Marco Jacobs (alias) - Revision history

Chris Brian at 06:49, 2 October 2025

2025-10-02T06:49:58Z

Chris Brian at 09:39, 14 July 2025

2025-07-14T09:39:17Z

Chris Brian: /* Target groups */

2020-10-16T12:51:23Z

Target groups

Chris Brian: /* Target groups */

2020-10-16T12:50:59Z

Target groups

Chris Brian: /* Background */

2020-03-12T14:49:32Z

Background

Chris Brian: /* Attitudes towards and promotion of violence */

2020-03-12T14:48:28Z

Attitudes towards and promotion of violence

Chris Brian at 14:46, 12 March 2020

2020-03-12T14:46:45Z

Show changes

Chris Brian: /* Relationships */

2020-03-12T14:28:24Z

Relationships

Chris Brian: /* Relationships */

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Relationships

Chris Brian at 14:26, 12 March 2020

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 {{Undercover_Police_Officer_sidebar|Name=Unknown|Alias=Mark ‘Marco’ Jacobs|Series=undercover police officers|Image=Marco_Jacobs.png|Unit=National Public Order Intelligence Unit|DatesDeployed=2004-09|Targets=Anarchist direct action networks}}
-<p style="color: red;">'''Please Note, as of 2025, the Undercover Research Group is now publishing new material on our new website:''' *[https://www.spycopsresearch.info spycops.info]*
+<p style="color: red;">'''Please Note, as of 2025, the Undercover Research Group is now publishing new material on our new website:''' *[https://www.spycopsresearch.info spycopsresearch.info]*
 <p style="color: black;">

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:39, 14 July 2025
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	{{Undercover_Police_Officer_sidebar\|Name=Unknown\|Alias=Mark ‘Marco’ Jacobs\|Series=undercover police officers\|Image=Marco_Jacobs.png\|Unit=National Public Order Intelligence Unit\|DatesDeployed=2004-09\|Targets=Anarchist direct action networks}}		{{Undercover_Police_Officer_sidebar\|Name=Unknown\|Alias=Mark ‘Marco’ Jacobs\|Series=undercover police officers\|Image=Marco_Jacobs.png\|Unit=National Public Order Intelligence Unit\|DatesDeployed=2004-09\|Targets=Anarchist direct action networks}}
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		+	<p style="color: red;">'''Please Note, as of 2025, the Undercover Research Group is now publishing new material on our new website:''' [https://www.spycopsresearch.info spycops.info]
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		+	<p style="color: black;">

	'''‘Mark Jacobs’''', more commonly known as '''‘Marco Jacobs’''', was the assumed identity of an undercover police officer who infiltrated political groups within the activist and anarchist movement. He was active between 2004 and 2009, at first in the Brighton area of southern England, and then Cardiff, south Wales.		'''‘Mark Jacobs’''', more commonly known as '''‘Marco Jacobs’''', was the assumed identity of an undercover police officer who infiltrated political groups within the activist and anarchist movement. He was active between 2004 and 2009, at first in the Brighton area of southern England, and then Cardiff, south Wales.

