Undercover Officer Mark Kennedy 'Defied' Instructions

The undercover policeman who infiltrated an environmentalist group before being accused of entrapment had "defied instructions", according to a report.

The report by the HM Inspectorate of Constabulary found that Mark Kennedy's had defied his managers' instructions on two occasions during his eight years undercover in environmentalist activist groups.

The report also found that although Mr Kennedy had helped unearth "serious criminality", he was inadequately supervised and oversight of undercover officers needed to be strengthened.

Mr Kennedy also had two relationships with other activists during his undercover work.

The report said: "A more systematic implementation of controls in the NPOIU might have identified more quickly the true extent to which he was intruding into people's lives. In future, where the risk of intrusion is significant, secure intelligence from other sources (such as another undercover officer) may corroborate what is being reported by their undercover officers."

"Mark Kennedy, by his own admission, had intimate relationships with a number of people while undercover, and in doing so encroached very significantly into their lives. NPOIU documentation did not provide assurance that such risks of intrusion were being systematically considered and well managed across the organisation."

(DW/GK)