The following extract is from Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police, by Rob Evans and Paul Lewis (Faber and Faber, 2013).
They were in their safe house, sitting on worn out sofas in the lounge.
A team of undercover officers had spent the evening drinking and chatting in the London apartment. It was late one night in 1994.
They turned on the television to catch a news report from Germany. Tens of thousands of Germans were trawling through secret files compiled on them before the Berlin Wall came down. There was a wave of revulsion at the scale of surveillance perpetrated by the Stasi, the East German secret police. [..] The TV report showed the distraught face of a woman in Berlin who had discovered the man she had loved for years was a spy.
There was silence in the lounge. Then one of the undercover police officers said what the others must have been thinking.
'You do realise, this is going to happen to us one day,' he said 'we're going to open a book and read all about what we've been up to.'
It was a chilling thought. The men lounging on the red sofas were members of the Special Demonstration Squad, a top-secret unit within London's Metropolitan Police.
Key background links
1. The hearing on 15 January will be a case management conference to clarify the timetable for disclosure and related matters. Previous hearings have sought to ensure the Met follows normal court procedure:
- Police climb down and withdraw 'strike-out' application March 2014
- Women issue legal challenge to NCND in court June 2014
- Partial NCND victory Aug 2014
2. The claims arise from the deception of women into long-term intimate relationships by five police officers who had infiltrated social and environmental justice campaigns. The common law claims relating to the 15 January hearing include deceit, assault, misfeasance in public office and negligence.
3. As part of an out-of-court settlement for seven out of the eight claims, the Met police issued a comprehensive apology in November 2015 - their first admission that the relationships had taken place and had caused significant damage.Kate Wilson's case continues, as do other civil cases being brought against the police over undercover policing. A public inquiry has also been launched.
4. The eight women bringing this legal action are doing so to highlight and prevent the continuation of psychological, emotional and sexual abuse of campaigners and others by undercover police officers. 'We come from different backgrounds and have a range of political beliefs and interests, and we are united in believing that every woman, and every person, has a right to participate in the struggle for social and environmental justice, without fear of persecution, objectification, or interference in their lives.' - from 'Where we stand' Statement.