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 *Animal rights networks<ref name="ABK118ch17pp280"/>, including Swansea Animal Rights<ref name="WO4.001">unknown author, [http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-protest-groups-infiltrated-police-1859796 ‘Welsh protest groups infiltrated by police undercover officers talk of their feeling of bitterness and betrayal’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 23 January 2011 (accessed 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.002">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BETRAYED+BY+AN+UNDERCOVER+COP.-a0247258248 ‘Betrayed by an undercover cop’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 23 January 2011 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.003">James McCarthy, [http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/spying-case-against-met-police-2497533 ‘‘Spying’ case against Met Police to be heard in secret’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 17 January 2013 (accessed 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.004">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%27An+outrage+that+case+will+be+held+in+secret%27.-a0315293456 ‘‘An outrage that case will be held in secret’’], ''South Wales Echo'', 18 January 2013 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.005">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Anarchist+slams+court+ruling+on+secret+trial%3B+CLAIMS+WOMEN+WERE...-a0315297029 ‘Anarchist slams court ruling on secret trial: Claims women were tricked into sex with police’], ''Western Mail'', 18 January 2013 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.006">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/UNDERCOVER+COP%27S+%27SEX+BETRAYAL%27.-a0340709999 ‘Undercover cop's ‘sex betrayal’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 25 August 2013 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref>
 *Anti-Metrix/RAF St Athan Defence Academy<ref name="BG4.004"></ref><ref name="IM4.002"/><ref name="ABK118ch17pp278">Tom Anderson, ‘Infiltrated, Intimidated and Undermined: How Police Infiltration Can Mute Political Dissent - An Interview with Verity Smith, from Cardiff Anarchist Network’ in Rebecca Fisher (ed.), [http://www.corporatewatch.org/sites/default/files/MDMD%20Master%20PDF.pdf ''Managing Democracy Managing Dissent''], Corporate Watch, 2013 (accessed 17 June 2014), pp278.</ref>
-*Black Bloc<ref>Note: Strictly speaking, a tactic rather than a group - though indicates that Jacobs associated with those willing to adopt confrontational tactics at mobilisations.<ref name="IM4.003"/><ref name="BG4.004"></ref><ref name="IM4.002"/>
+*Black Bloc<ref>Note: Strictly speaking, a tactic rather than a group - though indicates that Jacobs associated with those willing to adopt confrontational tactics at mobilisations.</ref><ref name="IM4.003"/><ref name="BG4.004"></ref><ref name="IM4.002"/>
 *Camp Bling<ref name="IM4.003"/>
 *Camp for Climate Action<ref name="IM4.003"/><ref name="ABK118ch17pp278">Tom Anderson, ‘Infiltrated, Intimidated and Undermined: How Police Infiltration Can Mute Political Dissent - An Interview with Verity Smith, from Cardiff Anarchist Network’ in Rebecca Fisher (ed.), [http://www.corporatewatch.org/sites/default/files/MDMD%20Master%20PDF.pdf ''Managing Democracy Managing Dissent''], Corporate Watch, 2013 (accessed 17 June 2014), pp278.</ref>

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 *Animal rights networks<ref name="ABK118ch17pp280"/>, including Swansea Animal Rights<ref name="WO4.001">unknown author, [http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-protest-groups-infiltrated-police-1859796 ‘Welsh protest groups infiltrated by police undercover officers talk of their feeling of bitterness and betrayal’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 23 January 2011 (accessed 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.002">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/BETRAYED+BY+AN+UNDERCOVER+COP.-a0247258248 ‘Betrayed by an undercover cop’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 23 January 2011 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.003">James McCarthy, [http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/spying-case-against-met-police-2497533 ‘‘Spying’ case against Met Police to be heard in secret’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 17 January 2013 (accessed 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.004">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/%27An+outrage+that+case+will+be+held+in+secret%27.-a0315293456 ‘‘An outrage that case will be held in secret’’], ''South Wales Echo'', 18 January 2013 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.005">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Anarchist+slams+court+ruling+on+secret+trial%3B+CLAIMS+WOMEN+WERE...-a0315297029 ‘Anarchist slams court ruling on secret trial: Claims women were tricked into sex with police’], ''Western Mail'', 18 January 2013 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref><ref name="WO4.006">James McCarthy, [http://www.thefreelibrary.com/UNDERCOVER+COP%27S+%27SEX+BETRAYAL%27.-a0340709999 ‘Undercover cop's ‘sex betrayal’], ''Wales On Sunday'', 25 August 2013 (accessed via TheFreeLibrary 29 August 2014).</ref>
 *Anti-Metrix/RAF St Athan Defence Academy<ref name="BG4.004"></ref><ref name="IM4.002"/><ref name="ABK118ch17pp278">Tom Anderson, ‘Infiltrated, Intimidated and Undermined: How Police Infiltration Can Mute Political Dissent - An Interview with Verity Smith, from Cardiff Anarchist Network’ in Rebecca Fisher (ed.), [http://www.corporatewatch.org/sites/default/files/MDMD%20Master%20PDF.pdf ''Managing Democracy Managing Dissent''], Corporate Watch, 2013 (accessed 17 June 2014), pp278.</ref>
-*Black Bloc<ref name="IM4.003"/><ref name="BG4.004"></ref><ref name="IM4.002"/>
+*Black Bloc<ref>Note: Strictly speaking, a tactic rather than a group - though indicates that Jacobs associated with those willing to adopt confrontational tactics at mobilisations.<ref name="IM4.003"/><ref name="BG4.004"></ref><ref name="IM4.002"/>
 *Camp Bling<ref name="IM4.003"/>
 *Camp for Climate Action<ref name="IM4.003"/><ref name="ABK118ch17pp278">Tom Anderson, ‘Infiltrated, Intimidated and Undermined: How Police Infiltration Can Mute Political Dissent - An Interview with Verity Smith, from Cardiff Anarchist Network’ in Rebecca Fisher (ed.), [http://www.corporatewatch.org/sites/default/files/MDMD%20Master%20PDF.pdf ''Managing Democracy Managing Dissent''], Corporate Watch, 2013 (accessed 17 June 2014), pp278.</ref>

