Dave Jones (alias)

This article is part of the Undercover Research Portal at Powerbase - investigating corporate and police spying on activists

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Part of a series on undercover police officers
'HN66 / EN327'
Alias:	Edward David Jones ('Bob the Builder, Dave, Edge')
Deployment:	2001, 2005-2007
Unit:	Special Demonstration Squad, National Public Order Intelligence Unit
Targets:	Movement Against Monarchy, WOMBLES, London Rising Tide; Camp for Climate Action at Drax.

Edward David Jones is the cover name used by an undercover officer. He was generally called Dave Jones by those he infiltrated, but also nicknamed Bob the Builder or Edge on occasion. He had two separate deployments, the first in 2000 for the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) when he targeted anarchist / anti-capitalist group the WOMBLES. The second was from 2005 to 2007 when he infiltrated environmentalists London Rising Tide and the Camp for Climate Action at Drax (2006), at which point he was deployed by the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS).

For the purposes of the Undercover Policing Inquiry and Operation Herne, he has been given two ciphers: HN66 from his time in the SDS and EN327 from his time in the NPIOU.

According to the Inquiry, he is no longer a police officer and has worked 'in a limited way' as a private investigator.

As an Undercover officer

Dave Jones' first deployment covered the first half of 2001, when he served with the National Public Order Intelligence Unit targeting anarchist groups Movement Against Monarchy and the WOMBLES, both of which were receiving considerable media attention at the time. In this, he joined his fellow NPOIU officer Rod Richardson who had become active in both groups the previous year.

The NPOIU was the junior of the two undercover units, only becoming operational in 1999, with Rod Richardson as one of its first officers. Though established under the aegis of the Association of Chief Police Officer's Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee and given a national remit, for the first few years of its existence it was based along-side the Special Demonstration Squad in the Metropolitan Police Special Branch, where it shared personnel, including former SDS undercover and tradecraft manual author, Andy Coles. Though not one of the very first NPOIU officers, he still would have been recruited into the unit relatively early on in its history.

According to the Undercover Policing Inquiry he had passed a short initial undercover training course upon joining the NPOIU, but failed the MPS undercover officer training course (the National Undercover Training Advanced Course - NUTAC) whilst seconded to the unit and this led to his deployment being ended.

Nevertheless, he was subsequently redeployed using the same cover name and legend from 2005 to 2007 into climate justice group London Rising Tide, this time for the Special Demonstration Squad. As such he was one of the last officers sent undercover by that unit before it was disbanded (see also under HN30 for more details there).

Legend / Cover Story

Undercover police officer Dave Jones in tiger costume while infiltrating London Rising Tide, circa 2006-2007

The account he gave the WOMBLES was of being a travelling labourer living in a caravan on a building site south of Croydon; he also claimed to have a Portuguese girlfriend. He also said he was relatively recent to London having been working at a military base in Germany for several years prior to this. Frank who knew Dave from Movement Against Monarchy recalled that he claimed to have been involved in 'antifascist stuff in Germany'.

At the time of his second deployment in the mid-2000s, Dave Jones is described as being late 30s / early 40s, with light-brown to blond hair which he wore to shoulder length, and a weathered / outdoors face which may have made him look older than he actually was. He tended to wear denim. Unlike other Rising Tide activists, he did not live in east London, and is recalled as being based in south London, possibly Selhurst. He again told a story of having lived in Germany for a while.

Early on with Rising Tide he played on having been part of the WOMBLES. This included saying that he had lived and worked at the Radical Dairy, a WOMBLES-connected squatted social centre in north London. This is unlikely as this place was only open in the period 2002 - 2003. Nevertheless, Dave apparently claimed to have helped out with building work at the Radical Dairy and presented to LRT as someone active within the group there. The Radical Dairy was however a key target of SDS undercover Jackie Anderson and also visited by Rod Richardson.

As in his first deployment, he told people he was a builder, which was why he owned a van. The vehicle matched his legend, being full of rubbish such as tins, tiles and bricks. One LRT campaigner remembered that his clothes were appropriately paint-splattered, and he turned up looking like he had been working on a building site.Dave was also recalled by one person as being into eco-build and likely having genuine building skills. That person commented: 'it seemed he knew his stuff when it came to renewables, eco-energy and eco-building.'

