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| − | '''Roderick Leeming''', a former [[Special Branch]] officer, set up [[Global Open]] in 2001. The private security company keeps a "discreet watch" on protest groups for clients including [[E.ON]].<ref name="Evans">Rob Evans, Amelia Hill, Paul Lewis and Patrick Kingsley [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/12/mark-kennedy-policeman-corporate-spy Mark Kennedy: secret policeman's sideline as corporate spy] ''The Guardian'', 13/01/11, accessed 17/01/11</ref>
| + | #REDIRECT [[Rod Leeming]] |
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| − | ==Global Open's Director and Former Special Branch==
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| − | [[Rod Leeming]], a director of Global open, is a former [[Special Branch]] officer. Until he left the police in 2001, he admits he regularly infiltrated undercover operatives into protest groups in his role as head of the Animal Rights National index. The animal rights movement subsequently became one of the main focuses of [[NETCU]], which polices "domestic extremism".<ref>[http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/news/PRDisplay.asp?PR_GUID={A19DE824-55E1-47D1-8C6B-7BD288DBE25A} LEADING ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST SENTENCED], ACPO press release, 25 February 2005.</ref> He told ''The Guardian'' that the company only advises firms on security and insists Global Open does not infiltrate activist groups. The newspaper concluded however that Global Open "appears to have access to well-sourced intelligence".<ref name="Evans"/>[[Global Open]]'s tagline is "Be Aware. Be up to date. Keep the threat in perspective."<ref name="Global"> Global Open Website [http://globalopen-uk.com/ Home] accessed 17/01/11</ref> According to its website, [[Global Open]] can carry out a full security audit of an organisation's plants and offices from an activist's perspective.<ref> Global Open Website [http://globalopen-uk.com/ Security Audit] accessed 17/01/11 </ref>
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| − | ==The revolving door between Police and Private Security==
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| − | ===Undercover police officer Mark Kennedy and Global Open===
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| − | Controversially, [[Mark Kennedy]] carried on his life undercover after he left the police, using his fake name and beginning work within the private security industry.
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| − | The nature of the links between Global Open and Mark Kennedy remain unclear. Leeming previously claimed never to have met or employed Kennedy. However, according to ''The Guardian'' it has been subsequently understood that Global Open had "offered to employ several ex-police officers, including Kennedy, who said he was hired by Leeming as a private investigator last year." <ref name="Evans2"> Rob Evans and Paul Lewis [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/14/environmental-activists-protest-energy-companies?intcmp=239 Green groups targeted polluters as corporate agents hid in their ranks], ''The Guardian'', 16/o2/11, accessed 22/02/11 </ref>
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| − | [[Mark Kennedy]] set up his own private security company named [[Tokra]]. As researched by ''The Guardian''
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| − | :In February 2010 – a month before resigning – Kennedy set up [[Tokra]] Limited, at an address in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. Calling himself a logistics officer, Kennedy registered himself as sole director of the company. Intriguingly, the address he used is the work address of [[Heather Millgate]], a solicitor specialising in personal injury, and a former director of Global Open, a private security firm.<ref name="Evans">Rob Evans, Amelia Hill, Paul Lewis and Patrick Kingsley [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/12/mark-kennedy-policeman-corporate-spy Mark Kennedy: secret policeman's sideline as corporate spy] ''The Guardian'', 13/01/11, accessed 17/ 01/11</ref>
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| − | :Last spring, Kennedy set up a second firm – [[Black Star High Access]] Limited – in east London.<ref name="Evans"/>On 12 April, Kennedy applied for [[Tokra]] to be dissolved. Within a few days of that application, he resigned from the police. Tokra was finally dissolved on the 17 August. On 31 August, Millgate resigned as director of Global Open. Black Star High Access has not yet filed any records to reveal whether it is a viable, financial concern, but it is still active.<ref name="Evans"/>
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| − | Leeming did confirm that [[Tokra]] was set up for a "reason" but he could not say what it was – only that it was a confidential matter between Kennedy and [[Heather Millgate|Millgate]],<ref name="Evans"/>former director of Global Open <ref> Companies House, [https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BxDblhRhtCSFYmEzOGU2YjYtMjAzMi00N2FiLWJkMjQtM2Y4NDUxOWJjZmZh&hl=en Global Open Annual Return 2010], accessed 19/01/11</ref>. Connections between Kennedy's firm [[Tokra]] and Global Open seem to go beyond sharing company registration addresses. In an interview with ''The Daily Mail'', Kennedy says "in January last year I was approached by a private company which advises corporations about activist trends. It’s run by [[Rod Leeming]], a former Special Branch officer. I’d never met him before".<ref name="Graham">Caroline Graham [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347478/Mark-Kennedy-Undercover-policeman-tells-story-8-years-eco-warriors.html I've always respected the police. But the world of undercover policing is grey and murky] ''The Daily Mail'', 17/01/11, accessed 18/01/11</ref> The article stated that Kennedy handed in his resignation from the police in January, ending work in March. He resumed his relationship with his girlfriend while he worked for Global Open as a consultant – although he says he did not operate undercover for the company.<ref name="Graham"/>
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| − | ===Transferable skills and alliances: police and private security industry===
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| − | Questions have been raised regarding the ethics of "former police officers cashing in on their surveillance skills for a host of companies that target protesters".<ref name="Evans2">Paul Lewis and Rob Evans [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/feb/14/environmental-activists-protest-energy-companies Green groups targeted polluters as corporate agents hid in their ranks] ''The Guardian'', 14/02/11, accessed 14/02/11</ref>
