Richard Chessum was active from the 1960s in anti-war groups including the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), the Vietnam Solidarity Movement (VSM) and the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM). From 1970, he studied sociology at Goldsmiths University, launching a Socialist Society on campus.
Chessum was spied upon by HN297 ‘Rick Gibson’ and HN353 ‘Gary Roberts’, having briefly joined the International Marxist Group (IMG) and been active in Irish republican solidarity work. In 1973 Irish-solidarity activists formed a new London-based group, the Troops Out Movement (TOM).
In 1974, weeks after two Birmingham pub bombings, Chessum set up a south-east London branch of TOM, with HN297 Richard Clark ‘Rick Gibson’, sent by the Special Demonstration Squad to spy on Lewisham-based republicans and socialists. Today, Chessum works for a charity he co-founded in Sheffield to support refugees.
Born in 1942, Richard Chessum came to socialism via the Methodist church, becoming a lay preacher aged 19. Applying to theological college, he was turned away for being too frank about his socialist views. Instead, he worked at South London Mission, which strengthened his ‘belief in social justice, human rights and socialism’.
Chessum left church and mission in 1964, joining the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) and becoming active in the British Labour Party in Bedfordshire. In 1968, swept up in anti-war activities, he joined the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) and Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) protests and veered to the left.
In 1970, now moving in International Marxist Group (IMG) circles, Chessum signed up for a sociology degree at Goldsmiths University in south-east London. He set up a Socialist Society on campus and campaigned for CND, AAM and Irish solidarity group the Anti-Internment League (AIL). In 1972, Chessum finally joined the IMG but left within a year.
In 1972, Chessum became active in Irish republican solidarity work, after British troops shot dead 14 civil rights marchers in Derry on Bloody Sunday in January that year. After the killings, in 1973, London activists founded new Irish republican support group, the Troops Out Movement (TOM).
TOM’s national office asked Chessum, now an elected student union officer, to set up a south-east London branch, having been contacted by a Goldsmiths student wanting to join a local group. That ‘student’ was HN297 Richard Clark, ‘Rick Gibson’ , a Special Demonstration Squad spycop who reported on Goldsmith-based socialist and republican activists in 1974-1976.
A Special Branch report suggests that on 30 January 1975 TOM’s inaugural south-east London meeting drew 45 people, who agreed to form a branch and to meet on February 17. Just two people – probably Gibson and Chessum – attended that second meeting, although three IMG supporters – including ‘Mary’ – arrived later.
After leaving the IMG, Chessum briefly attended Big Flame discussion groups. However he soon rejoined the Labour Party and after leaving Goldsmiths moved out of London. He worked as press officer for the Labour Committee on Ireland from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s.
Now based in Sheffield, Chessum campaigns for refugee and asylum-seeker rights. In 2003, he co-founded Assist Sheffield, to help migrants to access language skills, finance and housing.
The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) deployed HN297 Richard Clark ‘Rick Gibson’ to infiltrate and report on south-east London and Goldmiths College-based socialist and republican groups from 1974 to 1976. Gibson enrolled at Goldsmiths, presenting himself as a mature student.
Chessum set up the south-east London branch of the Troops Out Movement (TOM) after Gibson contacted the group’s national office, weeks after the Birmingham pub bombings of 21 November 1974, asking to join a local branch. Chessum and Gibson met for a drink and agreed they should launch a south-east London branch of TOM.
Gibson targeted Chessum personally, on 17 February 1975 filing a report about his job, home address, partner’s name, study plans and political background. He noted that Chessum came to Special Branch attention in January 1969 after writing for New Left Collective magazine Black Dwarf and that Chessum’s sister had moved to York.
The spycop built a close relationship with Chessum, an early example of strategic targeting and befriending of key activists to infiltrate left-wing groups.
Giving evidence to the Inquiry, Chessum confirmed that Gibson had sexual relationships with ‘Mary’ and at least three other activists during his deployment. Gibson went on to become first national organiser, then joint national secretary of TOM.
By autumn 1975, Chessum was attending Big Flame discussion groups. Gibson followed Chessum into Big Flame, a libertarian, feminist and republican Marxist group. Chessum did not join Big Flame. Shortly afterwards, he left London. Gibson had attended only a handful of group meetings by summer 1976, when he asked to join Big Flame.
The Big Flame member who checked birth records for ‘Richard Gibson’ at Somerset House returned with his birth and death certificates. The group confronted Gibson and demanded to know who he was working for; police, security services, the army or even the National Front.
Gibson vanished from south-east London that night. The SDS hastily cut short his undercover deployment. Big Flame members, unsure what kind of infiltrator they were dealing with, decided to inform only people Gibson was close to; the women he slept with and Chessum. Chessum broke the news to ‘Mary’.
In 1986, investigations by The Guardian confirmed to Chessum and others linked to Big Flame that ‘Rick Gibson’ had been an undercover police officer. Gibson is now dead.
The Undercover Policing Inquiry also asked Chessum whether he recalled HN353 ‘Gary Roberts’ , deployed in 1974-1978 to infiltrate the IMG, International Socialists and the Socialist Workers Party.
In a written statement to the Inquiry, Roberts said he may have filed a report of 16 March 1977, noting Chessum’s address in Warwickshire.
The Inquiry failed to disclose Roberts’ witness statement to Chessum before he gave evidence and supplied no contemporaneous photos of the spycop to jog his memory, ‘which is unfortunate given I feel that as a Public Inquiry it should be assisting Core Participants as much as possible’.
Chessum questioned why the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) sent HN297 Richard Clark, ‘Rick Gibson’ to spy on him and fellow activists. He argued that Clark’s actions went beyond befriending, infiltrating and reporting, going on to sabotage the groups he targeted:
With regards to ‘Rick Gibson’, I would say that he was very clever in his role. I am concerned that his role was not just to spy on people, but also to derail campaigns and… I think he probably did do that.
He added:
I am appalled that an undercover police officer should end up ln one of the leading national positions of the Troops Out Movement which was an open, and democratic campaigning organisation.
Chessum pressed the Inquiry – unsuccessfully – to disclose whether Gibson’s reporting put him on an employment blacklist and, if yes, how this reshaped his career prospects. ‘Throughout the 1980s and 1990s I found it very difficult to obtain work’, Chessum noted. This included being turned down for teacher training and from the Post Office:
I think I was blacklisted, and would like the Inquiry to consider and examine to what extent I was blacklisted? To what extent were my details provided to potential employers? What methods were used to provide potential employers with information on job applications [from candidates] such as myself?
The Inquiry invited Richard Chessum to give evidence on 4 February 2020. Chessum submitted his witness statement in April 2020 and gave evidence to the Inquiry by video link on 5 May 2021.
The Inquiry released 39 police reports that mentioned Chessum, dating from 11 February 1975 to 16 March 1977. Most are attributed to HN297 Richard Clark ‘Rick Gibson’.
In his written statement, HN353 ‘Gary Roberts’ said he may have authored the final report on Chessum, noting his new address in Warwickshire.
Chessum’s legal team submitted a joint opening statement for Chessum and ‘Mary’ on 23 April 2021 and a joint closing statement for Chessum, ‘Mary’ and Lindsey German , the leading Socialist Workers Party (SWP) member, on 22 February 2023.