Covert police probe 'should be extended'
- Published
Mark Kennedy is said to have been among the undercover officers who targeted campaigners in Scotland
The Scottish government has called for the inquiry into the activities of undercover Metropolitan Police officers to be extended to Scotland.
The Pitchford Inquiry, external is to look at how undercover officers infiltrated political campaigns over 40 years.
It has been claimed that some of the officers spied on activists ahead of the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005.
But the inquiry is only currently able to examine undercover operations in England and Wales.
Its remit states that the inquiry can "report on undercover police operations conducted by English and Welsh police forces in England and Wales since 1968".
But it "will not examine undercover or covert operations conducted by any body other than an English or Welsh police force".
Scotland's justice secretary Michael Matheson has now written to the Home Office asking that the inquiry be extended so that it covers the activities of undercover officers in Scotland as well as England and Wales.
However, the justice secretary said he had not received any "concrete evidence" that officers working for Scottish police forces had broken guidelines on the use of covert surveillance.
Undercover: The allegations made to date
Some officers had relationships with women who did not know they were undercover police officers
One of the officers involved in a relationship fathered children
At least 42 of 106 covert identities used by undercover officers were the names of children who had died
Labour MPs, trade unionists and justice campaigns, such as anti-racism groups, were targeted
An officer was inside the "wider" Stephen Lawrence campaign - and briefed superiors as they campaigned against Scotland Yard failings and prepared their defence ahead of the public inquiry into his murder
Undercover officers were arrested alongside other campaigners - leading to claims of miscarriages of justice
Some 57 convictions have been quashed to date - and there could be more than 80 more
He added: "I have written to the Home Secretary asking her to confirm that Lord Justice Pitchford's inquiry will be able to take evidence relating to undercover operations in Scotland authorised by and carried out by English and Welsh police forces as part of a national operation."
The move was welcomed by Scottish Labour MSP Neil Findlay, who has been among those calling for an inquiry into covert police operations in Scotland.
Mr Findlay said it was a "breakthrough in the campaign for an inquiry into undercover police spying on environmental, trade union and political activists".
The Home Office confirmed that the home secretary had received the letter and would respond in due course.
Last month, the Metropolitan Police made an "unreserved apology" and agreed financial compensation packages for seven women deceived into having sexual relationships with undercover officers who were spying on campaign groups.
One of the five officers involved fathered children.
There have been claims that undercover officers targeted protestors ahead of the Gleneagles G8 summit in 2005
The officers had been working undercover for the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), which was part of the Metropolitan Police until it was shut down in 2008, and the separate National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU).
Both teams deployed officers on long-term undercover operations to infiltrate radical political or social causes, such as environmental campaigns, anarchy and animal rights.
It has been claimed that undercover Met officers including Mark Kennedy, one of the five officers who is known to have had relationships with women, infiltrated environmental groups ahead of the Gleneagles G8 summit.
A former undercover police officer has also previously told the BBC that Scotland Yard kept intelligence files on MPs during the 1990s as part of efforts to infiltrate left-wing groups.