N81: Profile from the Ellison Report

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
'N81'
Alias:	Dave Hagan
Deployment:	1996-2001
Unit:	Special Demonstration Squad
Targets:	Black & family justice campaigns, Movement for Justice; Socialist Workers Party, Class War, Movement Against the Monarchy.

N81 is the code-name given to a Metropolitan police officer, who served undercover with the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) from 1996 to around 2001/2; his handler was Bob Lambert. He infiltrated a political group in London involved in the campaigns around the Stephen Lawrence murder. Furthermore, he - or another unnamed SDS undercover officer - appears to have been active in a group close to Duwayne Brooks, friend of Stephen Lawrence and with him at the moment of the racist attack. It has since emerged that the Lawrence family was not the only black justice campaign that was spied upon.

N81 came to public attention when he was mentioned in the 2014 Stephen Lawrence Independent Review - commonly known as the Ellison Review. Amongst other things, the Review looked into allegations of SDS undercover whistle-blower Peter Francis who claimed to have been instructed to find information to smear the Lawrence family and those around them.

All that is publicly known of N81 (at the time of writing, May 2015) is based on the findings published in the Ellison Review. Although N81's role was central in the investigation, Ellison deliberately obscured details which would identify the group he had infiltrated in order to protect the undercover officer's identity.

For both Ellison and the related work of Operation Herne the investigation was hampered by an apparent policy within the SDS of not keeping records, which made them reliant on interviews in many cases and thus on what police officers involved remembered - or chose to remember. This reconstruction below is based on a careful reading of both the official reviews, fine-combing them for details and re-assembling the collected information into a narrative that gives a first picture of N81's tour of duty.

In April 2018, the Undercover Policing Inquiry released the cover name of N81: 'David Hagan', and said he targeted not just the Movement for Justice, but also the Socialist Workers Party, Class War and the Movement Against the Monarchy, between 1996-2001.

This page is one of series on N81 and the spying on the Stephen Lawrence campaign:

• N81
• N81: Meeting with the Lawrence Review Team
• N81: File Notes SDS
• N81: IPCC investigation
• N81 in the Undercover Policing Inquiry

• Lawrence Review Team

The Ellison Review and Operation Herne

In July 2012 Mark Ellison, QC was tasked by Home Secretary, Theresa May, to look into allegations that police involved in the Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry in the early 1990s had been under investigation for corruption, and that this had been withheld from the Macpherson Inquiry. Following the claims of Peter Francis in 2013 that the Metropolitan Police (the Met) had asked him to find information to smear the Lawrences and the associated family justice campaign, Ellison's brief was extended to look into the role of undercover officers at the time. This paralleled Operation Herne, a Met investigation into wider abuses by undercover officers in the wake of the exposure of Mark Kennedy and Bob Lambert. As a result Ellison drew on some of Operation Herne's work, and both published a report on this particular part of their reviews at on same day, 6th March 2014.

Mark Ellison QC learned that N81 deployment was during a particularly sensitive period for the Metropolitan Police and community relations. It was a time of high racial tension in London: the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry under Sir William Macpherson was taking place, and Duwayne Brooks was in a position of being both a witness for the police and taking a case against them to counter what amounted to a campaign to damage his reputation. Ellison concluded that if the presence of undercover officers in the Lawrence family camp had been discovered at the time, it could have led to public disturbance in and of itself.

Deployment

Little is known of N81's activities prior to his involvement with SDS, other than that he had spent three years in Special Branch, which is consistent with the assertion that most SDS undercovers were drawn from Special Branch. Prior to being asked to join he had not known of the SDS's existence. His training involved working for six months in the SDS back office under a 'field mentor', developing his cover identity and witnessing the handling of the unit's work.

Lambert was the Detective Inspector with responsibility for N81 within the SDS in 1998; Operation Herne has indicated that he was acting as the Detective Chief Inspector in charge of the Squad in July 1998, which is confirmed by Walton in his interview with Ellison

During N81's time, undercover officers usually telephoned in twice a day and met with SDS management twice a week; all aspects of deployment were discussed with 'handlers' who would then direct where to focus. Debriefing was done verbally initially, either over the phone to the handling sergeant, or face to face; though by the end of his deployment N81 was typing material up and handing it over on floppy disk. He was not made privy of what use the SDS managers put the intelligence he gathered. (In intelligence work, it is considered good practice to keep a wall between those who gather intelligence and those who assess it and decide what to do with it.)