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 ===Background===
-On arriving in Brighton, he claimed to have come from Reading, a city in the Thames Valley area, close to London.<ref name="IM4.003"/> To activists in Cardiff he presented himself as from Northampton, a supporter of the Northampton Town football club, and moving away from Northampton due to a ‘messy break-up with a woman’ there.<ref name="ABK118ch17p277">Tom Anderson, ‘Infiltrated, Intimidated and Undermined: How Police Infiltration Can Mute Political Dissent - An Interview with Verity Smith, from Cardiff Anarchist Network’ in Rebecca Fisher (ed.), [http://www.corporatewatch.org/sites/default/files/MDMD%20Master%20PDF.pdf ''Managing Democracy Managing Dissent''], Corporate Watch, 2013 (accessed 17 June 2014), p277.</ref> Accounts generally suggest - based on his accent and on claims made by ‘Jacobs’ himself - that he originally hailed from the English Midlands, possibly Northampton<ref name="ABK118ch17p277"></ref><ref name="AUD020">Oliver Hides, [https://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_mw8csfITIP1qcw2azo1_r1.mp3 ‘Interview with Tom Fowler about police infiltration of Cardiff Anarchist Network (package)’], ''Good Morning Wales'', BBC Radio Wales, 6 November 2013 (accessed via Tumblr 13 August 2014) ([http://issuu.com/bristlekrs/docs/avt024_ts-aud020_bbcrw_2013_tom_fow transcript AVT024 by BristleKRS]).</ref><ref name="IM4.008">Courtnee Brantley, [http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/472363.html?c=on#c263675 ‘Marco information’], ''Indymedia UK'', 24 January 2011 (accessed 18 August 2014)</ref> or Derby<ref name="BG4.002"></ref>.
+On arriving in Brighton, he claimed to have come from Reading, a city in the Thames Valley area, close to London.<ref name="IM4.003"/> To activists in Cardiff he presented himself as from Northampton, a supporter of the Northampton Town football club, and moving away from Northampton due to a ‘messy break-up with a woman’ there.<ref name="ABK118ch17p277">Tom Anderson, ‘Infiltrated, Intimidated and Undermined: How Police Infiltration Can Mute Political Dissent - An Interview with Verity Smith, from Cardiff Anarchist Network’ in Rebecca Fisher (ed.), [http://www.corporatewatch.org/sites/default/files/MDMD%20Master%20PDF.pdf ''Managing Democracy Managing Dissent''], Corporate Watch, 2013 (accessed 17 June 2014), p277.</ref> Accounts generally suggest - based on his accent and on claims made by ‘Jacobs’ himself - that he originally hailed from the English Midlands, possibly Northampton<ref name="ABK118ch17p277"></ref><ref name="AUD020">Oliver Hides, [https://a.tumblr.com/tumblr_mw8csfITIP1qcw2azo1_r1.mp3 ‘Interview with Tom Fowler about police infiltration of Cardiff Anarchist Network (package)’], ''Good Morning Wales'', BBC Radio Wales, 6 November 2013 (accessed via Tumblr 13 August 2014) ([http://issuu.com/bristlekrs/docs/avt024_ts-aud020_bbcrw_2013_tom_fow transcript AVT024 by BristleKRS]).</ref><ref name="IM4.008">Courtnee Brantley, [http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/472363.html?c=on#c263675 ‘Marco information’], ''Indymedia UK'', 24 January 2011 (accessed 18 August 2014)</ref> or Derby<ref name="BG4.002"></ref>. It was subsequently discovered by a member of the milieu who Jacobs monitored in Cardiff, that elements of his own genuine biography bore a remarkable similarity to Marco’s fake backstory. This included the pub ('The Racehorse’ in Northampton) that he used to drink in, as well as a youthful tendency to get involved in fights and a spell on remand. <ref> Undercover Research Group, Interview with ‘Jack’, 10 March 2020 (accessed 12 March 2020).</ref>
 ===Occupation===