However, he did not talk about politics much; his interest in climate change issues was on a broad level though he did not stand out in this. Instead, he spoke of enjoying time in the wilderness to remind himself of what people will lose when 'shit hit the fan'; as part of this he would occasionally disappear for periods of time, saying he had a cottage somewhere he liked to retreat to. He was also recalled as someone who was security conscious.

Tony, a member of London Rising Tide (LRT) recalled Dave Jones very well. He described Dave as 'very working class, a bright bloke who was not stupid by any means, but instead generally on it,' and as 'a particularly friendly sort of person, easy to to talk to'. He came across as helpful and sociable, going to the pub with the group after meetings and events. He also visited the homes of people in the group and offered to help them with work on the properties.

The undercover became a core member of the group, part of a small network of five to seven people who were central to its activities at that time. Tony stated:

We were a very close group, we sorted out each other's problems and looked after each other. Dave was part of that and would have known all about what was going on in all our lives. It's quite a betrayal.

Dave helped some of us out emotionally, including around our relationships. He knew everything of my personal life at the time, more so than others in the group. It was quite an invasion of my life, to such an extent it has left me very angry.

Another London Rising Tide campaigner, Luke, described Dave as relaxed, friendly and cheery, someone one who was warm and seemed genuine and not macho. He did not talk politics much, being more into general gossip. He hung out with the group a lot socially, almost always going to the pub with them after meetings. As with Tony, he noted Dave became part of the tight-knit group and quite close to people. As a result he had a lot of access to personal stuff and provided emotional support. This including going to Luke's parents' house after a family tragedy.

He is not known to have had relationships. According to Tony, Dave brought up that he had just finished a six-month relationship just prior to getting involved in the group, and was upset by it ending.

While with London Rising Tide, Dave was insistant on having his face obscured in any images published by the group; he was unusual in this as the ethos of the group was to be open.

The nickname 'Edge' came from his initials as given in his email address. It was not recalled as being used in London Rising Tide, but rather by the WOMBLES however some of those with the WOMBLES did not recall it being used.

Email addresses:

talk2edj@gmail.com, talk2dave@megamail.pt.

Exit

Dave told London Rising Tide people a complex story about his family life. He said he had a brother with mental health issues who was suicidal, and whom he spent time looking after. At one point he showed Tony a letter for this brother going to hospital. He gave the impression of being close to his brother and pregnant sister-in-law. In this, he follows a similar pattern of family issues and immigration used by a variety of other SDS / NPOIU officers.

He spoke of building a place in Portugal with his brother, and of going to buy land there, which in part explained his disappearances.

At the 2006 Drax Camp for Climate Action, Dave was present for the set-up. However, the day before the camp was to open officially he came to people, saying that his sister-in-law was about to give birth and he wanted to be present. He asked for advice on whether to stay, and several people said he should go and be present as he would always regret not going. However, the way he presented this struck Tony as unusual and he suspected that Dave might actually be the father of the child. After Dave supposedly left for Portugal, he confirmed the suspicion in an email to Tony that he was the boy's father - one of the last bits of communication people in the group had from Dave.

In 2006/2007 he was away more often, supposedly spending more time doing up the place in Portugal for him and his brother and sister-in-law to live. On 18 April 2007, he emailed Tony four photographs of the place there. The exact date he left is not well remembered, but appears to have been Spring 2007, though he stayed in contact with several people in LRT he had been close to for many months after.

On 11 November 2007, he emailed several LRT people he had been close to, clearly having left permanently for Portugal by then, revealing he was the father of this sister-in-law's son, that he had supposedly fallen out with his boss 'Dick', showing interest in what was going on in the group and asking to stay on the LRT email list:

I'm in the process of wadding through literally hundreds of emails (again) and i can see you've been a busy little bees, it looks like you all had a successful Camp this year and people in London played a big part, it would have been good to have been a part of that. Where shall i begin, there have been some high and v low points since i left this year, it would be fair to say that 'you reap what you sow in this world' (I'm officially a dad now) yep you've probably already guessed [son's name] 15 months old now! It quite rightly caused some complications and a lot of people are still trying to deal with the repercussions, least of all me!!!! That bombshell aside, life's simple here and that helps somewhat, at the moment we are moving into the Olive harvesting season so there's lots going on when thats over i might be going to Germany for a couple of weeks to look up some old friends. I'm also doing a bit of building work here as well... A couple of weeks ago we were visiting some friends in the south of Portugal and i took [son's name] to his first gig at a youth festival, one group in particular was really lively and a fantastic live show, here's a link www.olivetreedance.com the main lead played a didgeridoo (no it wasn't Rolf Harris,LOL. In one of your last emails you mentioned a possible London skills sharing collective did that ever come of, if i ever come back to London i don't think ill be working for Dick any more, it appears that we've fallen out big time for a number of different reasons. There's a chance i might be visiting at some stage, [sister-in-law]'s brother is still bringing secondhand diesal engins over from the uk so i might cadge a lift and have a few beers with you,...

