Tranche 1 of the Undercover Policing Inquiry looked at the first 14 years of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), from its founding in 1968 up to 1982. It was divided into three phases:
- Phase 1: Undercover officers 1968 – 1972
- Phase 2: Undercover officers 1973 – 1982
- Phase 3: Managers: 1968 – 1982
Both police and non-state core participants provided opening and closing statements in this tranche.
Phase 3 also considered the concurrent Tranche 6 issues, relating to oversight and the dissemination of intelligence gathered. However, while witness statements and documents were published, no witness was called to give live evidence.
The hearings ran from November 2020 to February 2023 - being split into three phases due to the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This included seven days of opening statements and four days of closing statements.
Opening and closing statements were conducted online only, of which video is available. All of the evidential hearings took place at the Amba Hotel in Central London. Members of the press and public were able to attend, but had to register in advance.
Due to restriction orders over the real identities of former undercovers, a rolling transcript was provided for the public via the Inquiry website, or else an audio-only stream was provided. Non-state core participants giving evidence all elected for it to be publicly broadcast with the exception of ‘Madeleine’ who has a restriction order over her identity.
The Inquiry also put in place a ten minute delay on use of social media and for the rolling transcript, in case something was said which breached a restriction order of some kind. Hence, some of those watching online will have seen sudden interruptions without warning when this occasionally happened.
Following the hearings, the Inquiry Chair, Sir John Mitting, published an Interim Report which set out a limited number of conclusions. This included that the end did not justify the means used and that had the public been aware the unit would have been rapidly shut down.
A number of officers whose deployments fell in the Tranche 1 period or overlapped with it, have had their evidence moved to the Tranche 2 hearings.
Key statistics
- Evidence was collected from 56 former SDS officers, 22 managers and 21 of those who were targeted.
- There were 29 days of evidential hearings over the three phases, during which 41 witnesses, police and non-state, gave live testimony.
- 3,475 pieces of evidence were published by the Inquiry, the majority being reports from the undercovers, but also SDS annual reports, etc.
Hearing dates
| Tranche 1 Opening Statements | 2-10, 17 November 2020 |
| Tranche 1 Phase 1 Evidential Hearings | 11-16, 18-19 November 2020 |
| Tranche 1 Phase 2 Opening Statements | 21-23 April 2021 |
| Tranche 1 Phase 2 Evidential Hearings | 26 April – 13 May 2021 |
| Tranche 1 Phase 3 Opening Statements | 9-11 May 2022 |
| Tranche 1 Phase 3 Evidential Hearings | 12-20 May 2022 |
| Tranche 1 Closing Statements | 20-23 February 2023 |