HN2 Andrew Coles 'Andy Davey'

Below are adapted excerpts from profiles of HN2 Andrew Coles and a separate one on his time undercover as 'Andy Davey' at the former Undercover Research group website, last updated in February 2020.

'Jessica' and Coles gave evidence to the Inquiry in late 2024. An updated profile will appear in due course. 'Jessica'  features in the acclaimed short film, 'We Did Not Consent'.

'Jessica' also spoke to Tom Fowler and Chris Brian about Coles and the Tradecraft Manual on the Spycops Info podcast. Tom Fowler & Chris Brian, Episode 2: Andy Coles & the tradecraft manual, spycops.info podcast, 2021.

HN2 Andy Coles ('Andy Davey') is a failed Conservative Party politician. He was previously a Detective Inspector with the Metropolitan Police and served with ACPO-TAM. Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) The Association of Chief Police Officers of England, Wales and Northern Ireland was a membership body made up largely of senior police officers. Although not a public body, it exercised an important strategic role in policing. This included responsibility for the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. The National Police Chiefs' Council replaced ACPO on 1 April 2015.  It was revealed in the autobiography by his famous brother, the Reverend Richard Coles, that he had been an undercover who infiltrated extremist groups. The story broke on 12 May 2017 when 'Jessica', the woman he targeted for a relationship while undercover, came forward to tell her story.

Andy Coles was deployed into the London animal rights scene in late 1991 in South London, as Andy Davey, though he also gained the nickname 'Andy Van'. He remained active for the next couple of years, exiting in February 1995. 

He is a contemporary of another undercover officer deployed to hunt sab and animal rights groups, HN1 'Matt Rayner' HN1 'Matt Rayner' HN1 'Matt Rayner' was the cover name of an SDS undercover officer. He infiltrated the animal rights movement in North London from 1991 to 1996, targeting London Boots Action Group, London Animal Action, Animal Liberation Front and West London Hunt Saboteurs. He had a sexual relationship in his undercover identity. Full page: HN1 'Matt Rayner' , and the pair were involved in several of the same pan-London campaigning groups. Both officers were part of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) within the Metropolitan Police Special Branch.