Raymond Wilson joined the Metropolitan Police in 1952 and Special Branch in 1956. In 1968, he was one of the original intake of officers to the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). However, it is not clear whether he attended activist meetings as a plain-clothes officer or with an undercover identity as most SDS officers did.
At some point after leaving the SDS, Wilson was posted in C Squad, which monitored Maoist, Trotskyist, and anarchist groups. In 1980 he became chief superintendent of S Squad, overseeing the SDS. He retired at that rank in 1984.
In 2015, Wilson co-authored Special Branch, A History: 1883-2006, which touches briefly on the SDS’ history but does not delve into Wilson’s roles. The Inquiry did not receive any evidence from Wilson, who had died by 2017.
While Ray Wilson worked in the SDS, another R Wilson – Detective Inspector HN3990 Riby Wilson – was a more senior officer in the unit. This has led to confusion regarding which R Wilson is which in Inquiry documents.
However, the two Wilsons only briefly shared the same rank of detective inspector – between July 1969 and July 1970 – and it is usually possible to differentiate between them by rank. Nevertheless, readers should be alert to this issue.
Raymond Wilson joined the Metropolitan Police in 1952 before transferring to Special Branch in 1956. He was promoted to detective sergeant in 1962 and was already reporting on the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) prior to joining SDS, which may suggest he worked in B Squad.
One of Wilson’s reports that predates the creation of the SDS is on a protest outside the Royal Courts of Justice by the VSC and associated groups on 23 July 1968. The protest was against an injunction sought by the local authority to remove students occupying Guildford Art School.
The report assesses whether uniform policing was adequate and notes the slogans on the protesters’ banners and placards. Wilson also attended a public discussion on the French Revolution organised by members of the International Marxist Group on 27 July 1968.
According to the Inquiry, Ray Wilson had no cover name. However, HN3093 Roy Creamer said Ray Wilson went undercover and was involved in monitoring a group in Surrey. There is no further detail on his role and no explanation why Wilson, unlike most of the officers below detective inspector rank, had no cover name.
HN3095 Bill Furner , a contemporary of Wilson, described him as a ‘peripheral figure’ within the squad, without a clear role, but said he was not management.
There is a photograph (below) of Wilson and HN327 Dave Fisher taken during 1968. It shows Wilson on the right, according to fellow undercover HN334 ‘Margaret White’.
The first report associated with Ray Wilson after the founding of the SDS is dated 9 September 1968. It concerns the anarchist Libertarian Left Conference, held on 8 September, recording that 40 people from several London-based anarchist groups attended.
The format and content are not noticeably different from the pre-SDS reports Wilson submitted. Only the signature of SDS boss HN325 Conrad Dixon confirms this to have been an SDS report.
What is most significant about this report is that it does not concern the anti-Vietnam war protests or any other protest. Even at this very early stage the SDS had strayed beyond its remit to infiltrate groups preparing for the 27 October 1968 demonstration.
Between 3 September and 3 October 1968, Wilson attended four Vietnam Solidarity Campaign (VSC) meetings, though never alone. At one public meeting of the VSC Ad Hoc Committee, on 17 September 1968, Conrad Dixon, HN332 Cameron Sinclair , HN1251 Phil Saunders , TN0033 , HN3093 Roy Creamer, HN327 Dave Fisher, HN329 ‘John Graham’ and HN218 Barry Moss 'Barry Morris' were all present. Wilson also attended three meetings of the small Croydon VSC branch with Fisher.
Prosecution of Black Dwarf
An article in the 15 October 1968 issue of International Marxist Group magazine Black Dwarf warned people about police stop-and-searches and other disruptive tactics ahead of the 27 October demonstration. The article noted that if items such as razors for shaving, marbles or fireworks were found on the coaches, this would be used to stop them from reaching the protest.
When right-wing MP Patrick Wall brought this to the notice of the Home Office, Special Branch launched an investigation to support a charge of incitement.
Ray Wilson played a small part in the investigation, purchasing a copy of Black Dwarf and providing a witness statement that noted that the magazine was being distributed at a Movement for Colonial Freedom meeting. However, the Director of Public Prosecutions decided there were insufficient grounds for prosecution.
On 7 July 1969, Ray Wilson was promoted to detective inspector. Although it is not clear which of B or C Squad he was working for at the time, Wilson’s name and occasional signature appear on various Special Branch reports in 1971 and 1972, including reports circulated from the SDS to other Special Branch squads.
