Undercover police officer exposed by his own blunder, spycops inquiry hears | Undercover police and policing
An undercover police officer admitted he was exposed as a spy through his own fault, described by activists as worthy of Inspector Clouseau, a public inquiry into spy cops has heard.
The officer, who used the false name Simon Wellings, compromised his own undercover role by mistakenly recording himself discussing campaigners with other special branch officers.
He committed this mistake while infiltrating left-wing groups as a member of an undercover unit of Scotland Yard.
The incident occurred when he attended a secret meeting with special branch officials and was asked if he had the phone number of an activist. He searched for her number on his phone but then dialed it by mistake.
His call was forwarded to the activist’s voicemail, which noted that other officers had been asked to identify campaigners from photographs shown to him. He was unaware that his conversations were being recorded.
Internal police documents show that following his exposure, police considered whether to leave the anti-capitalist group he had infiltrated “intact” or “to mount a devastating operation”.
Wellings was questioned last week as part of an investigation into how about 139 undercover police officers spied on tens of thousands of predominantly left-wing activists over four decades.
Undercover officers assumed false identities while gathering information about activists’ political and personal lives.
Wellings said he submitted up to 4,000 surveillance reports on campaigners between 2001 and 2007 while infiltrating Globalize Resistance, the anti-capitalist group and other left-wing campaigns. These included details about the campaigners’ bank accounts, residences, personal relationships and finances.
Wells built incidental record Meeting with officers from the special branch of the secret police unit that monitors political groups in 2004.
Globalize Resistance activists recognized his voice from the recordings. They suspected Wellings of being an informer and confronted him at a meeting at the Royal Festival Hall in London. Wellings was kicked out of the band.
The group’s national organizer Guy Taylor said: Wellings’ mistake reminded me of Inspector ClouseauFictional detective famous for his incompetence.
Four days after the deportation, this incident was recorded in a note by DCI Michael Dell, then head of the undercover unit, the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). Outlining next steps, Dell wrote: “Consider the following: [special branch] Should we leave the Globalization Resistance as is or abandon it altogether? [Wellings] launch a devastating operation.”
Asked by the inquiry what this meant, Wellings said: “I have no idea… I don’t really understand what it means to ‘conduct a disruptive operation’ or how we would have the agency to do that even if it were remotely appropriate or legal.”
Dell, who has yet to hear any further evidence about this memo, is likely to be questioned in the investigation later this year.
Wellings says he ‘holds himself responsible’ for jeopardizing his deployment. After his expulsion, Wellings began following other left-wing activists for another three years.
Campaigners said Wellings regularly fabricated and over-inflated surveillance reports about them, for example exaggerating the level of violence at protests.
Wellings rejected the criticism, saying: “I did my best to convey what I saw, heard and experienced around me.”
Most of the oversight reports covering his final years in office consisted of information pulled from campaign websites. Wellings said one of the reasons he joined SDS was the significant amount of overtime he requested each month.
