Campaign news

Spycop Cover Up

13th February 2017

Spycop Cover Up

Unions demand action from spycops inquiry following Met Police shredding of evidence

Trade unions targeted by undercover police and that have been granted core participant status in the Pitchford public inquiry have issued a joint statement in response to IPCC confirmation that the Met Police had destroyed a substantial amount of evidence intended for use in the public inquiry.

Joint Union Statement
We the undersigned are outraged at the news that despite court orders to the contrary, the Metropolitan Police Service has destroyed evidence required for use in the Undercover Policing Public Inquiry. State spying on trade unions and political campaigns is a human rights scandal that affects millions of British citizens.
Despite continued reassurances, the Pitchford Inquiry has failed to secure the documents that will be central to the investigation. Trade union core participants are beginning to question whether the Inquiry team has the ability to stop the police from obstructing the pursuit of justice. Lord Justice Pitchford needs to act now to restore our faith.
We are calling on Lord Justice Pitchford to announce an urgent Inquiry hearing to examine the destruction of evidence by the police. The Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe should be forced to give evidence under oath to explain why, how and under whose authority documents have been destroyed.
Lord Justice Pitchford needs to take immediate measures to secure all documentation held by the police, in order to prevent future destruction and avoid the entire inquiry descending into a hugely expensive cover-up on the part of the Metropolitan Police.
SIGNED:
Len McCluskey (General Secretary) and Gail Cartmail (Acting General Secretary) UNITE the Union, incorporating UCATT
Matt Wrack (General Secretary) Fire Brigades Union
Chris Kitchen (General Secretary) National Union of Mineworkers
Mick Cash (General Secretary) Rail Maritime and Transport union
Michelle Stanistreet (General Secretary) National Union of Journalists
Dave Smith and Roy Bentham (joint secretaries) Blacklist Support Group

Dave Smith, blacklisted construction worker and himself a core participant in the undercover policing inquiry commented:
“The Pitchford inquiry has been running for nearly two years and so far not a single document has been disclosed to our lawyers and not a single witness has given evidence. The delay is entirely due to police attempts to try and keep their dirty secrets away from public scrutiny. The police are no longer just obstructing justice, by shredding evidence they are in contempt of court. We demand to know who gave the order and whether criminal charges will be brought against them. The more this scandal unfurls, the more it appears that the Met Police think they can act however want because they are above the law. This has got to stop”

UCATT, FBU, NUM and BSG have all been granted core participant status in the Pitchford inquiry. There is irrefutable evidence in the public domain that UNITE, NUJ and RMT unions’ activists have been kept under surveillance by undercover police officers.

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