Riby Wilson began his career with the Metropolitan Police in 1950, transferring to Special Branch in 1953. He progressed through the ranks, becoming a detective sergeant in 1960 and a detective inspector in 1965.
In July 1968, Wilson became one of three inspectors in the newly formed Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and served in that role until March 1970. His responsibilities included overseeing undercover officers and receiving and disseminating intelligence reports.
After leaving the SDS, Wilson rose to the rank of detective chief superintendent where, during 1974, he oversaw some SDS reports.
In 1976, Wilson was part of a team tasked with reviewing the SDS’ operations, ultimately recommending the unit continue despite concerns about the squad’s effectiveness. Wilson retired in 1977 due to ill health and died in 1988.
While Riby Wilson was in the SDS, another ‘R Wilson’, Detective Sergeant HN318 Ray Wilson, worked in the unit as an undercover officer. This has led to confusion about which R Wilson Inquiry documents refer to.
However, Riby and Ray only briefly shared the same rank – detective inspector – between July 1969 to July 1970, so it is usually possible to delineate between them by rank.
Riby Wilson joined the MPS on 9 January 1950, transferring to Special Branch in 1953. From there, he was promoted to detective sergeant in 1960 and detective inspector in 1965.
Riby Wilson became one of three inspectors in the Special Demonstration Squad from its formation in July 1968, staying in that role until March 1970.
According to HN3093 Roy Creamer , then a junior back-office staff member of the SDS, Wilson, alongside HN325 Conrad Dixon , met the undercover officers every day, receiving reports from them and disseminating the information to other parts of Special Branch.
Creamer also said that Wilson was the unit’s third in command, although HN332 Cameron Sinclair and HN1251 Phil Saunders held the same rank as Wilson.
In a November 1968 document written by Conrad Dixon, he described Wilson’s role including ‘press and informants’ but said he was not involved ‘operationally’ – meaning Wilson did not go undercover.
The media element of this role, according to Creamer, was probably ‘poetic licence’ on Dixon’s behalf as the SDS did everything it could to keep the existence of the unit secret.
Most of the documents published by the Inquiry associated with Riby Wilson are undercovers’ reports he countersigned in his role as one of the SDS’ four managers between 1968 and 1970.
The reports Wilson signed broadly reflected the groups that the SDS spied upon during this time, beginning with those involved in organising anti-Vietnam war demonstrations before broadening out across the left of the political spectrum. There are eight Special Branch reports signed by Riby Wilson in 1970 and all, except one, concern anti-apartheid activity, see Documents tab.
The documents associated with Wilson released by the Inquiry tell us little about him but two other former officers offered their views on his management style. Writing about Wilson’s personality, Roy Creamer commented: ‘He could be strict and was quite a forceful fellow. He was more of a Sergeant Major than an officer.’
However, a back-office colleague HN3095 Bill Furner said that Wilson was ‘very free and easy’.
There are two incidents of particular interest during Wilson’s time with the SDS.
Visit to Lady Jane Birdwood
Wilson and Cameron Sinclair visited Lady Jane Birdwood on 5 September 1968 on the instruction of Chief Superintendent HN2857 Arthur Cunningham.
Birdwood was a prominent figure on the British far right. Her trajectory within the overtly racist right wing of British politics began in 1962, and she was later part of several groups, including the National Front and the British National Party.
Described as the ‘largest individual distributor of racist and antisemitic material in Britain’, including notorious blood libel The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, Birdwood was prosecuted several times. She was also involved in anti-trade union and anti-communist groups.
The visit appears to have taken place in response to concerns that Birdwood expressed to the Metropolitan Police about the potential violence of the 27 October 1968 Vietnam Solidarity Campaign demonstration.
Birdwood met the two officers ‘… in the middle of the lawn’ in one of her late husband’s family’s stately homes, according to the report, which went on to describe her as ‘politically well-informed’.
This positive assessment contrasts with often mocking and derogatory assessments of left-wing political views found in SDS reports. Other commentators have also mentioned this courtesy visit as exemplifying the unit’s bias against left-wing activists and towards the right.
Doug Edwards and the National Front debate
HN326 ‘Doug Edwards’ , who was undercover in the SDS between 1968 and 1971, infiltrated the small, left-wing Independent Labour Party (ILP). He attended a meeting to which members of the International Socialists – who objected to an ILP proposal to debate the fascist National Front – arrived in large numbers to confront the ILP.
Having been forewarned, Edwards recalled, senior SDS officers Phil Saunders and Riby Wilson were in a car outside the pub where the meeting was being held. He said they told him afterwards that, had he been attacked, they would have physically intervened. Edwards said he doubted they would have done so.
Wilson left the SDS in March 1970 and was promoted to the rank of detective chief inspector shortly afterwards, in July 1970. In April 1973 he became a detective superintendent. His name then appears on documents from late 1970 onwards, although he is no longer in the SDS. He is also mentioned in an October 1970 telegram regarding an anti-apartheid demonstration.
It is not known which Special Branch squad he was in at that stage. Roy Creamer mentioned that he got to know Riby Wilson better after they both left the SDS, so it is possible that he was in C Squad , where Creamer worked immediately after leaving the SDS.
Chief superintendent 1974-1977
In April 1974, Wilson received his final promotion to detective chief superintendent. As a Special Branch chief superintendent, he countersigned 57 SDS reports on various groups. Again, there is no confirmation which squad Wilson oversaw during this time. It seems likely he was signing in the absence of the chief superintendent of S Squad , to which the SDS belonged at the time.
The reports came from several SDS undercover officers, including HN300 ‘Jim Pickford’ and HN297 Richard Clark (‘Rick Gibson’) , who both had sexual relationships with members of the groups they were targeting. Wilson also signed off reports that included personal details about individuals.
1976 review of the SDS
In 1976, just before his retirement, Riby Wilson was part of a team – alongside chief superintendents HN1254 Rollo Watts , HN332 Cameron Sinclair , HN819 Detective Chief Inspector Derek Kneale and HN34 Detective Inspector Geoff Craft – tasked by HN585 Commander Matthew Rodger to set up an internal review to consider the future of the SDS.
All the reviewers except Rollo Watts had served in the SDS and therefore had a vested interest in concluding that it had value. So, despite assessing that the public-order threat and ‘degree of violence’ had diminished since 1968, the review determined that the unit should carry on.
In perhaps one of the most damning comments contained in Inquiry Chair John Mitting’s Interim Report in June 2023 Interim Report, Mitting stated that:
‘it is hard to see how any conclusion reached by those involved in the [1976] review could legitimately have been reached which would not have resulted in the closure of the SDS’.
Riby Wilson retired due to ill health on 27 January 1977 after 27 years working for the Metropolitan Police. He died in 1988.
No procedural documents exist for this officer but it is worth noting that when Riby Wilson was in the SDS, another R Wilson – detective sergeant HN318 Ray Wilson – worked as an undercover officer in the unit. This has led to confusion, in Inquiry documents, over which R Wilson is which.
However, Wilsons Riby and Ray only briefly held the same rank – between July 1969 and July 1970, when both were detective inspectors. It is therefore usually possible to delineate between them by this difference in seniority.