The above reference to a camp is the August 2007 Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow airport.

Duration of deployments

The officer's time as an undercover is unusually short for SDS or NPOIU officers, the norm for which was 4 to 5 years respectively. His failing the National Undercover Training Advanced Course (NUTAC), would explain the curtail first deployment. However, the SDS did not have the same requirements, with training in undercover work usually done in-house.

He appeared with London Rising Tide in the aftermath of the 2005 G8 Summit. One campaigner with LRT recalled his arrival on the scene as in Autumn, possibly the month of September, 2005. While his exit appears to have occurred in early 2007, as evidenced by emails sent to Rising Tide campaigners. This gives him an approximate deployment of 18 months. Though he did maintain some contact into 2008.

It is not yet know why exactly his deployment was shortened, though it is known from other sources that throughout 2007 the SDS was suffering internal issues (see under HN30) and it was disbanded in 2008 under a cloud, following an internal police review It is possible that HN66's deployment was deliberately curtailed pending a review of an appropriateness of the targeting of the groups. NPOIU infiltrators however, particularly Mark Kennedy, continued to target climate change protest groups, including the Heathrow Climate Camp, where London Rising Tide also played a role, and which Dave would have been ideally placed to monitor had he remained with LRT. Likewise, is not unusual either for an undercover to start in one group and move on to others, which Dave would have been in a position to do from Rising Tide. These point to the officer's removal from the field, with the exit strategy being early in 2007, as arising from other issues.

Given he was always moaning about his boss, though without ever mentioning a name, it is thought by Tony that the mention of Dave falling out with his boss may have had some basis in reality, the lie being who his employers actually were. This would be supported by the account of SDS cover officer 'HN30', who talked of the closure of the unit under a cloud, and relationships with management breaking down.

However, like his contemporary SDS undercover, Rob Harrison, he remained on email lists for groups he had targeted. Indeed, rather than coming off, Dave Jones specifically asked to remain on (see above). Thus there was ongoing use of email accounts of the undercover police officers for intelligence gathering purposes after the formal end of their deployments in the field.

Suspicions

The WOMBLES were suspicious of him early on, saying his mannerism and size all 'reeked of him being a copper'. His claims of being involved in German antifascism was also unconvincing. Others there also considered him to 'be very out of place', and at one point he was confronted by several members of the group for being a police officer. He responded by being offended, playing on being a builder and his working class background. Frank in particular noted that whereas Rod Richardson had people convinced he was a genuine activist, Dave at that point came across as the most likely candidate for being an undercover.

During his time within London Rising Tide, he seems to have avoided any suspicions. Later, when campaigners discovered he was an undercover, they were able to begin identifying the inconsistencies in his account of himself and how closely he matched the profile of other undercovers. For instance, in the email of April 2007 Dave gave the age for his supposed son as 9 months, which meant it was unlikely he was born at the Drax Climate Camp as claimed.

Targets

First Deployment: MA'M & the WOMBLES

• See also profile of Rod Richardson where MA'M & WOMBLES activities are covered in more detail.

WOMBLES marching during a protest in London, 2001.

Dave's first deployment, as an NPOIU undercover, lasted around six months covering the first half of 2001. Initially he was involved in Movement Against Monarchy (MA'M), the north London anarchist group, including attending one of their demonstrations. It is not confirmed which demonstration this was, but archives indicate that the London branch of the group had held a protest at the presence of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles at the 10th Anniversary Party of the Press Complaints Commission on 7 February 2001 at Somerset House. Otherwise, the group does not appear to have been particularly active in London during the period Dave Jones was involved.

At the time the WOMBLES hung around with people from MA'M, and it was through them that Dave became involved in the former group. By the time Dave arrived on the scene, both groups had been actively targeted by his fellow NPOIU undercover Rod Richardson since the previous year. Thus, having first associated with MA'M, Dave then came with a number of their activists, including Rod Richardson, to a WOMBLES meeting which took place at SOAS.

