Non-State Core Participants

In the Undercover Policing Inquiry, the ‘non-state, non-police core participants’, or more usually, ‘non-state core participants’ (NSCPs) is a grouping of core participants consisting of those targeted by the undercover police units. 

There are currently in the region 223 of them, Some core participants are groups of people rather than distinct individuals, particularly in the case of various families of deceased individuals (Category F). However, this has not been done consistently so there is a variation in numbers.  of which 28 are organisations, covering the entirety of the era under investigation. Five NSCPs have died during the Inquiry: Simon Chapman, Brian Higgins, Alistair Mitchell, Ernest Tate and Barbara Shaw: while at least six have withdrawn. Maureen, Hyacinth and Clinton Lewis were replaced by Judy and Marva Lewis.  Some are further divided into categories depending on their principal reasons for being accepted as core participants, e.g. those who were deceived into relationships or are the victims of miscarriages of justice.

Most are from a political activism background, covering the broad left, social justice, environmentalism and animal rights. For the most part, they consider the distinctions between them in terms of categories as arbitrary and take the broader view that they were targeted precisely because they were politically active in some fashion.

Core participants in Categories F (Relatives of deceased individuals) and M (Families of police officers), though not targets per se of undercover policing operations, are also counted as non-state core participants.

The Recognised Legal Representatives (RLRs) for all the NSCPs Categories (with the exception of M) form the Non-State Core Participants’ Coordination Group due to their aligned interests. The NSCPs’ Coordination Group is currently coordinated by Lydia D’Agostino of Kellys Solicitors. It had previously been coordinated by Tamsin Allen of Bindmans. This group coordinates the work of the various legal teams to provide joint replies and submissions on behalf of the NSCPs to the Inquiry when a collective or general response is needed. This is, in part, because although not every NSCP has a specific interest in a Tranche, there is a collective interest in the overall issues as well as the conduct and procedures of the Inquiry.

The co-ordinated group has instructed barristers to act on their collective behalf. In the past these have been Dan Squires KC (Matrix), Phillippa Kaufmann KC (Matrix) and Ruth Brander (Doughty Street). The current barrister is Kirsten Heaven (Garden Court).

For particular issues, the group has also instructed specialist barristers, for example Gerry Facenna KC and Julianne Morrison in relation to data protection issues.

However, for Opening and Closing Statements and for some particular preliminary issues, the different legal teams have instructed their own counsel to present the statements or raise particular matters relevant to a subgroup of CPs. For example, it is not uncommon for the Category H NSCPs (Individuals deceived into relationships with undercover officers) to pool their interests and have a single barrister speaking specifically on their behalf to their distinct issues.

In the UCPI, several of the NSCPs are Litigants-in-Person, representing themselves in the Inquiry without the benefit of recognised legal representatives, though they work in conjunction with the NSCPs’ Coordinating Group.

There are several external coordinating groups for the NSCPs: 

• Campaign Opposing Police Surveillance which is an umbrella group for campaigners around the issue of spycops
• Police Spies Out Of Lives is the campaign and support group for women who were deceived into relationships with undercover police officers.
• Blacklist Support Group is a campaign supporting those who were named on employer blacklists for trade union and other political activities, often with collusion from undercover police officers.