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 By the time he surfaced in Cardiff he claimed that he had been to prison on remand, but was vague about why or what for, preferring instead to allude to a past as ‘a bit of a fighter.’<ref name="ABK085p227">Rob Evans & Paul Lewis, ''Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police'', Faber & Faber, 2013, p227.</ref>
-It was subsequently discovered by a member of the milieu who Jacobs monitored that elements of his own genuine biography bore a remarkable similarity to Marco’s fake backstory. This included the pub( The Racehorse’ in Northampton) that he used to drink in, as well as a youthful tendency to get involved in fights and a spell on remand. <ref> Undercover Research Group, Interview with ‘Jack’, 10 March 2020 (accessed 12 March 2020).</ref>
 One commenter on CAN's statement on Indymedia, ‘stroppyoldgit’, claimed ‘Jacobs’ repeatedly attempted to stir up more militant or violent activity amongst activists at protests, regardless of the circumstances. In particular at a No Borders camp near Gatwick:<ref name="IM4.012">Stroppyoldgit, [http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/472388.html?c=on#c264207 ‘@ @rchie’], ''Indymedia UK'', 3 February 2011 (accessed 18 August 2014).</ref>

@@ Line 101: / Line 101: @@
 ===Relationships===
-Part of the back story given by ‘Jacobs’ is that “he was separated from his former partner, who used to physically abuse him”.<ref name="AEV040">The Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat, [http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/judgments/akj-others-commissioner-police-metropolis-judgment-17012013/ ''AKJ and others -v- Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others''], High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, 17 January 2013 (accessed 23 April 2014).</ref> The version put forward by Evans and Lewis is slightly different; they present it as a messy divorce from an abusive ex-wife called ‘Sam’ (“who beat him up”) before appearing on the activist scene. Given that he had this name (or at least the letters S A M) tattooed on his back - subsequently  covered up with a black star - it seems likely that there was a real person by this name in the life of the police officer playing the part of ‘Jacobs’.<ref name="ABK085p227"></ref>
+Part of the back story given by ‘Jacobs’ is that “he was separated from his former partner, who used to physically abuse him”.<ref name="AEV040">The Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat, [http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/judgments/akj-others-commissioner-police-metropolis-judgment-17012013/ ''AKJ and others -v- Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and others''], High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, 17 January 2013 (accessed 23 April 2014).</ref> The version put forward by Evans and Lewis is slightly different; they present it as a messy divorce from an abusive ex-wife called ‘Sam’ ('who beat him up') before appearing on the activist scene. Given that he had this name (or at least the letters S A M) tattooed on his back - subsequently  covered up with a black star - it seems likely that there was a real person by this name in the life of the police officer playing the part of ‘Jacobs’.<ref name="ABK085p227"></ref>
 Whilst he is not known to have developed many close bonds with activists in Brighton, an anonymous Indymedia posting claims that during his time there he “slept with at least one woman who was close to the activist scene”.<ref name="IM4.013">a source, [http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2011/01/472391.html?c=on#c264095 ‘Another under-the-covers-cop’], ''Indymedia UK'', 30 January 2011 (accessed 18 August 2014).</ref> Activists in Brighton said it was a friend of a friend, and not somebody close to the scene.<ref name = brighton/>