It was among the WOMBLES that for some he was principally known as 'Bob the Builder', and in various interviews people referred to him as Bob rather than Dave.

Helen, a WOMBLES activist, confirmed that Dave Jones turned up prior to Mayday 2001 and recalled him attending their public meetings and involvement in painting banners for the group at the 'Cookers Corner' squat in New Cross. Others were also able to confirm Rod and Dave hung out together at one of these venues.

Alex also noted that in February-March 2001, Dave attended the WOMBLES meetings held at the Button Factory squat, where the group also made protest equipment. At the time the meetings were open to all, and it was expected that police and journalists would be present given the media attention the group was receiving around that time. Dave helped fix the electrics for the building, having all the gear necessary to do it. The place was raided on 30 March 2001 in an effort to disrupt WOMBLES preparations for MayDay.

Frank recollected Dave acting strangely at one of the WOMBLES related squats:

[Bob was] trying to 'fix' the lock on the fire escape or roof door. There were overtly cop-like characters milling in and out and I remember Bob making a point of speaking to me in front of one guy about the lock on the door as though I'd put him in charge of the job or something. Seemed very obviously pointing me out to this other dude.

For MayDay 2001, Frank was with Dave on the day when both were with the WOMBLES protest material, recalled: "[Dave] kept going off into the loo for sustained periods under the pretence of having loose bowels due to nervousness". Dave was along side Rod as part of a WOMBLES affinity group for the MayDay protests, and as such took place in the confrontations around the 'kettling' of protestors in Oxford Circus by the police.

Frank also wrote:

I remember on Mayday 2001 in Oxford Street, we (in Wombles gear) were asking people to move so that we could form up as a block, and I had to ask him to calm down as he was getting pretty aggressive with it - like, crowd control training kicking in or something!

Afterwards Dave texted Alex to say "all children safely to bed", which Alex took to indicate that the other members of the group he was with were safe and not arrested. This was the last time that Dave was seen by Helen and Alex, though they later heard that Dave had sent a card to a fellow activist imprisoned in Sweden, the card apparently coming from Germany.

In a curious incident after the 2001 MayDay, Alex remembers receiving a call from a campaigner with Globalise Resistance, who said they had encountered Dave on the peace march from London to Aldermaston, who had referenced knowing him. Alex recalled the conversation as the encounter taking place in police cells. The campaigner who remembered being arrested did not recollect Dave from the cells, but did confirm they had been arrested on the 2001 event, when a minibus from Globalise Resistance had travelled to the demonstration the night before, staying over in Reading. It is thought that the encounter was more likely to have taken place on the minibus.

A number of actions took place around Aldermaston in this period, including a blockade on 14 May. There was also a camp at the establishment 17-25 May, which saw 46 people arrested during the blockade 21 May and it is thought this is the most likely date that Dave Jones was present.

In 2006, London Rising Tide had a meeting in The Square squatted social centre, which Dave attended. Named after its location in Russell Square, it was then the latest in a series of WOMBLES-related projects, a successor of the Radical Dairy, which Alex was also involved in. Dave left a note for Alex, saying he was back in town and it would be nice to meet up. In the end, they didn't catch up, but Alex clearly recalled the note being signed 'Dave, a.k.a. Bob the Builder'.

Second Deployment

• For further background and timeline of groups see: Dave Jones (timeline).

In 2005, having joined the Special Demonstration Squad, the officer was deployed undercover into protest groups once more. This time the principle target of Dave Jones was London Rising Tide, an environmental protest group that did a variety of peaceful actions to raise awareness around climate change and was active in the Camp for Climate Action.

London Rising Tide

Protest by London Rising Tide at headquarters of Civil Aviation Authority, June 2006. Dave Jones is on the right in white coat having requested his face obscured.

It is not recalled exactly when he became active in London Rising Tide, but is thought to have been in the period after the July 2005 G8 Summit. By then the group had settled into a pattern of weekly meetings at the London Action Resource Centre (LARC) on Fieldgate Street, East London, with a monthly film showing on the last Thursday of each month to welcome new people. These meetings were open to all interested, and the group took the approach of welcoming all who came along. In May 2005 it described itself as:

London Rising Tide takes creative direct action on the root causes of climate change, and promotes socially just, ecological alternatives to fossil fuel madness. We have planning meetings most Thursday nights at LARC.

