Along with those who were deceived into relationships, The Guardian newspaper has played a significant part in bringing the spycops scandal to public attention and breaking some key stories.
Its role preceded the events of October 2011 when EN12 Mark Kennedy ‘Mark Stone’EN12 Mark Kennedy 'Mark Stone'EN12 Mark Kennedy ('Mark Stone') was an NPOIU undercover officer who operated from 2001 to 2009. Although based in Nottingham for most of his deployment, he infiltrated groups across the UK and Europe. He was exposed as a police officer in October 2010 by activists. His undisclosed involvement in an action against Ratcliffe Power Station led to a trial collapsing. He had several sexual relationships, some long-term. His exposure led to several other undercover officers being exposed and the wider 'spycops' issue becoming public.Full page: EN12 Mark Kennedy 'Mark Stone' was first confronted and exposed as an undercover. In March of that year, the Guardian’s sister Sunday paper, The Observer published an interview with ‘Officer A’, later identified as the former Special Demonstration Squad officer turned whistleblower Peter Francis. Tony Thompson, Inside the lonely and violent world of the Yard's elite undercover unit, The Guardian, 14 Mar 2010. It talked about the targeting of anti-fascist groups and the tactic of stealing dead children’s identities to create a cover identity. The latter topic it would continue to lead on exposing. Paul Lewis & Rob Evans, Police spies stole identities of dead children, The Guardian, 3 Feb 2013.
In the meantime, The Guardian was among the first to bring the exposure of Mark Kennedy to public attention when his role as an undercover was identified during the collapse of the January 2011 trial of the Ratcliffe-on-Soar climate protesters. It was quickly followed by exposures of EN34 ‘Lynn Watson’,EN34 'Lynn Watson'EN34 ‘Lynn Watson’ was the assumed identity of an undercover police officer who infiltrated activist groups, mainly in the northern English city of Leeds, between the years of 2002 and 2008. Full page: EN34 'Lynn Watson' Paul Lewis, Rob Evans & Martin Wainwright, Second police officer to infiltrate environmental activists unmasked, The Guardian, 13 Jan 2011. HN14 Jim Boyling ‘Jim Sutton’HN14 Jim Boyling 'Jim Sutton'HN14 Jim Boyling (cover name 'Jim Sutton') was an SDS officer deployed between 1995 and 2000 into Essex Hunt Saboteurs, Reclaim the Streets and Earth First! He engaged in sexual relationships and fathered children with an activist. Paul Lewis, Rob Evans & Rowenna Davis, Undercover policeman married activist he was sent to spy on, The Guardian, 19 Jan 2011. and HN10 Robert Lambert ‘Bob Robinson’,HN10 Robert Lambert 'Bob Robinson'Bob Lambert, using the cover name 'Bob Robinson', infiltrated London Greenpeace and Animal Rights campaigns as an SDS officer between 1983 and 1988. He fathered a child whilst undercover, with 'Jacqui'. He returned to the SDS as a manager (1993-1998) and oversaw further controversies. After retiring, Lambert became an academic in the field of 'Terrorist Studies', until he was exposed. Full page: HN10 Robert Lambert 'Bob Robinson' Paul Lewis & Rob Evans, Progressive academic Bob Lambert is former police spy, The Guardian, 16 Oct 2011. bringing to public attention the work of activists who'd discovered the truth about their former comrades.
The Guardian’s team was led by Rob Evans and Paul Lewis who contributed to the paper’s undercover policing news stream with regular updates of developments as well as breaking stories. This included coverage of the Undercover Policing Inquiry.Undercover police and policing, The Guardian, 10 Sep 2024.
A particularly significant moment was the two journalists’ 2013 book Undercover: The true story of Britain’s secret police which contained more revelations. Prominent among these was Peter Francis' admission that he had been tasked to find material to smear the family of murdered Black teenager Stephen Lawrence during the Macpherson Inquiry, Rob Evans, Mustafa Khalili , Alex Purcell, Guy Grandjean & Paul Lewis, Undercover police officer: 'How I spied on the Stephen Lawrence campaign' – video, The Guardian, 24 Jun 2013. and also that he had reported on trade unions in relation to blacklisting. It also unmasked HN11 Mike Chitty / ‘Mike Blake’HN11 Michael Chitty 'Mike Blake'HN11 Michael Chitty (cover name 'Mike Blake') was the first undercover officer in the Special Demonstration Squad who infiltrated groups within the animal rights movement between 1983 and 1987. This included the South London Animal Movement (SLAM). He had sexual relationships with women in his target groups, and returned to the activist scene using his cover identity post-deployment. He has refused to cooperate with The Inquiry.Full page: HN11 Michael Chitty 'Mike Blake' as another undercover. Rob Evans, Covert police unit spied on trade union members, whistleblower reveals, The Guardian, 13 Mar 2015.
Working with television outlets such as Channel 4 News, Dispatches, and BBC Newsnight, Richard Watson & Maria Polachowska, Undercover policeman proposed to activist , BBC News Online, 18 Jan 2016. The Guardian also played roles in bringing other important spycop stories to public attention, including that of HN104 Carlo Sorracchi ‘Carlo Neri’HN104 Carlo Soracchi 'Carlo Neri'Carlo Neri is the alias of an undercover police officer who infiltrated the Socialist Party and anti-fascist groups. He was active from 2001 to 2006 and based in north and central London. Carlo Neri was exposed in January 2016. He had three long-term relationships during his deployment. His real name is Carlo Soracchi.
Full page: HN104 Carlo Soracchi 'Carlo Neri' in 2016, and HN2 Andy Coles ‘Andy Davey’HN2 Andrew Coles 'Andy Davey'HN2 Andy Coles (cover name 'Andy Davey') was an SDS undercover officer who infiltrated peace and animal rights groups in South London between 1991 and 1995. While deployed, he had a sexual relationship with 'Jessica', who was 19 years old at the time.
After his deployment, he updated the SDS Tradecraft Manual. Coles was exposed as a spy and immediately resigned as the Police and Crime Commissioner of Cambridgeshire. Full page: HN2 Andrew Coles 'Andy Davey' in 2017, dramatically demonstrating that the police narrative that it was ‘only a few bad apples’ or 'rogue officers acting without authorisation' could no longer hold.
It played a further role in the Inquiry when, in January 2016, it broke the story of police destruction of files, when a whistleblower approached Baroness Jenny Jones. For more on this see under Assurance.
In the Undercover Policing Inquiry, lawyers for The Guardian have made representations around the necessity for openness by the Inquiry and in relation to the anonymity process for former undercovers. In this it has both made its own submissions and also done so in concert with other media organisations.
The Guardian had particular relevance with regard to the Lambert Report, an internal Special Demonstration Squad document prepared by HN10 Robert Lambert ‘Bob Robinson’ into the activities of HN11 Mike Chitty ‘Mike Blake’ who had returned to socialise with his target groups after his deployment had ended and he should have cut all contact. It was clear that Rob Evans and Paul Lewis had access to the report and as a result knew the real names of several other undercovers mentioned in it. This, in turn, impacted on several anonymity applications for those officers. As a result, it was discussed at the Procedural Hearing of March 2018.Procedural Hearing 10: 21 March 2018Full page: Procedural Hearing 10: 21 March 2018
