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Spycops scandal puts British state on trial

New evidence at the Mitting Inquiry is exposing notorious spycop Bob Lambert and his roles in destroying women's lives and inciting protests

Spycops scandal shows there are no lines the police—or the state—won’t cross

By Sarah Bates

Tuesday 03 December 2024

SOCIALIST WORKER  Issue 2934

“Everything about my life has just been absolutely ruined…I don’t really have a life anymore.” Those are the words of a woman known as Jacqui, speaking last week about how she feels now she has learnt the truth about notorious spycop Bob Lambert.

Lambert fathered a child with Jacqui—and had intimate relationships with at least three others—while spying on animal rights and environmental groups in the 1980s.

Jacqui was giving evidence to the Mitting Inquiry, which is investigating the role of 139 undercover police officers in infiltrating left wing groups.

The callousness of the way Jacqui was treated was not confined to the sexist attitudes of the 1980s. She—and her son—received no support when she accidentally found out her ex-partner’s real identity in 2012

The spycops’ targets included animal rights groups, anti-racists, socialists and environmental protesters. As a way of integrating themselves into groups and gaining trust, cops manipulated women into relationships.

But a clearer picture is emerging about how spycops didn’t limit themselves to deceiving and traumatising women. They also misreported the nature of protest movements and tried to incite victims to increasingly extreme forms of protest.

Lambert is a particularly odious character. He spent years spying on Jacqui, including during the “intimate experience” of childbirth when he cut their son’s umbilical cord.

We’ve known for a while that Lambert didn’t just passively report back what he found—he was central to key moments of direct action. And he was responsible for co-authoring an anti-Mcdonald’s leaflet that was at the centre of the “McLibel” trial between the multinational and anti-capitalist activists. Ending in 1997, it was the longest trial in English legal history. One its defendants, Helen Steel, herself became the focus on a spycops relationship at the hands of undercover officer John Dines.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry is now focusing on how the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) spied on animal rights groups from 1983 to 1992. Five witnesses told the inquiry that Lambert was responsible for planting an incendiary device inside a Debenhams department store in 1987. The fire at the shop in Harrow, west London, caused some £340,000 worth of damage.

Andrew Clarke and Geoff Sheppard, were sent down for three and four years respectively for causing the fire. Now four activists have told the inquiry that Lambert was responsible for planting the device and was central to organising the action.

This is significant, partly because Lambert is such a central figure to the Spycops scandal. He received special commendation for his time under cover and went on to become the boss of the SDS. Later on he forged a career as a university lecturer, receiving an MBE in 2008.

Activists served prison sentences and had their lives torn asunder by the actions of undercover cops. The spycops themselves not only escaped legal justice but sometimes went on to have glittering careers.

The spycops scandal shows us what the British state thinks of ordinary people. Spycops stole the names of dead children. The state thinks their identities are conveniences to be plundered. And it thinks women’s bodies are assets to be manipulated and then discarded.

Spycops weren’t exposed in a moral reckoning by the Metropolitan Police. They were found out because of tireless campaigning by activists. Instead of immediate and frank accountability, the cops initially tried to hush the story up by conducting their own internal investigation.

The real test of the Mitting Inquiry cannot just be in exposing the horror of the spycops’ behaviour. Undercover cops should be held accountable to the law—and there needs to be real justice for victims of their lies.

Lambert may continue to evade real reckoning for now. But it is undeniable that the spycops scandal has exposed the mucky reality of the British state and the lengths it will go to criminalise activists.