The group was heavily targeted by police and private investigators. Tony of LRT noted that from early 2006 to after Summer 2007, London Rising Tide activists were placed under very heavy and overt state surveillance. This included police cars parked outside of their homes, and it was clear uniformed cops knew much about their personal lives. Though LRT was non-confrontational in its activities, it was well connected with a lot of cross-over with many other anarchist, socialist and anti-war groups in London, which may have led to it being targeted. In particular it had strong links within the London Irish community and the Rossport Solidarity Campaign in Ireland; when the Rossport 5 prisoners were released and came to London their first activity was to visit LARC and thank London Rising Tide for their support.

2005 was a busy time for the group, which was growing in size, with up to 25 people showing up for the weekly meetings and a lot of contacts being made, and Dave was initially just another person in this groundswell of interest. It is thought that he turned up for an open organising meeting for the group, rather than the monthly film nights the group also put on at the time - usually the 4th Thursday of the month, also at LARC.

Dave Jones handing out leaflets during Rising Tide protest at the June 2006 Civil Aviation Authoiry headquarters protest.

He tended to be quite involved with LRT meetings, participating fully, including taking minutes. Dave was also active on the group's internal email list, though he never instigated or opened a thread; when he did contribute, it was always to comment on something else.

In terms of his participation in LRT, Tony recalled that Dave facilitated much of what happened at the time, not least because he had a vehicle. However, he does not recall that actions were sabotaged by police or there were arrests likely to have been made because of Dave's role in the group. Where arrests happened, they tended to be due to spur of the moment activities by people attending the protests rather than from pre-planned actions.

During his time in London Rising Tide he participated in almost all the group's activities. This included the protests at the Natural History Museum against the involvement of oil companies in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition. In terms of the group's activism, it is this series of protests more than others, which he is recalled as most involved in. At most of these protests, the group, including Dave, dressed up in animal costumes.

Tony recalled one time when Dave was wearing an orangutan suit as part of such a protest and had infiltrated a kids entertainment event to counter oil company propaganda. When he took off his costume head, his long hair apparently frightened the children, causing security to be called. The group were chucked out at this point.

On another occasion, he was one of those who dressed up in tiger costumes to take part in the March Against Climate Change. Having met up at Grosvenor Square, they found police waiting for them. One of them was PC Steve Discombe of the Metropolitan Police's Forward Intelligence Team, an intelligence gatherer who had regulalry followed members of London Rising Tide around on demonstration. Their presence led Dave to shout at the police, which eventually caused them to leave the group alone. Discombe and others from the FIT would have likely known who Dave really was, and such behaviour would have assisted his cover.

Dave was part of a London Rising Tide action at the offices of the Civil Aviation Authority [CAA] on 6 November 2006. This was part of a day of action called by Plane Stupid, members of which group had chained themselves to EasyJet offices and recieved a lot of police attention. Dave, with other London Rising Tide activists focused instead on the CAA and were able to access the entrance its headquarteres with the intention of occupying a room there. However, security recognised and evicted them before they could get further, so the group conducted a protest in front of the offices. They had no overt police presence for any of this. A number of the known images of Dave come from this day.

Tony, reflecting on Dave's time with the group, thought that the undercover would have got little in the way of useful material. The group was deliberately very open, and seemed to have no problem doing stuff. The few clandestine activities it organised passed off with few or no problems. The monthly actions at the Natural History Museum were generally performance actions - holding banners, placing spoof postcards in shop racks, climbing skeletons or wearing costumes. There was nothing 'heavy duty' or which finished in any altercations. Over the nine months (they took place every first Saturday of the month) these protests lasted, they were only thrown out twice, the rest of the time leaving after a few hours of their own accord.

Dave is also recalled as taking part in the blockade of an Esso petrol station in Fulham by the group, in conjunction with the Rhythms of Resistance samba band.

Camp for Climate Action at Drax

In 2006, London Rising Tide became active in the first Camp for Climate Action. Inspired by the Dissent Network camp at Stirling during the 2005 G8 Summit and by protests and previous mobilisations across Europe, it targeted the Drax power station in Yorkshire.

The camp focused around 'neighbourhoods', which were based on geographical areas designed to bring people together. Each neighbourhood provided a kitchen as a central focal point for people at the camp.

