Tranche 3 of the Undercover Policing Inquiry considers the last third of the existence of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), from 1993 to the closing of the unit in 2007. It consists of two phases hearing from various undercovers and the people they decieved, held in Augtum 2025 and Spring 2026. The third phase, when the managers of this era will be questioned takes place in Summer 2026.
This period covered spying on family justice campaigns such as that of Stephen Lawrence, Ricky Reel and Jean Charles de Menezes, as well as various scandals such as Operation Lime and incitement to burn down a charity shop, the central role played in the organising of various actions including June 18, along with racial profiling and the targeting of anti-fascist, anti-racism and anti-capitalist groups such as Anti-Fascist Action, No Platform, Movement for Justice, Reclaim the Streets, Globalise Resistance, Dissent! Network (anti-G8) and anti-arms campaigners. There was also considerable focus on multiple relations many of the undercovers engaged in.
There will be a closed Phase 4 in Autumn 2026, when Sir John Mitting, the Inquiry Chair, will hold closed sessions to hear from officers whose details are being withheld from the public. Following this, Mitting, who is standing down as Chair, will complete a second interim report, focusing only on the Special Demonstration Squad and in particular having to decided on a number of issues including miscarriags of justice, which emerged during the course of this tranche.
Undercovers who gave evidence in this tranche were