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 :*'''‘Sarah’''': In the summer of 2007, ‘Jacobs’ began a sexual relationship with ‘Sarah’, then 26 years old, and well-connected in activist circles, after they returned from Germany where they had taken part in the anti-G8 Heiligendamm summit protests. The relationship, which only lasted “a few weeks”, was built on a close friendship the two had developed over the previous few years, and began at the prompting of ‘Jacobs’, who had initially suggested that they “take their relationship further” two months before the G8.<ref name="ABK085p231-232">Rob Evans & Paul Lewis, ''Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police'', Faber & Faber, 2013, p231-232.</ref> (Note that previously ''The Guardian'' had reported that this relationship had taken place in 2008 and lasted three months.<ref name="GN4.001"></ref>)
-:*'''‘Deborah’''': In 2009, when she  was in a relationship with Tom Fowler, ‘Deborah’ father was terminally ill with cancer. In Fowler's words, ‘Jacobs’ “put himself in the middle of that [relationship]...[and] acted as a father figure to her.” Simultaneously he behaved as a confidant to Fowler, who told him about his and ‘Deborah’s relationship troubles. When her father died, ‘Jacobs’ attended the funeral. According to Evans and Lewis he “offered her a shoulder to cry on...[then] tried to seduce her”. Initially ‘Deborah’ turned him down, but eventually they embarked on a brief sexual relationship after ‘Jacobs’ told her that he loved her. Then, “believing she was about to begin a serious relationship with the truck driver,” she broke up with Fowler, only for ‘Jacobs’ to suddenly lose interest. <ref name="ABK085p231">Rob Evans & Paul Lewis, ''Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police'', Faber & Faber, 2013, p231.</ref> 'Deborah' gives the a detailed account of the relationship on the 'Police Spies Out of Lives' website<ref> 'Deborah', [https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/deborahs-story/ Deborah's Story] Police Spies Out of Lives, undated, (accessed 12 March 2020).</ref> and in a Channel 4 News Interview in 2016.<ref> Simon Israel, [https://www.channel4.com/news/undercover-police-in-welsh-anarchist-group Undercover police in Welsh anarchist group] Channel 4 News, 19 December 2016 (accessed 12 March 2020).</ref>
+:*'''‘Deborah’''': In 2009, when she  was in a relationship with Tom Fowler, ‘Deborah’ father was terminally ill with cancer. In Fowler's words, ‘Jacobs’ “put himself in the middle of that [relationship]...[and] acted as a father figure to her.” Simultaneously he behaved as a confidant to Fowler, who told him about his and ‘Deborah’s relationship troubles. When her father died, ‘Jacobs’ attended the funeral. According to Evans and Lewis he “offered her a shoulder to cry on...[then] tried to seduce her”. Initially ‘Deborah’ turned him down, but eventually they embarked on a brief sexual relationship after ‘Jacobs’ told her that he loved her. Then, “believing she was about to begin a serious relationship with the truck driver,” she broke up with Fowler, only for ‘Jacobs’ to suddenly lose interest. <ref name="ABK085p231">Rob Evans & Paul Lewis, ''Undercover: The True Story of Britain's Secret Police'', Faber & Faber, 2013, p231.</ref> 'Deborah' gives a detailed account of the relationship on the 'Police Spies Out of Lives' website<ref> 'Deborah', [https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/deborahs-story/ Deborah's Story] Police Spies Out of Lives, undated, (accessed 12 March 2020).</ref> and in a Channel 4 News Interview in 2016.<ref> Simon Israel, [https://www.channel4.com/news/undercover-police-in-welsh-anarchist-group Undercover police in Welsh anarchist group] Channel 4 News, 19 December 2016 (accessed 12 March 2020).</ref>
 The circumstances of the efforts by ‘Jacobs’ to interpose himself into the lives of activists in Cardiff, and to pursue intimate sexual relationships with targets, has subsequently been the focus of legal action taken by Fowler, ‘Sarah’ and ‘Deborah’ (see [[Marco Jacobs (alias)#Court_cases|court cases section]] below).