20 Apr 2021

Updated 23 April 2021 at 11:45 AM to reflect schedule changes.

On Wednesday 21 April, the Undercover Policing Inquiry will start its Tranche 1 (Phase 2) hearings with three days of opening statements, followed by up to 14 days of evidence hearings. As with the Inquiry’s hearings in November 2020, the hearings will be virtual and conducted remotely due to restrictions in place as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

Contents

  1. Opening statements
  2. Evidence hearings
  3. Evidence disclosure
  4. Opening statements schedule
  5. Evidence hearings schedule
  6. Relevant officers and managers
  7. Future hearings

Opening statements

Opening statements will take place from Wednesday 21 April to Friday 23 April. The Inquiry will hear 12 separate oral opening statements specific to Phase 2 of Tranche 1, including a statement from David Barr QC Counsel to the Inquiry. Oral statements will be streamed – in real-time – on YouTube. Recordings of the opening statements will remain available on the Inquiry website. The Inquiry will endeavour to publish the accompanying written statement shortly before the oral statement begins.

On 22 April, the Inquiry will observe a one-minute silence to mark Stephen Lawrence Day. Undercover officers reported on the Lawrence family’s justice campaign. There will be another one-minute silence on 23 April to mark the anniversary of Blair Peach’s death, which falls on 24 April. Blair Peach sustained a fatal injury at a protest in Southall in April 1979; his partner, Celia Stubbs, is providing oral evidence to the Inquiry on 6 May 2021.

Evidence hearings

The Tranche 1 (Phase 2) evidence hearings will take place from Monday 26 April to Friday 14 May. In this phase, the Inquiry will hear evidence from undercover officers and non-state witnesses about Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) undercover policing operations that started between 1970 and 1979.

Nineteen witnesses are currently due to give oral evidence. These witnesses include nine civilian witnesses, eight former SDS undercover police officers (UCOs), and two risk assessors of the UCO HN 155 (“Phil Cooper”). In addition:

  • Two civilian witnesses – Ernest Rodker and “Mary” – will have their written statements read out;
  • Seven officers will have summaries of their evidence read out; and
  • One family member of an officer will have a summary of their evidence read out, while another will have their written statement read out in full.

The number of civilian witnesses giving oral evidence represents a significant increase on the Tranche 1 (Phase 1) hearings, where one civilian witness (Tariq Ali) gave oral evidence.

Following proceedings

You can follow the evidence hearings in three different ways:

  • Through a rolling transcript with a 10-minute delay on YouTube;
  • Through an audio stream with a 10-minute delay via a Zoom webinar; and
  • Through a real-time audio-visual stream screened at the Amba Hotel in central London.

For readouts of evidence summaries and written witness statements, a real-time, audio-visual feed will replace the transcript on YouTube. An audio-visual stream with a 10-minute delay will replace the transcript for the oral evidence of most civilian witnesses.

The Amba Hotel is open to core participants, the media and the general public. Registration has now closed. Those watching the live stream at the Amba Hotel will be able to see and hear all but two of the witnesses giving oral evidence; following special measure applications, there will only be a real-time audio stream for “Madeleine” and HN 126. A restriction order will be in place preventing any reporting on what is heard for 10 minutes.

Draft transcripts will be published on the Inquiry website as soon as possible after the morning and afternoon sessions.

Further details, including links to the YouTube streams, schedules, associated publications and information on registering for the Zoom webinar and attending the Amba Hotel, can be found on the respective hearing pages.

Evidence disclosure

The hearing bundle for Phase 2 of Tranche 1 contains around 2,000 files.

The bundle includes written witness statements, intelligence reports, and Special Demonstration Squad annual reports (1975-1984). Amongst the materials, there is a witness statement made on behalf of the Security Service and a gist of the witness statements from seven officers with real and cover name anonymity.

The entire bundle, with the necessary redactions, will be published on the Inquiry website. All materials associated with a witness will be published as soon as they begin their oral evidence. Seven officers included within Phase 2 but not giving oral evidence or having summaries of their evidence read out will be introduced at appropriate points throughout the hearings. All materials associated with these officers will be published shortly after they are introduced.

As soon as evidence is published, it will be available on the ‘Published evidence’ page, the page for the hearing day it was published on and, if applicable, the profile page of the associated witness.

This evidence will be in addition to over 1,000 files that have already been published on the Inquiry website as part of Phase 1 of Tranche 1.

Opening statements schedule

Please note that the timings provided below are subject to change. You can find detailed schedules with the most up-to-date timings on the hearing day pages, which can be accessed by clicking on the hearing titles.

