Following the Extended Undertaking hearing in April 2016, it was subsequently raised with the Inquiry that police witnesses faced a new issue. The Policing And Crime Bill (it became an Act in 2017) had recently been introduced to Parliament, and among its provisions was to prevent police officers taking retirement in order to avoid misconduct and disciplinary hearings. This had been proposed in light of the verdicts at the Hillsborough Disaster inquests.
The Act would operate retrospectively, so officers who had already retired would once again be at risk of such disciplinary measures, a point raised by the legal representative of EN12 Mark Kennedy / ‘Mark Stone’. There was a concern that former undercovers would be reluctant to cooperate with the Inquiry if they feared they would subsequently be subjected to a misconduct inquiry.
As such, the Inquiry wished to know if it should ask the police for similar undertakings as given by the Attorney General, and requested submissions on the matter in writing.
There was no hearing on the matter and in the end the then Inquiry Chair, Sir Christopher Pitchford, concluded there was no need to make such a request of the police. The new law would permit officers to face disiplinary charges retrospectively, but only those who left the police after 15 December 2017. As such, it was unlkely to apply to any identified officers involved in the Inquiry as the vast majority had left the polce much earlier.
A number of former spycops have been investigated for misconduct following complaints from those they targeted. In particular, HN14 James Boyling / ‘Jim Sutton’, who was sacked after misconduct hearings in 2018 for deceiving 'Rosa' into a sexual relationship while infiltrating Reclaim the Streets and for disclosing police secrets to her.
After he was dismssed, he faced a further, retrospective, disciplinary hearing in 2023 after a complaint by 'Monica', another woman he deceived into a relationship. The tribunal ruled that the relationship did amount to gross misconduct, but it would not have been serious enough to sack him if he were still a serving officer.
In 2020, the Metropolitan Police upheld a complaint against HN2 Andy Coles 'Andy Davey' made by 'Jessica' for deceiving her into a relationship while he was undercover. They noted he would have faced a disciplinary hearing for gross misconduct had he not retired in 2013.