Overview
This set of hearings in the Undercover Policing Inquiry took place in November 2020. The hearings looked at the first four years of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), from its founding in 1968 to 1972. The hearings began with the Tranche 1 opening statements, before being followed by the live testimony of both former undercovers and non-state witnesses.
They were held at the Amba Hotel (now Thistle Marble Arch Hotel) in central London. Due to restriction orders over the real identities of former SDS undercover officers, their evidence was broadcast only via a rolling transcript, whereas non-police witnesses chose to give full public information.
| Hearing dates | |
|---|---|
| Tranche 1 Phase 1 Opening Statements | 2 – 10, 17 November 2020 |
| Tranche 1 Phase 1 Evidential Statements | 11 – 16, 18 – 19 November 2020 |
| Testimony | ||
|---|---|---|
| HN328 Joan Hillier | HN336 'Dick Epps' | Tariq Ali |
| HN326 'Douglas Edwards' | HN340 'Andy Bailey / Nixon' | HN329 'John Graham' |
| HN348 'Sandra Davies' | HN345 'Peter Fredericks' | |
| Summaries, etc. | ||
|---|---|---|
| HN330 'Don de Freitas' | HN334 'Margaret White' | Ernest Tate |
| HN218 Barry Moss 'Barry Morris' | HN343 'John Clinton' | HN322 |
| HN339 'Stewart Goodman' | HN321 'Bill Lewis' | |
| HN349 | HN333 | |
Timetable
Opening statements | |
|---|---|
| Counsel | Core Participant |
| 2 November 2020 (Day 1) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| David Barr KC | UCPI |
| 3 November 2020 (Day 2) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Peter Skelton KC | Metropolitan Police |
| Gerry Boyle KC | National Police Chiefs Council |
| Richard O'Brien | National Crime Agency |
| Nicholas Griffin KC | Home Office |
| Oliver Sanders KC | Designated Lawyers Officers |
| 4 November 2020 (Day 3) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Oliver Sanders KC | Designated Lawyers Officers |
| Richard Whittam KC | Slater & Gordon clients |
| David Lock KC | Peter Francis |
| Angus McCullough KC | Families of Police Officers (Category M) |
| Rajiv Menon KC | Non-State Core Participants represented by Richard Parry (Saunders Solicitors) & Jane Deighton (DPG) |
| 5 November 2020 (Day 4) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Rajiv Menon KC | Non-State Core Participants represented by Richard Parry (Saunders Solicitors) & Jane Deighton (DPG) |
| Matthew Ryder KC | Non-State Core Participants represented by Mike Schwarz, Tamsin Allen & Jules Carey (Bindmans) and Simon Creighton (Bhatt Murphy) |
| Donal O'Driscoll | Non-State Core Participant (Litigant-in-Person) |
| 6 November 2020 (Day 5) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| James Scobie KC | Non-State Core Participants represented by Paul Heron (Public Interest Law Centre) |
| Ruth Brander | Non-State Core Participants Co-ordination Group |
| Lord Hendy KC | Fire Brigades Union, Unite (Category E) |
| Gareth Peirce | National Union of Minerworkers (Category E) |
| 9 November 2021 (Day 6) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Philippa Kaufmann QC | Category H Non-State Core Participants represented by Birnberg Peirce, Hickman & Rose and Hodge Jones & Allen |
| Heather Williams QC | Category H Non-State Core Participants represented by Bindmans |
| Heather Williams QC | Families of Deceased Individuals (Category F) |
| Philippa Kaufmann QC | Non-State Core Participants represented by Birnberg Peirce |
| 10 November 2020 (Day 7) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Imran Khan KC | Baroness Doreen Lawrence |
| Heather Williams KC | Neville Lawrence OBE |
| Imran Khan KC | Michael Mansfield KC |
| Andrew Trollope KC | Azhar Khan |
| Dave Morris | Non-State Core Participant (Litigant-in-Person) |
| Imran Khan KC | The Monitoring Group |
| Pete Weatherby KC | Non-State Core Participants including Newham Monitoring Project |
Evidential Hearings | |
|---|---|
| 11 November 2020 (Day 8) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Tariq Ali | Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, International Marxist Group |
| 12 November 2020 (Day 9) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Summaries | HN218 Barry Moss 'Barry Morris', HN334 'Margaret White' |
| Ernest Tate (statement read out) | Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, International Marxist Group |
| HN329 'John Graham' | SDS undercover |
| 13 November 2020 (Day 10) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Summaries, etc. | HN330 'Don de Freitas', HN321 'Bill Lewis', HN322, Kieran Coleman |
| HN328 Joan Hillier | SDS undercover |
| HN326 'Douglas Edwards' | SDS undercover |
| 16 November 2020 (Day 11) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| HN336 'Dick Epps' | SDS undercover |
| HN340 'Andy Bailey / Nixon' | SDS undercover |
| 17 November 2020 (Day 12) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| David Smith | Blacklist Support Group opening statement |
| Procedural Hearing on Rule 10 | |
| 18 November 2020 (Day 13) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| HN348 'Sandra Davies' | SDS undercover |
| 19 November 2020 (Day 14) | Transcript, Index, Video (AM), Video (PM) |
| Summaries, etc. | HN333, HN339 'Stewart Goodman', HN349, HN343 'John Clinton' |
| HN345 'Peter Fredericks' | SDS undercover |