UCPI Opening Statements: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 1 (Wed 21 Apr)

  • 10:00 AM: David Barr QC (Counsel to the Inquiry)
  • 2:00 PM: Peter Skelton QC (Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis)
  • 3:15 PM: Oliver Sanders QC (Designated Lawyer’s Core Participant Group)

UCPI Opening Statements: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 2 (Thu 22 Apr)

  • 10:05 AM: Diane Langford (Category K Core Participant [appearing in person])
  • 11:00 AM: Madeleine (Category H Core Participant [appearing in person])
  • 11:45 AM: Phillippa Kaufmann QC (Category H Core Participants [Individuals in Relationships with Undercover Officers])
  • 1:00 PM: Matthew Ryder QC (Non-State Core Participants represented by Hodge Jones & Allen and Bhatt Murphy)

UCPI Opening Statements: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 3 (Fri 23 Apr)

  • 10:05 AM: Heather Williams QC (Category F Core Participants [Relatives of Deceased Individuals])
  • 11:10 AM: James Scobie QC (Richard Chessum and “Mary”)
  • 12:40 PM: Rajiv Menon QC (Piers Corbyn)
  • 2:25 PM: Kirsten Heaven (Other Non-Police, Non-State Core Participants [through the coordinating group])
  • 3:25 PM: Dave Morris (Category L Core Participant [appearing in person])

Evidence hearings schedule

Please note that the timings provided below are subject to change. You can find detailed schedules with the most up-to-date timings on the hearing day pages, which can be accessed by clicking on the hearing titles.

Monday 3 May is a UK bank holiday and non-sitting day. Friday 14 May is available as an overflow day, but there are currently no witnesses scheduled.

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 4 (Mon 26 Apr)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 5 (Tue 27 Apr)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 6 (Wed 28 Apr)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 7 (Thu 29 Apr)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 8 (Fri 30 Apr)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 9 (Tue 4 May)

  • 10:00 AM: Summary of evidence of HN 301
  • 10:15 AM: Introduction of the documents associated with HN 303
  • 10:30 AM: HN 298
  • 4:40 PM: Reading of “Mary’s” witness statement

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 10 (Wed 5 May)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 11 (Thu 6 May)

  • 10:00 AM: Summary of evidence of HN 300’s second wife and HN 13’s widow
  • 10:15 AM: Introduction of the documents associated with HN 296
  • 10:30 AM: Celia Stubbs

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 12 (Fri 7 May)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 13 (Mon 10 May)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 14 (Tue 11 May)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 15 (Wed 12 May)

UCPI Evidence Hearings: Tranche 1 (Phase 2) | Day 16 (Thu 13 May)

  • 10:00 AM: Summary of evidence of HN 155
  • 10:25 AM: HN 96
  • 2:00 PM: David Reid (HN155’s Risk Assessor 1)
  • 3:30 PM: Brian Lockie (HN155’s Risk Assessor 2)

Relevant officers and managers

In total, 29 officers are included in Phase 2 of Tranche 1:

  1. HN 13
  2. HN 21
  3. HN 41
  4. HN 45
  5. HN 80
  6. HN 96
  7. HN 106
  8. HN 109
  9. HN 126
  10. HN 155
  11. HN 200
  12. HN 241
  13. HN 296
  14. HN 297
  15. HN 298
  16. HN 299/342
  17. HN 300
  18. HN 301
  19. HN 302
  20. HN 303
  21. HN 304
  22. HN 341
  23. HN 344
  24. HN 347
  25. HN 351
  26. HN 353
  27. HN 354
  28. HN 355
  29. HN 356/HN 124

Future hearings

In February 2021, the Inquiry announced that its hearings for the third and final phase of Tranche 1 were expected to start on 5 October 2021.

Since this announcement, Lindsey German – a new non-police, non-state core participant – has indicated her willingness to provide potentially important evidence about deployments into the Socialist Workers Party during the period covered by Tranche 1 of the Inquiry’s investigations.

The Inquiry intends to seek this evidence. However, due to the amount of work involved, it is not possible to complete this process before 5 October 2021. Consequently, it is necessary to move the Inquiry’s Tranche 1 (Phase 3) hearings to the first half of 2022. We anticipate being able to set a new date for Phase 3 by July 2021.

The legal representatives for Lindsey German had asked for the evidence relating to her to be pushed back into Tranche 2; however, the Inquiry considers the potential importance of her evidence to Tranche 1 to be too great and is unable to accommodate this request.

Further information on the steps involved in obtaining witness statements can be found in the ‘Note regarding the Inquiry’s evidence gathering process’.

For the Tranche 1 (Phase 3) evidence hearings, the Inquiry will primarily hear from SDS managers (1968-1982).

Dates for future hearings and publication of the interim and final reports have not yet been announced and will be published on the Inquiry website in due course.