The first of these is an SDS report from May 1971 on the Irish National Solidarity Liberation Front , which was infiltrated by HN347 ‘Alex Sloan’. A cover sheet flags up the report to be seen by HN332 Cameron Sinclair and by Wilson. The handwriting is unclear, but it looks as though both officers were in B Squad , which by then dealt exclusively with ‘Irish matters’.
The next report mentioning Ray Wilson, on 8 October 1971, also concerns an Ireland-related group , suggesting he was indeed in B Squad. However, ten reports dated between October 1971 and January 1972, all marked up for detective inspector Ray Wilson, relate to Trotskyist groups – mainly to the International Socialists but also to the International Marxist Group. This suggests that Wilson was by then in C Squad.
Wilson’s service record establishes that in 1974 he was promoted to detective chief inspector but it is not until June 1977 that his name again appears on Special Branch reports. By this time, he had been promoted to detective superintendent, and was signing as acting chief superintendent.
From June 1977 to March 1978 Wilson signed or is otherwise mentioned in 39 documents. Of these, 28 were intelligence reports focusing on the Socialist Workers Party (SWP). This reflects how heavily the SWP was targeted by the SDS and gives a clue to Wilson’s place within Special Branch; C Squad would have covered the SWP and the anarchist and Maoist groups that the remaining reports cover.
These reports are discussed in the relevant undercover officers’ profiles and in thematic analyses. Some are discussed in the profile of HN34 Geoff Craft , who was head of the SDS during much of this period.
Chief superintendent of S Squad
Ray Wilson was promoted to chief superintendent in 1979 and became the most senior officer for S Squad. This was the squad to which the SDS had belonged since 1974. One of the primary responsibilities of the S Squad chief superintendent was oversight of the SDS.
However, only eight documents released by the Inquiry from this time bear Ray Wilson’s name. This is explained by the fact that HN218 Barry Moss , as detective superintendent, signed most of the reports on Wilson’s behalf, see Documents tab.
During the SDS’ years of operation, senior Special Branch officers and the Home Office exchanged a series of memos to request renewal of the direct funding the government department provided to the SDS. Ray Wilson wrote to the Special Branch commander, recommending such a request should be made, on 4 March 1970.
Although it is not clear which – B or C – squad he was working for at the time, Wilson’s name and occasional signature appear on various Special Branch reports in 1971 and 1972, including reports circulated from the SDS to other Special Branch squads.
Ray Wilson’s name appears three times in documents related to Special Branch liaison with MI5. The first concerns a ‘bi-annual conference’ between Special Branch and MI5 on 27 September 1977. Wilson is one of nine Special Branch officers attending.
Another document, from November 1977, records a meeting between MI5’s F6, the section responsible for coordinating the joint coverage of subversive groups and individuals, and Special Branch. It mentions Ray Wilson as the detective superintendent of C Squad.
In the meeting notes, it is recorded that Wilson asked for protection for their ‘relatively few informants’. MI5 seem to have run a more significant number of civilian informants, ‘agents’, during this period. This probably refers to civilian informers and not to SDS officers.
According to a Security Service document, Detective Superintendent Ray Wilson and Detective Inspector HN3093 Roy Creamer attended another meeting between MI5 and Special Branch in March 1978. The MI5 note mentions a number of topics, including a proposed conference on ‘anarchism’, to be jointly hosted by Special Branch and MI5.
After its original author, ex-Special Branch officer Ian Adams, died in 2014, Ray Wilson took over writing the book. It was published in 2015, when the SDS’ existence had only just officially been acknowledged.
The book does not mention that an Undercover Policing Inquiry had been announced in 2014 and it mentions the SDS only briefly, in two sections. The first mention is a short history of the SDS, starting with its formation in 1968, that is limited in scope and defensive in tone.
The authors state, as was the case at the time, that the SDS history is ‘still shrouded in secrecy’. Wilson does not mention his involvement in the squad.
The other, much briefer, reference concerns the Grunwick strike of 1976-1978. It refers to the ‘much-maligned’ SDS helping to provide information to plan public-order policing during the picketing.
In general, the book laments the closing in 2006 of the Metropolitan Police Special Branch and it glosses over the surveillance by the SDS and other parts of Special Branch of left-leaning groups. The book names many Metropolitan Police officers who have since been mentioned in the Inquiry.
No anonymity application was made on behalf of HN318 and he had no cover name. On 14 November 2017, the Inquiry decided that HN318’s real name, Raymond Wilson, would be published. Relevant material can be found in the Procedural section of the Document tab.