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| − | *One example of [[Special Branch]] providing transferable skills is Leeming, a director of Global Open, and former [[Special Branch]] officer. Until he left the police in 2001, he admits he regularly infiltrated undercover operatives into protest groups in his role as head of the Animal Rights National index. The animal rights movement subsequently became one of the main focusses of [[NETCU]] which polices "domestic extremism".<ref>[http://www.acpo.police.uk/asp/news/PRDisplay.asp?PR_GUID={A19DE824-55E1-47D1-8C6B-7BD288DBE25A} LEADING ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVIST SENTENCED], ACPO press release, 25 February 2005.</ref> However, he insists Global Open does not infiltrate activist groups. He told ''The Guardian'' the company only advises firms on security. However, Global Open appears to have access to well-sourced intelligence.<ref name="Evans">Rob Evans, Amelia Hill, Paul Lewis and Patrick Kingsley [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/12/mark-kennedy-policeman-corporate-spy Mark Kennedy: secret policeman's sideline as corporate spy] ''The Guardian'', 13/01/11, accessed 17/ 01/11</ref>
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| − | *[[Gordon Irving]] was a senior officer, and worked for special branch, for 30 years. Since 2001 he is director of security for [[Scottish Power]], subject to criticism due to the social and environmental impacts of their projects.<ref>Terry Macalister [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2006/dec/27/energy.business BP joins renewable power campaign group], ''The Guardian'', 27/12/06, accessed 22/02/11</ref> Leaked documents exposed [[Gordon Irving]] emailing private spying company [[Vericola]], gathering intelligence on the [[Climate Camp]] campaigns.<ref name="Evans2"/> This example of proximity between the police and large corporations, formal or informal, may raise doubts about the the possibility of an entirely unbiased police force.
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| − | *The [[Inkerman Group]] is another company monitoring protestors, which employs former Met commissioner [[Peter Imbert]] as a strategic adviser. A "restricted" report produced by the company three years ago warns of a growing threat of "eco-terrorism". Under a section on "recent acts of eco-terrorism", the document lists a number of peaceful campaign groups, including the anti-aviation collective [[Plane Stupid]].<ref name="Evans2"/> Arguably it has been this elusive threat of "eco-terrorism", sometimes tainted with the conflation between "illegal" and "violent" protest, that serves to justify the need for both the domestic extremism units and the private security firms.<ref>Matilda Gifford [http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/26/protest-surveillance Why spy on peaceful protesters?] ''The Guardian'', 26/04/09, accessed 17/01/11</ref>
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| − | *[[Russ Corn]] now works for [[Diligence]], Global Business Intelligence firm, following a career in the UK Special Forces. [[Diligence]] was founded in 2000 by an international group of former intelligence officers.<ref name="Diligence"> Diligence Website, [http://www.diligence.com/news-article/items/diligence-hires-managing-director-for-london-and-announces-plan-.html New Leadership and Expanded Office Will Help Meet Rising Demand for Risk Management Services], 03/01/06, accessed 23/02/11</ref>
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| − | *[[Peter Bleksley]], director and co-owner of a business intelligence company, was a founder member of Scotland Yard's undercover unit in the 1980's.<ref>Contributor's profile [http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/peter-bleksley Peter Bleksley], ''The Guardian'', accessed 22/02/11</ref> Speaking as a former undercover police officer, when questioned about the Kennedy affair in an an interview for BBC2, confirms that there are currently more police officers embedded in the movement and that "there are also people from the private security sector working against climate campaigners".<ref name="Wark">Kirsty Wark, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xggg1/Newsnight_10_01_2011/ NewsNight] "BBC2" 10/01/11, accessed 11/01/11</ref> A SpinWatch article comments on Bleksley's words that "the language itself is telling. Not ‘protestors’, but ‘campaigners’. Targeted not for taking illegal direct action, but simply for holding a view. And not simply monitoring: the ‘against’ testifies to an agenda in policing".<ref> Tilly Gifford [http://www.spinwatch.org.uk/-articles-by-category-mainmenu-8/54-corporate-intelligence/5418-unmasking-the-environmental-infiltrators Unmasking the environmental infiltrators], ''SpinWatch'', 19/01/11, accessed 22/02/11</ref>
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| − | ==Infiltrating the Campaign Against the Arms Trade==
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| − | Rod Leeming and [[Global Open]] came to public attention in 2007 when it was implicated in the case of [[Paul Mercer]], a friend of the then Conservative shadow defence minister, [[Julian Lewis]], who was exposed by the [[Campaign Against the Arms Trade]] of spying for the arms firm [[BAE]].<ref name="Evans"/> | |
| − | <ref> Legal briefing, [[File:CAATvMercer-briefing.pdf]] [http://www.caat.org.uk/issues/sfo/CAATvMercer-briefing.pdf CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMS TRADE v PAUL MERCER & LIGNEDEUX ASSOCIATES], Leigh Day & Co. 18 April 2007. </ref>
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| − | ==Directors of Global Open==
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| − | Companies House records show [[Global Open]] was incorporated on 1 February 2001. Its directors are listed as [[Roderick Leeming]], [[Alison Jane Leeming| Alison Leeming]] and [[Victor Raymond Barritt Ash| Victor Ash]]. [[Heather Mary Millgate|Heather Millgate]] is listed as a former director.
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| − | ==Notes==
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| − | <references/>
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| − | [[Category:spooks]][[Category:UK Police Intelligence]][[Category:Climate Change]][[Category:Corporate Espionage]][[Category:Security Industry]]
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