Deep Deception Public meeting in Hebden Bridge on 10 April at 2pm: McLibel Campaigner Helen Steel tells the story of ‘the spycops network’

 

Public meeting organised by Calderdale Trades Union Council

2pm on 10^th April at Hebden Bridge Trades Club

Deep Deception

McLibel Campaigner Helen Steel tells the story of ‘the spycops network’ and the women like herself who uncovered the shocking truth

In 1987, Helen Steel was a gardener and environmental and social justice activist with, amongst others, London Greenpeace. She later formed part of ‘the McLibel 2’ campaign that badly damaged the reputation of McDonald’s.  

Almost two decades earlier in 1968, a shadowy undercover police unit was established in Britain – the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) – to spy on protesters in mainly left-wing and progressive groups. SDS This along with its successor – the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), formed in 1999 – targeted anyone with a desire to protest the status quo.

That included anyone expressing a dissenting voice, or attempting to hold the government or big business to account. Steel, as part of ‘The McLibel Two’ campaign that began in 1990 and lasted well over a decade, was just such a voice.

Officers from the SDS and NPOIU secretly infiltrated organisations by ‘any means necessary’, including forming long-term, intimate sexual and emotional relationships with women activists, having children with some and robbing others of the chance of motherhood. Helen Steel was targeted by an SDS officer whose real name was John Dines but who hid behind the name of John Barker, who had died at aged 8 in 1968. Steel had no idea she was involved with a police spy.

Dines is amongst over twenty undercover officers who have been identified as having deceived women into intimate relationships. The women had no idea they were involved with men who were police spies.

Steel and the women have discovered the truth about these men’s identities and tactics through their own research and shared experiences.

It was those efforts that led to the public exposure of the officers and subsequent widespread outcry about the activities of these units.

Since these initial discoveries, the tactics of the SDS and NPOIU have become one of the biggest policing scandals of our time. The revelations led in part to the announcement of an undercover policing inquiry (UCPI), which began taking evidence in November 2020. The fight for truth and justice is far from over.

Steel and four women involved are now releasing a book DEEP DECEPTION ON 31^ST March. Come along to Hebden Bridge Trades Club at 2pm (prompt) on Sunday 10 April to listen to Helen Steel, a remarkable woman.

Other speakers at this meeting will include UCPI Core Participants such as Mark Metcalf, a NUJ delegate to Calderdale Trades Council.

11 May - just over 50 people attended the meeting.