“The undercover policeman at the centre of the storm over infiltration of the environmental protest movement today insisted that all his actions had been sanctioned by his superiors and accused senior officers of deliberately suppressing evidence that would have exonerated six activists facing criminal charges.
On Friday, the Independent Police Complaints Commission launched an investigation into allegations that the Nottinghamshire force had withheld material from the CPS and the activists' defence team.
Yesterday, Kennedy revealed that he had covertly recorded two meetings of activists held to discuss the break-in of the power station. "The truth of the matter is that the tapes clearly show that the six defendants who were due to go on trial had not joined any conspiracy," he said. "The tapes I made meant that the police couldn't prove their case. I have no idea why the police withheld these tapes." Guardian 17/1/2011
“Mark Kennedy told the Mail on Sunday that the low point of his undercover career came in 2006. During a demonstration at the Drax coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire, he was on the receiving end of a beating from police officers who, he says, were only on the scene because he tipped them off.
"A young petite woman I knew as Cathleen began to crawl through a hole in the fence," Kennedy said. "Then I saw a uniformed officer start to strike her very hard on her legs and lower back with his baton.
"I tried to stand between her and him. I didn't do anything aggressive. That's when I got jumped on by five officers who kicked and beat me. They had batons and pummelled my head. They punched me. One officer repeatedly stamped on my back." (my emphases)
According to Kennedy, he was treated in hospital for a head wound, a broken finger and a prolapsed disc. But when he tried to claim compensation from police for injuries sustained while on duty, he was turned down on the basis that it could jeopardise his cover. "That pissed me off," he said.” ibid
The delicious irony of the spy getting a serious beating from his erstwhile colleagues diminishes when the full implications of when the situation is considered further. This smacks of punishment beatings handed out by police in authoritarian states around the world. It has become increasingly commonplace here with little or no accountability. Look at the lack of official reaction to the disgraceful treatment of many student protesters. Lots of reaction to the extinguisher thrower, no response to the many skull crackers and the wheelchair dragger.
Millions saw the footage of news vendor Ian Tomlinson being pushed to the ground by an aggressive copper. Astonishingly and disturbingly, no legal action was brought against the officer because of a ‘lack of evidence.’ Add the alleged withholding of the tapes proving the innocence of the six activists and all of this becomes extremely serious.
In a democracy the police serve the citizens.
Police state: a country in which the government uses police, especially secret police, to exercise strict or repressive control over the population. Bloomsbury English Dictionary
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