16 Feb 2023

From Monday 20 February to Wednesday 22 February, the Undercover Policing Inquiry will hold its Tranche 1 (T1) closing statement hearings. the hearings will be virtual and conducted remotely.

The Inquiry will hear 15 separate closing statements specific to T1, including a statement from David Barr KC Counsel to the Inquiry.

T1 covers Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) deployments between 1968 and 1982. The tranche involves SDS officers and managers, senior managers higher in the chain of command, police personnel who handled intelligence provided by undercover officers, other government bodies connected to undercover policing, and those affected by deployments.

Oral statements will be streamed – in real-time – on YouTube. The YouTube streams will have automatic captions available and the capability to be paused and rewound. Recordings of the closing statements will remain available on the Inquiry website.

David Barr KC’s (Counsel to the Inquiry) written statement will be published shortly after he has finished his  oral statement. For all other oral statements, the accompanying written statement will be published shortly before the oral statement begins.

Draft transcripts will be published as soon as possible after the hearing day has finished.

You can find further details on the hearings – including links to the YouTube streams, schedules and associated publications – on the respective hearing pages.

Closing 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 Closing Statements: Tranche 1 | Day 1 (Mon 20 February)

  • 10:00 AM: Introduction by Chairman
  • 10:10 AM: David Barr KC (Counsel to the Inquiry)
  • 12:00 PM: Peter Skelton KC (Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis)
  • 3:20 PM: Oliver Sanders KC (Designated Lawyer’s Core Participant Group)

UCPI Closing Statements: Tranche 1 | Day 2 (Tue 21 February)

  • 10:00 AM: Stephen Morley (National Police Chiefs’ Council)
  • 10:25 AM: Neil Sheldon KC (The Secretary of State for the Home Department)
  • 10:50 AM: Fiona Murphy (The Category F Core Participants)
  • 12:00 Noon: Sam Jacobs (Celia Stubbs)
  • 2:00 PM: Charlotte Kilroy KC (The Category H Core Participants)
  • 3:10 PM: Charlotte Kilroy KC (‘Madeleine’ and Diane Langford)
  • 4:20 PM: Dave Morris

UCPI Closing Statements: Tranche 1 | Day 3 (Wed 22 February)

  • 10:00 AM: Rajiv Menon KC (Tariq Ali, Piers Corbyn & Ernie Tate)
  • 11:10 AM: James Scobie KC (Lindsey German, ‘Mary’ & Richard Chessum)
  • 2:00 PM: Owen Greenhall (Peter Hain, Ernest Rodker, & Jonathan Rosenhead)
  • 3:10 PM: Kirsten Heaven (Other Non-Police, Non-State Core Participants [through the co-ordinating group])

Background

These closing statement hearings follow three sets of open evidence hearings for T1:

There are several components to the Inquiry’s investigations in the T1 era. The evidence hearings listed above relate to Module One and Module Two (a). Module One examines the deployment of undercover officers in the past, their conduct, and the impact of their activities on themselves and others. Module Two (a) concerns managers within the SDS.

There are two further components of the Inquiry’s T1 investigations – Module Two (b) and Module Two (c). Module Two (b) concerns the investigation of senior management of the SDS above the unit itself. It also includes the dissemination and use of the SDS’s intelligence by the Metropolitan Police Service. Module Two (c) concerns the role of other government bodies insofar as it is relevant to the Inquiry’s terms of reference. Oral evidence hearings were not held for Module Two (b) and Module Two (c). Instead, the relevant evidence – which included witness statements from four former Home Office officials – was published on the Inquiry’s website with an accompanying statement from Counsel to the Inquiry.

In total, the Inquiry has published over 3,400 evidential documents in relation to its T1 investigations.

The Inquiry intends to publish an interim report for T1.

The Inquiry’s Tranche 2 evidence hearings are expected to start in the spring of 2024.

Dates for future tranches will be announced in due course.

NOTES TO EDITORS

Further background to the Inquiry can be found on the ‘About’ page of the Inquiry website.

The Undercover Policing Inquiry is constituted under the Inquiries Act 2005

The Inquiry’s Terms of Reference were announced by the Home Secretary on 16 July 2015.

The Inquiry’s ‘FAQs’ page provides more information on the Inquiry more generally, as do its published update notes.

For further information, please contact the Inquiry’s communications team:

Email: [email protected]

Tel:07585 908612

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