Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 17h

New date! The #spycops public inquiry is about to resume. The hearings will look at 1993-2008. Here's our press release on what to expect & info on a protest outside the first day of live hearings, Fri 17 Oct. Join us to demand truth & justice!
campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2025/10/06/s...

A promotional flyer for the protest. An image of a police officer wearing a mask at the top, and the logos for Police Spies Out of Lives and Campaign Opposing Police surveillance at the bottom.

In between there is text which says:

Protest: Demand Truth & Justice at the Spycops Inquiry

The public inquiry into Britain’s political secret police is about to resume.

The new hearings will examine some of the most controversial abuses.

The families of Stephen Lawrence and Ricky Reel were spied on for wanting the truth about their murdered sons. They will give evidence, along with women deceived into relationships and the spycops who did it all.

Join the spied-on outside the hearings to demand truth and justice.

Friday 17 October, 9 a.m.

International Dispute Resolution Centre, St Paul's Churchyard, London EC4M 7BQ

1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 4d

Just out - our report on the #spycops public inquiry's questioning of Malcolm MacLeod, the unit's boss in the mid 1980s. Ludicrously self-contradictory, he admitted 'it's really, really difficult to defend the indefensible.' He still tried. campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2025/10/04/u...

UCPI – Daily Report: 10 & 11 February 2025 - HN69 Malcolm MacLeod

Report of the Undercover Policing Inquiry questioning Malcolm MacLeod, the spycops unit's manager in the mid 1980s

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com

2 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 9d

Everything you wanted to know about the #Spycops Inquiry. We're putting on an event to explain what the inquiry is, what we know about 50 years of political police units, & how to find out more. Sun 19 Oct, 2-4pm in London.

More on our blog: campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2025/09/29/t...

Talk: Everything You Want to Know About the Spycops Inquiry

Details of a talk by campaigners on the Undercover Policing Inquiry, informing people ahead of the Inquiry's hearings in October 2025

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com

2 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 13d

Coming on the same day that the Inquiry said it won't be calling officer N81 'Dave Hagan' who spied on Stephen Lawrence's family, this stinks of a rush-job that will avoid exposing the full truth about Britain's political secret police.

3

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 13d

Dave has just launched legal proceedings to force them. There can be no credible report on #spycops without blacklisting, & there can't be the full truth on blacklisting without Dave Smith.
www.hazards.org/blacklistblo...

Spycops inquiry chair faces legal challenge by blacklisted union activist

Legal papers applying for a Judicial Review have been submitted against the chair of the undercover policing inquiry by blacklisted union activist Dave Smith. The application, to be decided on by a…

www.hazards.org

1 3

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 13d

Nobody knows more about this than Dave Smith, a blacklisted construction worker who literally wrote the book about the scandal. Yet the Undercover Policing Inquiry doesn't intend to call him to give evidence.

ethicalshop.org/blacklisted-...

Blacklisted: The Secret War between Big Business and Union Activists by Dave Smith and Phil Chamberlain

In the second updated edition published in September 2016, investigative journalist Phil Chamberlain and Dave Smith, blacklisted construction worker, lift the lid on the shameful and immoral practices...

ethicalshop.org

1 3

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 13d

Thousands of people were denied work because of their legal union & political activity. Whistleblower officer HN43 Peter Francis has said he's confident his intel ended up in blacklist files.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013...

Police 'spied on activists for blacklisting agency'

Whistleblower says he believes he personally collected intelligence that later appeared in files of agency

www.theguardian.com

1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 13d

The #spycops scandal contains half a dozen aspects that frankly warrant an inquiry of their own. One of these is blacklisting. For decades, every constabulary's Special Branch routinely & illegally passed details of political activists to illegal employment blacklisting organisations. 🧵

2 4 5

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 14d

As Doreen Lawrence said of the #spycops: “They were doing the deception. Why should they be allowed to be anonymous while people like me had their faces all over the newspapers? These people were not innocent. They knew what they were doing.”

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015...

Doreen Lawrence calls for undercover police who spied on family to be named

Mother of murdered teenager Stephen says officers who infiltrated political groups should be named at public inquiry

www.theguardian.com

3 9

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 14d

The doctor's report also says that 'Dave Hagan' would be unlikely to engage meaningfully with the #spycops Inquiry. He was deployed by the Met's Special Demonstration Squad 1996-2001, infiltrating several left wing groups as well as Black justice campaigns.

www.spycopsresearch.info/spycops/hn81...

1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 14d

The #spycops public inquiry has just announced that officer N81 'Dave Hagan', who spied on Stephen Lawrence's family, will not be giving evidence at the forthcoming hearings. A doctor's report says he suffers from complex-PTSD & giving evidence may negatively affect on his wellbeing.

1 2 2

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 29d

'Lynn Watson', EN34 2003-2008

Aldermaston Women’s Peace Camp
Angelica Project
Clown Army
Climate Camp
Dissent! / The Dissent Network
Earth First
Lakenheath Action Group
Leeds Action for Radical Change
Nuke Watch
The Common Place
Trident Ploughshares
Action Medics

The spycop known as Lynn Watson, a young white woman with short dark hair smiling at the camera

The spycop known as Lynn Watson, a young white woman in clown make up as part of a Clown Army protest at the office of Hilary Benn MP

The spycop known as Lynn Watson, a young white woman with short dark hair and dangly earrings looking at the camera

1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 29d

'Rod Richardson', EN32 1998-2003 (Mark Kennedy's predecessor)

