Undercover policing

Police used 'mole to spy on lawyers so they could tamper with evidence': 'Former detective was paid £21,000 to pass on secret details of legal cases while working undercover for the Met'

Police have been accused of paying an undercover mole to spy on private legal meetings before court cases – and in at least one instance allegedly changed key evidence to ensure an unfairly obtained conviction.

A former detective was paid £21,000 to pass on confidential details of defendants’ legal cases while secretly working for the Metropolitan Police, an official inquiry into undercover policing has been told.

At least one conviction is being reviewed as a potential miscarriage of justice over claims the alleged spying undermined the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

The bombshell claim has been made in written submissions to Lord Justice Pitchford, chairman of the undercover policing inquiry set up by Home Secretary Theresa May and due to begin next year.

Undercover policing
How to Be an Undercover Copper

Earlier this summer, following a number of Freedom of Information requests, London’s Metropolitan Police released the Special Demonstration Squad’s (SDS) “Tradecraft Manual” (PDF), a 60-page document given to undercover police. Those expecting the lid to be lifted fully on the now defunct unit’s controversial activities—at least one of its operatives, Bob Lambert, fathered a child with a woman who had no idea who he really was—might have looked at the pages and pages of blacked out text and concluded that the heavily redacted report has nothing to tell us about the world of undercover policing.