3 days ago
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.'
