Police infiltrator exposes cops’ dodgy protest tactics

An undercover policeman who infiltrated the environmental protest movement may have 'gone native' after it emerged he offered to give evidence on behalf of six green activists relating to a protest at the Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire.

The trial has collapsed after lawyers for the defendants requested material relating to the activities of Mark Kennedy, a Metropolitan Police agent. The Crown Prosecution Service is thought to have withdrawn the case rather than risk shedding light on the police's controversial monitoring of peaceful activists.

According to the Guardian, Kennedy joined the police around 1994. In 2003 he was selected by the National Public Order Intelligence Unit - which is supposed to monitor 'domestic extremists' - to go deep undercover and spy on the activities of environmental activists who had become increasingly disruptive in their direct action protests. The BBC reports that Kennedy was intimately involved in the green movement from 2000.

Kennedy became professional climber 'Mark Stone' and was issued with a fake driving licence and passport. Crucial to his efforts to gain the trust of activists were his deep pockets and pick-up truck, which he used to organise protests.  

Kennedy, who became known as 'Flash' because of his apparent wealth, is said to have been one of the key organisers of the 2005 Climate Camp protest at the G8 summit in Gleneagles.

But green activists eventually became wary of the charming, tattooed, long-haired climber, who would disappear for extended periods of time - supposedly on lucrative overseas climbing assignments - with one activist telling the Guardian he was "too good to be true".

Although 200 people attended a three-day celebration of his 40th birthday at one point, behind his back fellow activists had taken to calling him 'Detective Stone'.

In April 2009 he helped organise a climate protest at the coal-fired power station in Ratcliffe-on-Soar (above). Activists had intended to occupy the site and shut down power production, but became concerned that there was a heavy police presence. They sent Kennedy to assess the threat, and he returned, telling the activists they should go ahead. Shortly after, the police raided a school where 114 protesters, including Kennedy, were planning their action and arrested them all.

Activists confronted Kennedy in October 2010, following the discovery of his real passport. The undercover cop reportedly broke down and confessed everything. According to the BBC, Kennedy told the activists he had left the police force after the arrests at Ratcliffe. In other words, he had spent the past 18 months - since May 2009 - as a genuine green activist, not as an undercover cop.

The Metropolitan Police now face awkward questions over the conduct of Kennedy - and of the National Public Order Intelligence Unit.

It appears Kennedy 'went native'. The suggestion is backed up by revelations that he told a friend that he wasn't the only undercover policeman in the green movement and that each detective costs £250,000 per year. He has also expressed remorse for his actions and was prepared to testify on behalf of the six people being tried for conspiring to shut down Ratcliffe power station.

Police have refused to comment on Kennedy's role in the green movement, but they will face pressure to justify their actions in the face of accusations that they used their man as an agent provocateur, and that they spent so much money to infiltrate a group of people that the judge in the Ratcliffe power station case described as "decent" and having the "highest possible motives". ·