Movement against the Monarchy
Nine Ladies’ Protest
Reclaim the Streets
Rettendon, Essex A130 by-pass protest camp & campaign
Sumac Centre
Urban Alliance
White Overalls Movement Building Libertarian Struggles (WOMBLES)

The spycop known as Rod Richardson, a young white man with a skinhead haircut doing DIY

The spycop known as Rod Richardson, a young white man in fancy dress

The spycop known as Rod Richardson, a young white man smiling, face half obscured by his hand holding a glass

1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 29d

'Marco Jacobs', EN1 2004-2009

Anti G8 campaign
Cardiff Anarchist Network
Cardiff Rising Tide
Climate Camp
Cowley Club, Brighton
Direct Action Affinity Group
Dissent!
Earth First!
Gwent Anarchist Group
No Borders
Smash EDO
South Wales Anarchists

The spycop known as Marco Jacobs, a young white man with long dark hair and shades on his head

The spycop known as Marco Jacobs, a young white man with very long dark hair on a train, smiling

The spycop known as Marco Jacobs, a young white man with dark hair and looking pensively out of a window

1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 29d

Mark Kennedy, EN12 2003-2009

Antifa 635
Activist Tat Collective
Black Bloc
Climate Camp
Dissent!
Earth First!
Nottingham Antifa
Anti-Arms campaign
Anti-G8 campaigns
Clown Army
Sumac Centre
Trapese
White Overalls Movement Building Libertarian Struggles (WOMBLES)

Spycop Mark Kennedy, locked to the gate of Hartlepool nucelar power station while undercover in an environmental activist protest group

The spycop Mark Kennedy, a white man with long dark hair, goatee beard and earrings, scrubbed up for a formal occasion

Spycop Mark Kennedy, a young white man with long dark hair in a pony tail, next to a uniformed police officer when Keenedy was arrested as part of a climate protest in 2009

1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 29d

Under the snappy title 'Inquiry publishes information in relation to NPOIU officers whose deployments fell within Tranche 4', it refers to four officers by their nominals at the inquiry rather than their names. Way to mimnimise interaction & understanding.
www.ucpi.org.uk/2025/09/09/i...

www.ucpi.org.uk

1 1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · 29d

New details about #spycops released today by the Undercover Policing Inquiry. More than 10 years after the Inquiry began, it has today given a list of groups spied on by key officers Mark Kennedy, 'Lynn Watson', 'Marco Jacobs' & 'Rod Richardson' 🧵

1 6 5

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Aug 28

New on our site - the #spycops public inquiry hears from 'Jacqui', deceived into a relationship & motherhood by Bob Lambert. Continuing our catch-up from the last hearings, this one's a tough read - Lambert's wanton cruelty is utterly sickening

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2025/08/28/u...

UCPI – Daily Report: 28 November 2024 - 'Jacqui'

The Undercover Policing Inquiry hears from 'Jacqui' who was deceived into a relationship & had a child with spycop Bob Lambert in the 1980s

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com

4 5

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Aug 14

But the story is about far more - private infiltrators sent by the company sat beside the spycops sent by the Metropolitan Police, one of whom deceived Helen into a long-term relationship. It's a gripping tale you'd scarcely believe could happen. Available now on BBC Sounds.

1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Aug 14

Despite that disparity (later declared an unfair trial by the European Court of Human Rights) the court still ruled in their favour on numerous points. It agreed McDonald's endangers health with misleading advertising, exploits children, causes cruelty to animals & pays low wages

1 1 1

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Aug 14

A spycop helped write London Greenpeace's briefing on McDonald's, the corporation then sued the group for libel. But 2 of them - Helen Steel & Dave Morris - stood their ground. They had to conduct their own defence while McDonald's hired expensive lawyers.

www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/...

McLibel leaflet was co-written by undercover police officer Bob Lambert

Exclusive: McDonald’s sued green activists in long-running David v Goliath legal battle, but police role only now exposed

www.theguardian.com

1 1 2

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Aug 14

The People vs McDonald's - Mark Steel presents a new podcast series telling the shocking story of how McDonald's & #spycops infiltrated & undermined London Greenpeace. 🧵

www.bbc.com/audio/series...

BBC Audio | Shadow World | The People vs McDonald's

Listen to the latest episodes of Shadow World | The People vs McDonald's on BBC Audio

www.bbc.com

1 2 6

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Aug 6

The Undercover Policing Inquiry promised that all women deceived into relationships by #spycops would get a full explanation including the man's real name. They've broken that promise to Liz & won't even say why. Once more they protect the guilty & increase anguish for the abused

2 4

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Aug 6

Catching up on our summaries of #spycops public inquiry hearings, we've just published the day they heard from Liz Fuller who was deceived into a long-term relationship by officer HN1 'Matt Rayner' in the early 1990s
campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2025/08/06/u...

UCPI – Daily Report: 14 January 2025 - Liz (Denise) Fuller

The Undercover Policing Inquiry hears from Liz Fuller who was deceived into a relationship by spycop HN1 'Matt Rayner' in the early 1990s

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com

1 3 4

COPS campaign @copscampaign.bsky.social · Jul 30

New on our site - our report on the #spycops public inquiry's questioning of Eric Docker, spycops unit manager 1986-88. Even among spycops, Docker stands out as a thoroughly unpleasant individual, self-contradicting & obviously lying. 🧵

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com/2025/07/30/u...

UCPI – Daily Report: 27 & 28 January 2025 - HN39 Eric Docker

Report of the Undercover Policing Inquiry questioning Eric Docker, the spycops unit's manager in the mid 1980s

campaignopposingpolicesurveillance.com

1 1