Weidenfeld Nicolson Disclosure Unravelling the Spycops Files.

by Kate Wilson, Unknown Author

'It was exciting when it started, then comfortable and domestic, and over time we grew apart. If it had been real, our relationship wouldn't have made a chapter in a memoir. But Mark was a fictional character, contrived by the British state to violate me and undermine the values I held dearest. And the entire time, EN31 was sitting around the corner, writing it all down, watching our lives unfold.'

In 2003, British police infiltrated a group of idealistic young environmental activists, forming sexual relationships and spying without warrant on hundreds of innocent civilians.

Kate Wilson fought back. She took the Met to court, at times battling alone without funding or legal representation, enduring bullying, psychological intrusion and further state surveillance. It took her nearly twenty years to uncover the eerie truth about Britain' s secret political police.

In her own words, and those of the officers who documented her every move, this is Kate's story.

352 pages, Hardcover

Published May 29, 2025

Reviews

[Vicky Thirlaway · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m very familiar with the background to this book as I’ve followed all the legal cases and read the judgments, so was surprised by how much this book still had the power to shock. I listened to the audio book and found the juxtaposition of the dry reports in police contact logs with the memories of Kate Wilson (and others) profoundly disturbing. An important book I feel like everyone should read particularly now when the chilling effect of state intervention to suppress protest is again, sadly, so relevant

[Mike Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Police state we’re in: leaving aside the (very important) questions of ethics and accountability for a moment, it occurs to me that a basic dichotomy is at the heart of this book, whether you agree with political policing or not. It’s that either we have a police that accepts legitimate right to protest, stepping in when it crosses the line into violent unrest, and enabling peaceful protest against governments and corporations that dominate our lives; or we have a police that operates with ruthless effectiveness to crack down on covert anti-state or antisocial activity, infiltrating and disempowering such groups quickly and efficiently. From the evidence presented by Kate Wilson, and accepted by the tribunal judges, we have neither.

This is the spycops case, in which a number of undercover (sic) officers infiltrated London Greenpeace, among other groups, and seem to have spent most of their time getting as many women activists into the sack as possible, allegedly for purposes of intelligence gathering. Although much of Wilson’s focus is on one individual, Mark ‘Flash’ Kennedy, a serial sex pest whose nickname speaks for itself, she draws out the wider connections with other officers conducting themselves in similar fashion, often with wives and families at home while they tucked up with the ‘subversives’ in squats, at peace camps and in cheap hotels at conferences - and in some cases set up house with them. The Met, in what seems to have been a shambolic, bad-tempered response to legal challenge, tried to pretend it was bad apple syndrome, a defence comprehensively demolished by Wilson, thanks to meticulous research and a dogged, never let go attitude which suggests she’s a loss to the legal profession. She suggests with some force, a link to other cases of rampant misogyny in the police that allowed them to view the women concerned as collateral damage, even as the judgement stated that the evidence Kennedy and his colleagues collated on a vastly expensive fishing mission was “of low value” and “didn’t justify the extreme means used to gather it.” It does not go unnoticed that the judgement came out on the day Sarah Everard’s murderer, a serving police officer, received a whole life tariff for her killing. No one further up the chain of command has yet been held properly accountable for failings in either situation.

Of course, this being Britain, there’s an enquiry been set up on the whole spycops scandal, staffed by eminent and worthy persons, which in due course will no doubt issue a long, damning report. It’s been in session since 2016. And like Grenfell, the Post Office and the NHS contaminated blood scandal, most of those concerned will have retired, moved abroad, died or disappeared by the time it all comes out. This is how we’re governed, and frankly, it sucks.

The spycops were useless - and wasted millions of £££ of our money - as anyone who’s ever had dealings with lefty groups knows, they’re far too busy arguing amongst themselves over points of order in meetings, and organising fundraising jumble sales, to present a serious threat to the UK government or the megacorps that run everything (Just Stop Oil may be the exception but they weren’t around in the early 2000s when most of this happened). At the time this is set, between 9/11 and the London transport bombings, were the spycops being deployed in genuine terrorist organisations with the capacity and intent to kill and maim hundreds? Probably not. Much easier to con a few well-meaning crusties and shag a handful of their women along the way. Gah. ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

[Keely · Rating 4 out of 5]

So bloody horrifying and well worth reading. It all should have never happened, acting like people who give a shit about the climate are truly dangerous is ridiculous. No one should've gone undercover into those groups. And then all the relationships? Disgusting. Mark Kennedy should be ashamed of himself. He is a disgrace. And the police system is disgusting for taking their sweet time with disclosure statements. All the games and delaying tactics were on purpose. Just so disgraceful and everybody involved with that should feel ashamed of themselves.

It's well written and I really reccomended it.

[Paul Ataua · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an account of Kate Wilson’s ten-year legal battle over the use of undercover police against protest movements, including sleeping with and developing relationships with protesters to get information. This is both an engrossing and a disturbing read. Most people are aware that the police have special powers in areas when the country and democracy are threatened, but as you read you slowly become aware that the victims here were in no way threats to society, but people exercising their right to protest. It is a powerful read that should make you worry about the powers that be.

[Maryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was repetitive at times, due to the focus on the issue that this book surrounds really. The insidious nature of the met police here was really laid bare and the book gave recollections from the authors POV. The process being drawn out for years just for the met to pretty much agree to the claims brought against them in the end is just disgusting. Defund the police

[Kathryn Castles]

Easy if slightly clunky read, deeply inspiring how dogged she was with so much opposition and no end in sight, using that same activist fire to change the world in a different way.

Really important story to make you think again about the way this country is run