Met Police officers ‘shredded documents linked to undercover policing inquiry’

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails

Sign up to our free breaking news emails

Please enter a valid email address

Please enter a valid email address

SIGN UP

I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy

Metropolitan Police officers shredded documents that could be relevant to a probe into alleged abuses by undercover police, a watchdog has found.

Members of a “domestic extremism” unit destroyed material after an order was sent out telling officers to preserve anything relating to the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI).

The probe, which was announced in 2014 amid public outrage over accusations that officers took fake identities from dead children, has been beset by delays and legal arguments.

The first evidence hearings were scheduled to start in June, but have been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.

But the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it had completed three investigations into allegations against members of the Met’s National Domestic Extremism and Disorder Intelligence Unit (NDEDIU), which operated between May 2013 and November 2015.

“We also found that a former officer would have had a case to answer for gross misconduct had they still been serving, for failure to take action after being informed that a unit within the MPS may have destroyed material relevant to the UCPI,” a spokesperson added.

The IOPC found Scotland Yard had not been clear about what materials should be retained and did not bring its guidance “forcefully to the attention of officers” or use clear procedures in May 2014.

The second investigation examined a complaint by Green Party politician Baroness Jenny Jones.

She claimed that in 2014, the NDEDIU destroyed information relating to her after she made subject access requests in an effort to find out if she had been targeted with intelligence gathering.

The IOPC concluded that there was “insufficient evidence that any of the subject officers breached the standards of professional behaviour regarding material related to Lady Jones”, but said there were references to her on the unit’s database.

Lady Jones called the decision “infuriating” and accused the government of failing to hold the police to account, while giving them increased powers over coronavirus.

“My name should never have been on this database, nor should the names of thousands of other people who had broken no law and simply had beliefs that the police saw as radical," she added.

“These investigations were hindered all the way by a lack of cooperation and there are numerous unanswered questions."

Her barriester Jules Carey, of Bindmans, said the IOPC's findings would " further promote the view that this was a unit that was out of control".

A third investigation found no evidence of allegations that NDEDIU staff sourced email passwords from counterparts in India and used them to unlawfully access and monitor email accounts of environmental activists and journalists.

Sarah Green, regional director of the IOPC, said the watchdog “uncovered serious failings” in the NDEDIU.

“It is extremely unfortunate that a number of former police managers have refused to engage with this investigation to provide evidence about what steps, if any, were taken to ensure the documents were preserved for the inquiry,” she added.

“The investigation had no power to compel them to do so, although the inquiry may do if it considers their evidence on these issues may be relevant.”

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said it had “provided every assistance to the IOPC throughout its investigation”.

The force said that when the UCPI was announced, officers and staff were notified of the need to preserve documents by email, an internal website and supervisor briefings.

“We are fully aware of our legal obligations and duties in respect of assisting public inquiries, and we are not complacent in making sure staff and officers know what they should do with material which may be useful for an inquiry,” a statement added.

“The Met has provided over one million pages of documents to the UCPI since it was announced in 2014, and we will continue to cooperate fully.”

“We will take on board the IOPC’s feedback around how the instruction to retain certain documents was communicated and enforced, and continue to review how we do this going forward to ensure the procedures are as robust as possible.”

The inquiry was established more than five years ago by Theresa May, then the home secretary, amid public outrage over accusations that officers took fake identities from dead children, had relationships with campaigners and fathered children while undercover.

In 2017, it revealed officers had been deployed to spy on more than 1,000 groups, political organisations and gangs.

High-profile cases include that of Mark Kennedy, who spent years posing as an activist known as Mark Stone to infiltrate environmental campaigns.

Other targeted groups include anti-war activists, animal rights organisations, the far right and far left, and anti-racism campaigners.

The UCPI aims to investigate “serious and widespread concerns about the behaviour and the use of undercover police officers” stretching back to 1968.

The inquiry has not yet heard any evidence, amid pushes by police forces for hearings to be held in private and the identities of officers involved to be withheld.

The first hearings were scheduled to start in June, but on Tuesday officials announced that they had been postponed because of new government advice on coronavirus.

They were to focus on officers and managers active in the Special Demonstration Squad between 1968 and 1982.

Sir John Mitting, chair of the inquiry, said: “The majority of proposed witnesses from whom the inquiry would expect to hear at that time are in the group identified as being subject to increased risk from infection, and the necessary preparation for and attendance at a hearing venue would expose them to an unacceptable threat of infection.”

He said the inquiry’s investigative work would continue, with the aim of holding evidence hearings in September or “as soon as possible”.