LRT was central to the establishment of the London Neighbourhood for the Drax camp, with early London Neighbourhood meetings taking place as the second part of the weekly LRT meetings. Later, when the London Climate Camp group had been placed on a firmer footing, it separated out from LRT and began meeting at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and elsewhere. Dave attended a number of the London neighbourhood meetings and the occasional national gathering.

A number of LRT members were also active in planning and preparation of various aspects of the camp on a national level. In particular, Dave and another LRT activist took part in the kitchens working group, which coordinated the individual kitchens feeding people at the camp. Though a seemingly innocuous aspect of the camp life, it would have provided cover for Dave to attend meetings or be kept in the loop on things, without having to play a prominent role.

It is not certain if he was part of the LRT group which attended the Climate Camp planning meeting at the Common Place in Leeds the weekend of 8-9 April 2006. As with many climate camp meetings, this had a semi-permanent police presence including Forward Intelligence Teams monitoring and filming those attending. There, a group of activists from LRT managed to sneak up on one of the police vans and surprise them. In doing so they caught sight of a police spotter card which had photos of various campaigners including five from London Rising Tide.

London Rising Tide also hosted the June 2006 monthly organising gathering, which took place in Docklands, East London and Dave attended.

In his role as part of the kitchens working group, Dave went to Leeds a week before the start of the camp, where he initially arrived at the logistics / meeting hub that had been established at The Common Place (itself a target of NPOIU undercover Lynn Watson). He was on site for the set up of the Camp, remaining until just before the official opening. Ahead of the Camp, the London Neighbourhood used the London Action Resource Centre as a local hub to collect stuff. This material was brought north by yet another NPOIU undercover Mark Kennedy, with Dave bringing up stuff which arrived later.

Tony noted that Dave and Mark Kennedy were on site together during the set-up of the camp. A group of people from London Rising Tide, which included Dave, regularly went to the Nottingham neighbourhood kitchen for food. For much of his deployment, Mark Kennedy operated from Nottingham and London, the former being his nominal residence.

Policing around the camp was particularly intense, being a joint operation involving hundreds of officers from multiple forces under the aegis of North Yorkshire police in whose area it was taking place. Deployments were present from West Yorkshire and the Metropolitan Police forces.

Dave left the day before the Camp was due to open (see above). However, during one of the attempted protests from the camp, it became clear that London Rising Tide campaigners were being actively targeted by a uniformed police unit, who clearly knew personal details about a number of them.

Afterwards, while doing minutes for London Rising Tide, Dave made a point of recommending people read the report into the policing of Drax (Operation Harmony) by North Yorkshire Police.

He did not involve himself in the organising for the following year's Camp for Climate Action at Heathrow, possibly exiting before the London Neighbourhood began holding meetings for that event. However, by that stage he was not going to as many meetings in general. It is thought that he did attend the May 2007 Camp for Climate Action national meeting in London, when Heathrow was chosen as the target, though he was not present for all of it.

Social centres and squats

Everything 4 Everyone cafe, Dalston Theatre squat, 2006

Several people noted that Dave was interested in the squatting scene in general, spending time at the Dalston Theatre squat were he did some building work. This was a squat on Dalston Lane, Hackney where some people active in LRT were living. Some people involved in setting it up had come from The Square, which Dave is also known to have visited on a number of occasions. The squat had been occupied in February 2006 to protest against gentrification of the area, and opened as a public space including a cafe, with the name 'Everything 4 Everyone'. It was an influential space at the time, being sizeable and hosting many events with significant footfall.

It successfully saw off two eviction attempts by police and at one point, Dave helped with the defences for the squat, blockading the windows. However, on 2 November 2006 a large police early-morning operation was successful in evicting it, using long ladders for access. Dave turned up on the day, but the eviction was over by the time he arrived on the scene.

Through London Rising Tide and other groups, Dave would have had considerable access to the London Action Resource Centre on Fieldgate Street,East London. This activist centre grew out of the anarchist / anti-capitalist scene that emerged from Reclaim the Streets. It became a central hub for activism in London, including squatting activists, with whom it had good links during the time Dave Jones was deployed. Close by was another squat, RampARTS, which hosted many events including several LRT ones. That was also a target of another SDS officer in the anarchist milieu, Rob Harrison. Luke recalled that Dave also visited RampARTS a lot in his role as a LRT activist.