N81 denied that he used a the tactic of taking a dead child’s identity when developing his cover story, and said that he had not engaged in sexual relationships and had not been arrested when undercover.

Ellison discussed both the undercover work and his attitude to it in some detail, reporting:

N81 was frank enough to acknowledge suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result of the work done for the SDS, and to be having difficulty remembering some of the detail of it. ... N81 had felt very threatened by what N81 regarded to be a very hostile management, when all N81 had done at the time was the job that he had been asked for.

The Ellison Review continues with crediting of N81's professionalism and his credibility:

We have no doubt that, in carrying out SDS work, N81 was an officer doing as professional a job as possible, according to tasking given by superiors, and using the methods the superiors encouraged to be used.

The Report goes as far as to add this caveat:

The criticism we make around the use made of N81’s reporting at the time of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry is not directed at N81.

The Ellison Review also found SDS records recommending N81 for a commendation in 2001, detailing the value of his work:

The provision of a perspective to those charged with formulating the MPS position on key strategic issues. (N81) was thus debriefed thoroughly by the Stephen Lawrence Review Team as it considered how the MPS might regain the confidence of the black community, how it might assess the potential for disorder by sections of that community and what might be the consequences of sustained political pressure on the MPS from hard-left and other groups not well disposed to the police.

Ellison concluded:

This seems to us to be a clear indication from within the SDS that the use made of N81’s reporting at the time of the Public Inquiry was more than the traditional ‘public order’ remit.

N81's target group

There is a dispute as to whether the Lawrences were specifically targeted by undercover operations. Peter Francis says it was being deliberately. Clearly N81 was reporting back gossip on the family among other things.

The official remit of the SDS was targeting groups potentially fomenting or participating in public disorder, and moving organically thereafter as needed; N81's deployment was in line with that, Ellison stated. He was primarily focused on 'predominantly left-wing or anarchistic ‘street disorder' groups from 1996 to 2001' (quotation marks in original). N81 became 'well-placed in one of the groups that associated itself and tried to build relations with, both the Lawrence family and other groups during the Public Inquiry'. On several occasions he attended the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry.

The answer to the most important question of the Ellison review becomes a bit of a word game, and shows that the police uses the term 'targeting' in the most limited meaning possible. Ellison writes (emphasis in original):

N81 is adamant that there was no tasking at any stage into the Stephen Lawrence family campaign, but it is clear to us that N81’s reporting nevertheless touched on the Lawrence family and its campaign.

Strictly spoken, N81's target was another group (or groups), which allows those responsible to speak of the intelligence gathered on the Lawrence campaign as 'collateral intrusion.' Ellison, in his findings, links the high risks of collateral intrusion explicitly to 'the policy of almost absolute secrecy around the SDS’s undercover deployments' but stresses that this does not absolve the Metropolitan Police from its responsibility to monitor the proportionality of the undercover deployments.

The word game has a touch of 'plausible deniability', a core concept in covert action as practised by the CIA, to make sure there is no evidence of wrong doing by creating a distance in order to shift the blame.

Did N81 target the Lawrences?

The fact that N81 was well-placed and close to the Lawrences is clear from the Ellison Review, and undisputed. However, the most important question is not being asked. Was the involvement with the family justice campaign a genuine plan of the group, or was it - intended or not - the result of N81 undercover efforts?

This is what the Ellison Report says about it.

According to N81's account to Operation Herne, the target group's intention was to 'openly or covertly influence this campaign. [The Stephen Lawrence Campaign] was a high-profile opportunity to attack the ‘State’; any campaign was seen as an opportunity to take such action'.

An 'SDS Intelligence Update' entitled "Extremist involvement in the Stephen Lawrence campaign" prepared at the time (early September 1998) confirms this:

Over the last 6 months N81 has reported comprehensively on the persistent and largely successful attempts by (N81’s group) to gain influence within the Stephen Lawrence campaign… (N81’s group) have managed to broaden the agenda within the campaign group to include a platform for their own uncompromising view that the SL case is but one that shows the police to be corrupt and racist from top to bottom. While the Lawrence family have sought to prevent extremist activists from taking over the campaign, N81’s reporting reveals the extent to which groups like (N81’s group and others) have gained a significant foothold within the ad hoc organising group...

