Nothing of value has been left in this vehicle,' reads a bright yellow sticker branded with the Metropolitan Police logo on a Mercedes dashboard. Local residents, it appears, are keenly aware that they live in one of Britain's vehicle theft hotspots. The borough of Kensington and Chelsea had, behind Westminster, the highest rate of the car-related crime per population in England and Wales across 2024. Particularly badly hit zones include desirable postcodes around Knightsbridge, Belgravia, Sloane Square and South Kensington. In a smart mews around the corner from Gloucester Road Tube station, the Monaco of Kensington repair shop frequently sees the fall-out of the crime. 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Paula Burdess, Blackpool council's lead for community safety, said it was trying to take a 'proactive, public health-led approach to preventing and intervening in anti-social behaviour'. She said some areas of the town had seen a significant reduction in recorded incidents following increased police patrols, adding: 'We are working to ensure that our town centre remains a vibrant, secure, and enjoyable destination for residents, businesses, and visitors alike.' The Welsh city where 98 per cent of bike thefts go unsolved In the eight years he has been running his bicycle repair businessnear Cardiff Central railway station, Dave Hann has frequently found himself at the forefront of the Welsh capital's bike theft problem. Within months of opening Motörlegs Cycle Workshop, the 56-year-old's apprentice told him that he recognised one of the bikes being fixed – and it was not owned by the man who brought it in. 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- The Guardian
Six great reads: the trouble with ‘great men', Fire Island's hedonistic party palaces and close encounters with Sly Stone
British progressives have suffered major setbacks in recent years, in both public opinion and court rulings. Was a backlash inevitable, and are new tactics needed, asks Gaby Hinsliff in this fascinating Long Read: 'On all sides, woke has become shorthand less for a set of widely accepted liberal beliefs than an associated style of highly online activism, seen as prone to denouncing opponents as morally evil, engaging in competitive victimhood and favouring performative protest over practical change.' Read more We're obsessed with narratives about powerful men and how they got that way. But our mania for founder myths obscures an ideology of inequality, writes author Alice Bolin for Guardian US's weekend Featured essay: 'The current billionaire class has more power than any human beings have ever had, and they wield it with remarkably little responsibility. Billionaires must be cut down to size through every means possible, from breaking up monopolies to tax reform to financial regulation to union drives. But we also need to stop swallowing these Great Man stories whole and recognise them for what they are: an ideology of dominance.' Read more Jonathan Haidt's book about why social media and smartphones have done, and are doing, to chillden's brains has become an international bestseller and a must-read for parents of young and teenage children. In this interview with David Shariatmadari he spoke about becoming a figurehead of the conversation about kids and technology and his playbook for fighting back against what he calls 'The Great Rewiring' of children's brains. Read more On 1 April 1945, US troops landed on Okinawa during their push towards mainland Japan, beginning a battle that lasted until late June. About 12,000 Americans and more than 188,000 Japanese died. In this beautifully designed report, Justin McCurry, the Guardian's Tokyo correspondent follows Takamatsu Gushiken on a mission to uncover as many remains of as many dead soldiers as possible, identify them and return them to their families. Justin also explores this story further in an accompanying documentary directed by Guardian photographer David Levene, titled The Bone Hunter. Read more Over the last century, Fire Island Pines, as the central square-mile section of this sandy spit is known, has evolved into something of a queer Xanadu. Now counting about 600 homes, it is a place of mythic weekend-long parties and carnal pleasure, a byword for bacchanalia and fleshy hedonism – but also simply a secluded haven where people can be themselves … ' Oliver Wainwright examines the architectural legacy of Horace Gifford, the architect who arrived there in 1960, aged 28 and bored with working in a dull office in Manhattan and determined to make his mark in the sand. Read more Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis had several close calls before he managed to secure his first interview with the legendary American musician, who died this week, including attempting to speak to him from a children's playground while on holiday in Cornwall. Here he recollects his conversations with a genius who burned brightly before spending decades in a drug-fogged wilderness: 'He achieved more in those six years than most artists achieve in their lifetime, making music of such quality and originality, such power and funkiness, that you suspect it will be played for the rest of time. If there is anything even remotely like it in the thousands of tracks he amassed in his later years, that is just a bonus.' Read more
