SWITZERLAND NEWS

 

 

 


 


Newsmedianews ads

    + Larger Font | - Smaller Font
    View all direct news items          Search Direct Input items
NEWS FROM SWITZERLAND     

Direct news input story index

At Least 32% of U.S. Mass Shooters Trained to Shoot by U.S. Military - 10 May 2023 filed by the editor - General, Features, International, United States
                                  What’s this?

More from Ireland at www.thetruth.ie

Direct news input items


Judge denies Met blanket defence in undercover abuse case       printable version
02 Jul 2014: posted by the editor - United Kingdom

Today, in what defence lawyers said was "a devastating blow to the Metropolitan Police's attempts to cover up gross abuses of women by undercover police", the High Court in London ruled that the Met could not use 'Neither Confirm Nor Deny' as a blanket response to all the fully pleaded claims of women affected.

A prepared statement released by the claimants and their solicitor following today’s judgment said: "Mr Justice Bean handed down judgment in the pre-trial hearing concerning five of the women who were deceived into long term intimate relationships with undercover policemen who were infiltrating environmental and social justice campaigns.

"He held that there was no legitimate public interest in the Met Police asserting NCND in respect of the general allegations that undercover officers had engaged in long term intimate sexual relationships with those whose activities the MPS were monitoring; and that this was authorised or acquiesced in by senior management.

"The Judge noted that "The Chief Constable conducting the Operation Herne investigation has expressed in trenchant terms the view that if this did happen it was a "gross abuse": I believe that most people would agree with him."

"This came after the Met Police were forced to acknowledge during the hearing on 5-6th June, that if the allegations by the women were true, the police could not argue that the officers were acting appropriately. The Judge further said that "there can be no public policy reason to permit the police neither to confirm nor deny whether an illegitimate or arguably illegitimate operational method has been used as a tactic in the past."

"Referring to individual undercover officers, the Judge noted that Jim Sutton / Boyling had "been publicly named as an UCO by the Commissioner in person" and as such "reliance on the NCND policy to avoid admitting that he was an UCO is simply unsustainable" and similarly that NCND can no longer be relied on in relation to Bob Robinson / Lambert as "he has not only selfdisclosed, but has been publicly named by the IPCC as a former undercover officer.”

In relation to other officers whose identity had not so far been publicly confirmed, the Judge found that the Claimant RAB, "by a great deal of what may be summarised as detective work of her own she has established, in my view, a clear prima facie case that Mark Cassidy was in fact an undercover officer called Mark Jenner" and further said that Helen Steel was in a similar position in relation to John Barker / Dines.

However, he then disappointingly held that as there had been no official confirmation, "the Commissioner should not be required to admit or deny whether either of them is an undercover officer or has the real name alleged". He went on to say "This may only postpone the day of reckoning, in the sense that if the case proceeds and no evidence is adduced to challenge that put forward by RAB and Helen Steel respectively, it appears likely that the respective factual cases put forward by them will be accepted."

Helen Steel, former McLibel defendant and one of the five Claimants, said: "We welcome the finding that there is no legitimate public interest in the Met covering up the existence of these abusive undercover relationships. It is very disappointing, however, that despite the overwhelming evidence our former partners John Dines and Mark Jenner were also undercover SDS officers, the Judge has allowed the Met to continue to hide the truth about them."

Harriet Wistrich, solicitor for the Claimants said: "The police have been on notice of this case for three and a half years and until this judgment, they have wilfully refused to engage in any meaningful way with the most serious allegations put to them. Their ongoing refusal in the face of an overwhelming body of evidence in the public domain has greatly aggravated the distress caused to my clients, who want answers from the police as well as justice and accountability."

The Met Police have been given 28 days to amend their Defence in order either to admit or deny that: (a) officers of the MPS, as part of their work as undercover officers and using false identities, engaged in long term intimate sexual relationships with those whose activities the MPS wished to observe; (b) this was authorised or acquiesced in by senior management; (c) Jim Sutton was such an officer; and (d) Bob Robinson was such an officer, and that "if the Commissioner fails to deal with them in an Amended Defence served within 28 days he will be taken to admit them."
See background item

>Local comment

Name: Remember me
E-mail: (optional)
Captcha


news resources
Afghanistan | Africa | Albania | Algeria | Andorra | Angola | Anguilla | Antigua
| Argentina | Armenia | Aruba | Asia | Australia | Austria | Azerbaijan | Bahamas | Bahrain | Balkans | Bangladesh | Barbados | Belarus | Belgium | Belize | Benin | Bermuda | Bhutan | Bosnia | Bolivia | Botswana | Brazil | Brunei | Bulgaria | Burkina | Burma | Burundi | Cambodia | Cameroon | Canada | Cape Verde | Caribbean | Cayman Islands | Cen African Rep | Chad | Chile | China | Christmas Island | Columbia | Comoros | Congo | Cook Island | Costa Rica | Croatia | Cuba | Cyprus | Czech/Slovakia | Denmark | Djibouti | Dominican Republic | Dubai | East Timor | Ecuador | Egypt | El Salvador | Equatorial Guinea | Eritrea | Estonia | Ethiopia | Europe | Faroe Islands | Fiji | Finland | France | Gabon | Gambia | Georgia | Germany | Ghana | Greece | Greenland | Grenada | Guadeloupe | Guam | Guatemala | Guinea | Guyana | Haiti | Holland | Honduras | Hong Kong | Hungary | Iceland | India | Indonesia | Iran | Iraq | Ireland | Israel | Italy | Ivory Coast | Jamaica | Japan | Jordan | Kazakhstan | Kenya | Kiribati | Korea | Kuwait | Kyrgyzstan | Laos | Latvia | Lebanon | Lesotho | Liberia | Libya | Lietchtenstein | Lithuania | London | Luxembourg | Macau | Macedonia | Madagascar | Malawi | Malaysia | Maldives | Mali | Malta | Marshall Islands | Martinique | Mauritania | Mauritius | Mexico | Micronesia | Moldova | Monaco | Mongolia | Montenegro | Montserrat | Morocco | Mozambique | Namibia | Nauru | New Zealand | Nicaragua | Niue | Niger | Nigeria | Northern Ireland | Norway | Oman | Pakistan | Palau | Palestine | Panama | Paraguay | Peru | Philippines | Pitcairn Islands | Poland | Portugal | Qatar | Romania | Russia | Rwanda | Samoa | San Marino | Sao Tomé | Saudi Arabia | Scandinavia | Senegal | Serbia | Seychelles | Sierra Leone | Singapore | Slovakia | Slovenia | Solomon Islands | Somalia | South Africa | South Americas | Spain | Sri Lanka | St Kitts | St Lucia | St Pierre | St Vincent | Sudan | Suriname | Swaziliand | Sweden | Switzerland | Syria | Taiwan | Tajikistan | Tanzania | Thailand | Tibet | Togo | Tonga | Trinidad | Tunisia | Turkey | Turkmenistan | Turks & Caicos | Tuvalu | Uganda | Ukraine | United Kingdom | United States | Uruguay | Uzbekistan | Vanuatu | Venezuela | Vietnam | Virgin Islands | Walli & Futuna | Yemen | Zambia | Zimbabwe | World
Human Rights | Science | Journalism | Music | Showbiz | Sport | Technology
Clickable News Globe


Top | Privacy | Forum | Comment XML news feed directory MP3 Sounds | Links | Publicity | Contact
On-line Editing | Publish news | Guestbook | Site Status | Site Map
publish an item from this page to Newsvive.com Seed Newsvine
© Newsmedianews

Web newsmedianews

See traffic details for this site