Appearance of Undercovers

The most rudimentary form of tradecraft used by undercovers was to change their appearance to fit in better with their target groups.

Prior to the founding of the SDS, Special Branch officers would be assigned to attend political meetings and demonstrations in plain clothes, to report back on what happened. However, the strict police dress code meant they often stood out and as a result were even refused entry to meetings. The SDS was intended to ensure that police got access to these events, but also to join the groups themselves. This meant they could not appear as police officers, even out of uniform.

Almost every undercover who has given evidence to the Inquiry so far has said they changed appearance as preparation for going into the field. It emerged as a practice in the first days of the SDS, and was often the first thing an officer started working on.

As HN298 'Mike Scott' HN298 'Michael Scott' ‘Michael Scott’ is the assumed name of a former SDS undercover officer who infiltrated the Putney branch of the Young Liberals, Croydon anarchist group Commitment, the Little Ilford branch of the Workers Revolutionary Party and the central London branch of the Anti-Internment League between 1972 and 1976. In 1972, he did not reveal his true identity to the court when convicted alongside three anti-apartheid activists, leading to their convictions being overturned in 2023. The reliability of his testimony about the Young Liberals was challenged in the Inquiry by core participant Peter Hain.  explained: ‘When I found out I was to join the SDS, I began to grow out my hair to shoulder length, as well as to grow my beard.’ There does not appear to have been a specific instruction to adopt the tactic but, as HN333 HN333 HN333 is the cipher given to a former SDS undercover officer who was deployed into 'a left-wing group which no longer exists' for nine months between December 1968 and mid-1969. Now retired after a ‘long and distinguished career’ in the Metropolitan Police, HN333 has been allowed to maintain complete anonymity by Inquiry Chair John Mitting, who made both his real and cover name and the name of the group he spied on subject to restriction orders. Full page: HN333  remarked: ‘Obviously, you do not want to look like a police constable.’

Although Special Branch officers did not wear uniforms, they were expected to meet strict sartorial standards at the office, as HN218 Barry Moss ‘Barry Morris’ HN218 Barry Moss 'Barry Morris' HN218 is the nominal given to SDS officer Barry Moss 'Barry Morris', who spied on the October 27th Committee for Solidarity with Vietnam and Vietnam Solidarity Campaign during his short deployment in 1968. He later returned as Detective Chief Inspector in charge of SDS operations in February/March 1980, eventually rising to become Commander of Special Branch in October 1996. He retired in 1999. Full page: HN218 Barry Moss 'Barry Morris'  explained: ‘In Special Branch you were encouraged to dress smartly. You would wear a collar and tie, except if you had to attend a public meeting in the evening in which case you would try and blend in with the milieu of the group you were attending.’ 

Other undercovers told the same story: dress code for Special Branch was suit and tie to work, polished shoes, for the most part clean shaven with a short haircut.

This meant that members of the SDS stood out, growing their hair in preparation for being deployed. Their non-standard police haircuts earned their unit the nickname ‘The Hairy Squad’ or ‘The Hairies’. This police slang for the SDS was in place as early as 1969 when HN340 ‘Andy Bailey’ first began to hear rumours of a group within Special Branch by that name.

HN354 Vince Harvey ‘Vince Miller’ HN354 Vincent Harvey 'Vince Miller' Vincent James Harvey used the cover name ‘Vince Miller’ while infiltrating the Socialist Workers Party from 1976 to 1979 as an SDS undercover officer. He had four sexual relationshoips during his time undercover, including with Inquiry core participant ‘Madeleine’. He later became Director of the UK Division at the National Criminal Intelligence Service from 1998 to 2003.  also said he was first alerted to the SDS’ existence by its members’ appearance: ‘I suspect that the first time that I got an inkling that there was an undercover unit within SB was when I saw [an officer] with long hair and a beard at an SB social event’. First Witness Statement of HN354 Vince Harvey ‘Vince Miller’, given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 2, 18 Nov 2019.View Document

The Hairies’ change of appearance went beyond the ‘dressing down’ by Special Branch officers to attend political meetings in plain clothes. HN336 ‘Dick Epps’ HN336 'Dick Epps' ‘Dick Epps’ is the cover name used by the former SDS undercover officer deployed into the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, Stop the Seventy Tour and the International Marxist Group from late 1968 to mid-1970. For the Undercover Policing Inquiry and Operation Herne, Epps is referred to by the cypher HN336. In 2002, Epps appeared on the True Spies television documentary, using the pseudonym ‘Dan’. Full page: HN336 'Dick Epps'  explained: 

‘My appearance changed radically. I grew my hair long and grew a beard and a moustache. I went to a charity shop and bought myself a pair of corduroy trousers, a jacket with a hole in the elbow, and a roll neck sweater. That became my new uniform as it was in keeping with what your average left wing activist was wearing at the time.’  First Witness Statement of HN336 ‘Dick Epps’, given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 1, 10 May 2019.View Document

HN321 ‘Bill Lewis’ set out the look SDS undercovers were going for: ‘I wore clothes that were worn, but not to the extent that they would provoke comment, the objective was to blend into the group and not stand out.’ 

HN345 Peter Fredericks said ‘you had no trouble going along with fashion trends’ though he wore: ‘Nothing too smart, but people dressed more formally in those days’. HN343 ‘John Clinton’ expressed it as wearing ‘comradely attire’. 

