25 Jan 2018

The Inquiry has received confirmation that no restriction is sought over the undercover identities used by Peter Francis.

Peter Francis used three cover identities: ‘Peter Johnson’, ‘Peter Daley’ and ‘Peter Black’.

The cover name ‘Peter Johnson’ has not previously been publicised. ‘Peter Johnson’ was a name taken from a deceased child. The Inquiry has been in touch with Peter Johnson’s close relatives who have made it very clear that they want the media to respect their privacy and not to seek to contact them by any means.

Peter Francis was active between 1993 and 1997. Members of the public may have encountered Peter Francis through Youth against Racism in Europe and Militant/the Socialist Party.

Background

The purpose of the Undercover Policing Inquiry is to investigate and report on undercover police operations conducted by English and Welsh police forces in England and Wales since 1968. The Inquiry will examine the contribution undercover policing has made to tackling crime, how it was and is supervised and regulated, and its effect on individuals involved – both police officers and others who came into contact with them.

The work of the Inquiry ranges across the full scope of undercover policing work and will look at the work of the Special Demonstration Squad, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit and police forces in England and Wales. The Inquiry will also examine whether people may have been wrongly convicted in cases involving undercover police officers, and refer any such cases to a separate panel for consideration.

The work of the Inquiry will fall into three modules:

  1. Module one will look at what happened in the deployment of undercover officers in the past, their conduct, and the impact of their activities on themselves and others.
  2. Module two will look at the management and oversight of undercover officers, including their selection, training, supervision and care after the end of an undercover deployment. This section will also look at the law and other rules covering undercover policing.
  3. Module three will make recommendations about how undercover policing should be conducted in future

NOTES TO EDITORS

  1. The Undercover Policing Inquiry is constituted under the Inquiries Act 2005 (PDF, 207KB)
  2. The Inquiry’s terms of reference were announced by the Home Secretary on 16 July 2015.
  3. The Inquiry’s Frequently Asked Questions (PDF, 96KB) provides more information on the Inquiry more generally, as do six published update notes.
  4. The Inquiry’s website is www.ucpi.org.uk and the Inquiry can be found on Twitter @ucpinquiry 

For further information please contact the Inquiry’s press officer, Jo Coles:

Email: [email protected]

Tel: 07827 818 460