A former undercover police officer has messed up – saying the quiet part out loud on video for all the world to see during the Spycops public inquiry. It related to the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence – and how undercover officers supposedly spied on his family and friends.
And his comment is a telling glimpse into the way how the people who supposedly serve the public all too often serve the interests of the ruling class instead.
Stephen Lawrence: ‘intelligence gathering, not smearing’ says Spycop
Amid ongoing hearings, it’s clear that the struggle for truth regarding the Spycops scandal is far from over. Secretive police units were responsible over the course of decades for using undercover officers to infiltrate activist groups.
One target was the campaign for justice over the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. And in response to a question relating to the Lawrence case, former spycop Trevor Morris (who also defended his deception of two women upon infiltrating left-wing campaign groups) denied that his job was to smear people. He said:
We’re about gathering intelligence, not smearing individuals. That’s a security service job. Let them do that.
After a few seconds of reflection, the penny dropped. He’d messed up. So he quickly backtracked, squeaming “sorry, I shouldn’t say that”, and insisting “let’s scrap that last bit”. Seconds later, the broadcast was suspended, and it didn’t resume until about 50 minutes later:
https://t.co/dz5tbLCUbs pic.twitter.com/4k4DT2I2OT
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) August 1, 2024
"I shouldn't say that…scrap that last bit."
A former officer hints that Secret Services may have smeared the family of Stephen Lawrence at the Undercover Policing Inquiry, moments before the live stream is cut. pic.twitter.com/EufjVBtVOT
— PoliticsJOE (@PoliticsJOE_UK) August 1, 2024
“That’s a security service job”
Declassified UK has been a great source in recent years for revelations about the British security service, MI5.
Whether that’s how it has helped to cover up sexual abuse in Northern Ireland, trained spies for repressive dictatorships, “amassed gossip and conspiracy theories through many hours of fruitless phone taps and mail intercepts”, or cosied up to Keir Starmer (as Director of Public Prosecutions) in the same year that Starmer made a favourable decision for the organisation relating to its alleged “role in CIA torture”, it’s not a pretty picture.
And like the Spycops, the agency “gathered information on thousands of individuals who never remotely posed a threat to Britain’s security”, thus distracting from “real threats to the public”.
But is its job also about “smearing individuals” it targets, as Trevor Morris suggested?
“The mask slipped” during Spycops hearing
The Canary spoke to film editor Madoc Roberts from The Spies Who Ruined Our Lives, a new documentary on the Spycops scandal in which women affected share their stories. He responded to Morris’s ‘mistake’ by saying:
The mask slipped. It was like someone getting their lines wrong and the director has to shout cut. But this is real life and he let the cat out of the bag.
He continued:
In our film, Peter Francis, an undercover police officer turned whistle-blower, clearly states that they were infiltrating family justice campaigns in order to try and smear the families. The most notorious being the Stephen Lawrence campaign. The only reason to do this is to stop criticism of the police corruption.
Finally, he added:
But this episode also exposes that theatre that lies behind the inquiry. Any facade that it is a genuine and open process is destroyed as soon as one of the police officers goes off script. He was also appalling in his attitude to the women who he dehumanised to lessen the awfulness of the police actions.
It was state-sponsored rape. In order to do it, they were using the identities of dead children which could only be done with the blessing of the Home Office. The whole thing was political policing which we rightly criticise in other countries but our establishment tries to cover it up.
Stephen Lawrence: yet more questions
But what about the smearing of the Lawrence family and their supporters?
Morris’s admission is one of two things. Either he is lying under oath – a serious offence – in an attempt to dampen the evidence against him. This also goes against the evidence of other undercover cops.
Or, were MI5 involved in the Lawrence case – and Morris just gave the game away? At this point, it is unclear.
Featured image via UCPI – YouTube