Not all SDS undercovers made such efforts with their appearance, especially among the earliest cohort whose deployments were relatively short. HN322, one of the very early spycops, stated he did not alter his appearance while in the SDS. Another of his contemporaries, HN330 ‘Don de Freitas’ HN330 'Don de Freitas' 'Don de Freitas' was the cover name of Detective Sergeant HN330 who was an undercover officer with the SDS between September and October 1968. He infiltrated the Havering branch of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign with HN334 'Margaret White'. Full page: HN330 'Don de Freitas' , also said he did not really change how he looked beyond stopping wearing a tie and dressing like he would on his day off. HN348 Sandra Davies gave evidence that she merely stopped wearing make-up and took off her wedding and engagement rings when undercover.

The need to blend in was the predominant reason for dressing differently, according to those undercovers who gave statements. HN329 ‘John Graham’ HN329 'John Graham' HN329 is the nominal given to SDS officer 'John Graham', deployed from August 1968 to September 1969. He spied on the Camden, Kilburn and Willesden, and Hampstead branches of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, and on the Revolutionary Socialist Students Federation. Graham claims his memory of his time in SDS is poor but gave evidence about fellow officers being convicted in their undercover identities, being taken off the squad for refusing to attend a meeting and taking a female activist he had spied on to dinner after the end of his deployment. Full page: HN329 'John Graham'  wrote: ‘I altered my appearance whilst undercover by growing a beard, more to fit in than to avoid being recognised, although that was a benefit.’ First Witness Statement of HN329 ‘John Graham’, given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 1, 11 Apr 2019.View Document

The family of HN300 ‘Jim Pickford’ HN300 'Jim Pickford' ‘Jim/Jimmy Pickford’ was the assumed name of an SDS undercover who from November 1974 to December 1976 infiltrated the International Socialists, Freedom Collective, Pavement Collective, Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Council Anti-Fascist Committee, Kingston Anarchist Workers Collective, South London Anarchist Workers Association and Federation of London Anarchist Groups. HN300 had a reputation as a philanderer in the SDS and was withdrawn from his deployment in December 1976 after he told another undercover that he had fallen in love with a member of his target group. After leaving the SDS he divorced his wife and married this activist. He is dead and his real name has been restricted. , however, stated that despite his changed facial hair, his striking eyes and other features meant he was still very recognisable.

Female SDS undercovers, who might already have long hair, had to use other ways to look different. HN334 ‘Margaret White’ HN334 'Margaret White' 'Margaret White' was the cover name of Woman Detective Constable HN334, who was an SDS undercover officer between August and November 1968. She attended meetings of various branches of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) and International Socialists before infiltrating the Havering branch of the VSC alongside HN330 'Don de Freitas'. To do so, White and de Freitas posed as a couple. Full page: HN334 'Margaret White'  said she was not given any guidance on how to change her appearance but ‘wore a wig because I felt short hair was a give-away for being a police officer’. 

This was not a successful tactic.  ‘I remember that at one meeting, which I attended in my cover identity, an activist accused me of being a police officer’, she told the Inquiry. ‘I said that I did not think I would be allowed to join the MPS with long hair like this and the activist suggested that I was wearing a wig.’ Second Witness Statement of HN334 Margaret White, given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 1, 5 Feb 2020.View Document  Her contemporary HN328 Joan Hillier HN328 Joan Hillier Joan Florence Hillier had only recently joined the Metropolitan Police Special Branch when she was recruited into the first cohort of Special Demonstration Squad officers on 31 July 1968. An administrator in the SDS back office, she attended a handful of Notting Hill Vietnam Solidarity Campaign meetings in October 1968 but left the SDS in July 1969, moving to A Squad. She retired from the Metropolitan Police in 1984. Full page: HN328 Joan Hillier  also remembers hiding her real hair under a wig, though admitted, ‘to be honest wearing the wig was a little bit of fun’.

By the early 1970s, all SDS undercovers routinely changed their appearance. Changing clothes and growing hair and/or a beard appears to have been the norm, with undercovers taking it to differing levels as suited their deployment. 

Some went to greater lengths than others. HN333 gave evidence that as well as changing into a second-hand uniform of desert boots, jeans and a dirty T-shirt: ‘My walk and voice changed. I found myself being a chameleon among my targets. My accent became more [redacted] and this just felt natural.’ HN126 ‘Paul Gray’ taught himself to have different handwriting.

Cover appearances could be carefully constructed to reinforce an undercover’s legend: HN96 ‘Mike James’ splashed paint on himself to make it look like he had come from work. Likewise, HN354 Vince Harvey ‘Vince Miller’ HN354 Vincent Harvey 'Vince Miller' Vincent James Harvey used the cover name ‘Vince Miller’ while infiltrating the Socialist Workers Party from 1976 to 1979 as an SDS undercover officer. He had four sexual relationshoips during his time undercover, including with Inquiry core participant ‘Madeleine’. He later became Director of the UK Division at the National Criminal Intelligence Service from 1998 to 2003.  dressed to match his cover job as a fitter of suspended ceilings: ‘I wore black Dr Martens and even used to splatter my hands with glue and absentmindedly peel it off during meetings in order to reinforce my legend.’ Supplemented Witness Statement of HN354 Vince Harvey ‘Vince Miller’, given in the UCPI, Tranche 1, Phase 2, 10 Mar 2021.View Document

This piece of tradecraft, like the associated nickname of the ‘Hairies’, continued through the history of the SDS.