An undercover police officer who was deployed among green activists took part in a criminal trial under a false name, it has been claimed.
A defence solicitor alleged that Jim Boyling, a specialist operations detective constable with the Met Police, maintained an alias throughout court proceedings. The allegations have forced the postponement of the publication of a review into the future of undercover policing and the actions of another officer who infiltrated protest groups.
Mike Schwarz, of law firm Bindmans, said he had discovered he represented Dc Boyling under the name Jim Sutton, along with other protesters. The undercover officer went on trial for public order offences with other activists from pro-cycling campaign group Reclaim The Streets following a demonstration at the headquarters of London Underground in 1996.
The lawyer said the revelation raised concerns about the "confidentiality" of discussions between the officer's co-defendants and their legal representatives. He told The Guardian: "This case raises the most fundamental constitutional issues about the limits of acceptable policing, the sanctity of lawyer-client confidentiality, and the integrity of the criminal justice system. At first sight, it seems that the police have wildly overstepped all recognised boundaries."
Activist John Jordan, who was convicted of assaulting a police officer and given a conditional discharge after being arrested with "Jim Sutton", is appealing against the verdict following the allegations.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has been reviewing issues regarding the deployment of undercover officers and the policy and practices in place at the time of the events described in the Guardian. The MPS acknowledges that these are serious matters and is continuing to review the situation, and will take account of any additional information that becomes available."
The latest allegations led to the postponement of an investigation to assess what went wrong after the case against six protesters accused of planning to invade a power station collapsed in January. They claimed an undercover officer offered to give evidence on their behalf.
Mark Kennedy, who spent seven years posing as long-haired drop-out climber Mark "Flash" Stone, also had sexual relationships with at least two women during the operation. He has since said he now fears for his life, describing the world of undercover policing as "grey and murky", adding: "There is some bad stuff going on. Really bad stuff."
The review, launched by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) in January, was reportedly set to rule out tough judicial oversight of the deployment of undercover officers, wanted by some police chiefs. A HMIC spokesman said: "In light of the allegations in the media today we are delaying the launch of our report. This is so we can consider the relevance of this information to the recommendations for improvement in undercover policing tactics that we are making in our review."
The review was carried out by Bernard Hogan-Howe, the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner, while he worked at HMIC before taking up Britain's top policing job last month.
Copyright © 2011 The Press Association. All rights reserved.
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