Overlap with other undercovers

Dave Jones' activities are notable for how much they overlapped with other SDS and NPOIU undercovers - in particular Mark Kennedy, whom he would have encountered through the Camp for Climate Action, but they also shared an interest in the London squatting scene. They would both have visited venues such as the London Action Resource Centre. Another NPOIU officer was Lynn Watson, based around the Common Place at Leeds, and also involved in the Drax Climate Camp. It is of note that all three undercovers were involved in driving for the Camp.

Kennedy also for helped organise a Rising Tide network national meeting in Nottingham in 2004, demonstrating NPOIU interest in the organisation prior to Dave Jones' deployment. Kennedy also attended the Rossport Solidarity Camp in Ireland in 2006, for which campaign London Rising Tide was involved in solidarity work during Jones' time there.

There would also appear to be connections with Jackie Anderson, deployed 2000 to 2005 into similar circles as Kennedy and Dave Jones. Active in north London, she focused on Earth First!, the WOMBLES and their social centres. She also did plastering work for London Action Resource Centre.

He appears to have overlapped less with his fellow SDS undercover, Rob Harrison, who infiltrated No Borders and the International Solidarity Movement, as well as the State of Emergency Collective from 2004 to 2007. However, these organisations regularly used the London Action Resource Centre for meetings, as well as the RampARTS and The Square social centre squats.

It is also of note that London Rising Tide was targeted by private security company C2i International in 2007. Rebecca Todd attended meetings on C2i's behalf and later for her own company Vericola. According to Tony, he recalls there was a small overlap in time between Rebecca Todd appearing in the group and Dave Jones disappearing.

Police chain of command

2005-2006

• Commissioner of Metropolitan Police: Ian Blair

• Assistant Commissioner for Specialist Operations: Andy Hayman - also Chair of ACPO TAM

• Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Security & Protection: Suzanna Becks

• Commander of Special Branch: Janet Williams & Phil Gormley

2006-2007 In October 2006, Special Branch and Anti-Terrorism Branch are merged to form SO15 / Counter Terrorism Command

• Deputy Assistant Commissioner, heading SO15 / CTC: Peter Clarke

• Commander of Operations, SO15 / Deputy National Coordinator of Terrorist Investigations: John McDowall

• Detective Chief Superintendent (Intelligence): Alan Mitchell, who had also overseen the NPOIU in 2001, when Dave Jones was deployed into the WOMBLES.

In the Undercover Policing Inquiry

• 27 November 2017: MPS make application to restrict real name of HN66.

• 15 January 2018. Full anonymity application delayed, so 'minded to' decision not reached. HN66 granted more time to provide the Inquiry with information.

• 7 March 2018. HN66 was apparently concerned his real name will be discovered if his cover name was released. The Chair of the Inquiry, Sir John Mitting, found the fears misplaced and overstated, and that if the real name was discovered, the principle impact would be media intrusion 'falling well short of harassment'. A closed note accompanied this reasoning. Mitting was thus 'minded to' decide that the real name should not be published, but the application over cover name was refused 'to the extent that it would prohibit disclosure of the names by which HN66 was known to members of the groups targeted'.

• 2 May 2018: the Inquiry notes Mitting's provisional decision on anonymity as:

The real name cannot be published. The application for a restriction order in respect of the cover name is refused to the extent that it would prohibit disclosure of the names by which EN327 was known by members of the groups targeted.

• 9 July 2018 (as EN327): over name to be confirmed in due course. Mitting: 'once pre-publication checks complete and cover names publised, an open application will be published and a date set for responding to my minded to decision to restrict the real name...'

• 13 September 2018: Complete applications to restrict real and cover names received by the UCPI, as well as responses to Mitting's 'Minded To' note of 7 March 2018 to restrict real name but publish cover name. Mitting decides the cover name will be released, and a hearing held regarding the real name, with open application to be published and a date set for responding.

• 30 October 2018: Mitting rules to restrict the real name and refuses application to restrict cover name.

• 8 January 2019: cover name and target groups released.

• 21 February 2019: Inquiry directs that submissions regarding the restriction order over the real name are to be made by 21 March 2019.

• 17 April 2019: ruled that real name will be restricted in the Inquiry, with Mitting also noting (in response to the comments of the Non Police/State Core Participants) that:

I have no reason to suspect that HN66/EN327 interacted with either unit when performing private security work. Accordingly, his work in that capacity is not within the terms of reference of the Inquiry.

Restriction order was made public on 23 October 2020.