Tag: spycop

‘Spycop’ scandal Hits new low with Claim that Officer exploited Elderly Activist as part of Cover

by Tom Coburg at The Canary.. shared with thanks

An undercover police officer allegedly befriended an elderly activist as cover for intelligence-gathering. She was partially blind and deaf. The ‘spycop’ went on to head Special Branch.

Exploitation

During 1980 and 1981, police officer Roger Pearce used the cover name Roger Thorley to spy on members of the anarchist Freedom Press in London’s Whitechapel. As ‘Thorley’, he wrote several articles [pdf] for the newspaper Freedom, attacking the police.

As part of his cover, he is alleged to have been a ‘chauffeur’ for veteran anarchist Leah Feldman. At the time, Feldman was in her 80s, was partially deaf and blind, and often needed help moving around.

The spycop

Roger Pearce went on to head the Special Demonstration Squad and oversaw the creation of the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. He was later appointed Director of Intelligence; and Commander, Special Branch. On leaving the police service, he was appointed Counter-Terrorism Adviser to the Foreign Office.

Pearce was first identified as an undercover police officer in June 2014. In March 2017, Lord Pitchford (then head of the Undercover Policing Inquiry) refused [pdf] anonymity status for Pearce. The inquiry subsequently revealed that Pearce had infiltrated anarchist groups from 1979 to 1984.

In July 2013, when Pearce was asked about the practice of undercover police officers forming sexual relationships so as to gain intelligence, he said:

the [Special] Branch was inviting individual officers to live a false life for four or five or more years, the false friendship can develop and escalate into a sexual relationship. So it’s almost inevitable that these took place and I am making no moral judgement about them at all. Continue reading “‘Spycop’ scandal Hits new low with Claim that Officer exploited Elderly Activist as part of Cover”

Exposed: ‘Spycop’ Tory Councillor sexually exploited a teenager

the staggering hypocrisy of a ‘spycop’

Undercover is no Excuse for Abuse banner outside Peterborough Town Hall, 19 July 2017

by  TOM COBURG   Please share this article:     Andy Coles, a former undercover police officer – or ‘spycop’ – who spied on political activists, was exposed earlier this year after it was reported he formed a relationship with a teenage girl as part of his operations cover. He subsequently resigned his position as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner but, despite protests, continues as a local Tory councillor. Now evidence has emerged that only two years ago Coles endorsed a campaign to protect teenagers from sexual predators.

Coles’ shady background

Andy Coles was an undercover police officer with the Special Demonstration Squad. He was active in the animal rights movement. He also spied on peace activists. And he ingratiated himself with activists at the 121 anarchist centre, a squatted bookshop in Brixton’s Railton Road.

Coles retired from the police in 2012. But in July 2016 he was appointed deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. He was given special responsibility for domestic abuse, as shown in the 19 July 2016 minutes [pdf section 2.3] of a meeting of the Cambridge Community Safety Partnership.

In 2015, Coles was elected Conservative councillor for Fletton & Woodston ward (Peterborough). It is a position he still holds. In the same year he served on Peterborough’s council cabinet as Lead Member with responsibility for Children’s Services. Continue reading “Exposed: ‘Spycop’ Tory Councillor sexually exploited a teenager”

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