This report can be read as a confirmation of the 'danger' of the group and a justification of N81 presence. But it can also be understood as a description of the success of N81's manoeuvres to move the group towards the Lawrence campaign.

An 'SDS briefing note' dated 2001 (towards the end of N81's deployment) emphasises the success of the operation, saying:

N81 is quite candid in admitting that (N81) was largely responsible for (N81’s group’s) adoption of the Stephen Lawrence case, and the rest, as they say, is history.

However, N81 does not remember saying such a thing, he told the Ellison Review:

It is not my record. It is laughable that I persuaded them to do that… I did not dissuade… I was quite happy to do that… I was supportive of it… but did not come up with the idea… they were always going to do that… they asked and I said ‘Yes, why not?… the public order issues around the Inquiry were huge… they were very happy when it went into Lawrence… I was reporting back verbally every day… if they had said that I shouldn’t I would have pulled back… I may have bigged myself up to my management. I was enthusiastic about it.

Several years after his deployment, N81 had a meeting with Det. Sgt. N367 who became a point of contact for ex-SDS officers in 2006 (it is unclear when this took place, in 2006 or later). N367 told the Ellison Review what he remembered:

...in 1998 N81 was asked to work… to monitor community police tension as part of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry… During this period N81 had mixed with persons such as Trevor Phillips, John Waldon, Lee Jasper and Michael Mansfield. This part of N81’s deployment had concluded in 2001. N81 stated that this deployment ‘was directly tasked by the highest of management… that N81 should infiltrate the Lawrence family and their supporters in order to assess community tensions’. N81 did not want to go into much more detail…

However, N81 disagreed with this report, and told Ellison that N367 seemed to have an agenda to belittle the SDS.

Intelligence gathered by N81

Another way of answering the question whether N81 targeted the Lawrences, is by looking at the intelligence he gathered, still according to the Ellison Report:

• Material on the relationship and intention of the target group;
• Decisions by the Lawrence family on whether to allow demonstrations outside the (Macpherson) Inquiry venue;
• Reports of protests;
• Who was and who was not supporting what the Lawrence family wanted, including the call by Doreen Lawrence for the resignation of the Commissioner in August 1998;
• The internal working of the Lawrence family campaign;
• Personal details of the Lawrence family;

In a July 1998 report, N81 describes Neville Lawrence's concern about the campaign being hijacked by political interest groups. The report had the following quote from a 'close advisor' of the family:

that the main problem facing the campaign was the refusal of both Neville and Doreen to have anything to do with other groups... that they had in reality separated and that they only continued together as a front for the campaign ... that Doreen in fact wished to wind the campaign up at this point and simply await the findings of the Inquiry, but Neville is more open to continuing but only until the Inquiry releases its findings... (that an adviser) said that there was somebody very close to the Lawrence family who was an ‘uncle tom’ and as a police agent was actively advising the Lawrences against any real action....

Reports that touched on personal details of the Lawrence family, including sections like this:

As for the Lawrence family, Doreen and Neville Lawrence split up during the first stage of the Inquiry (although this is not public knowledge). Neville remains the more politicized of the two although Doreen has recently been vocal in her calls for the Commissioner to resign. Neville feels a measure of ‘ownership’ of the Inquiry and resents others who seek to make capital of it, particularly when they call for public disorder. He is not a good public speaker, but will attend meetings and speak if invited. His addresses are usually little more than recitation of past events and his attitude to the Inquiry has caused resentments amongst extreme left-wing groups. At this stage these groups cannot afford to be publicly disowned or condemned by the official family campaign group. However, it should be reiterated that these groups value their own agendas over that of the Lawrence family.

Meeting between N81 and the Lawrence Review Team

• Main article - N81: Meeting with the Lawrence Review Team

The Ellison Review zoomed in on a 1998 meeting between N81 and DI Richard Walton, set up by Bob Lambert. At the time, Walton was part of the Lawrence Review Team and tasked with preparing Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Condon submissions to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry. This meeting was considered to be highly inappropriate in hindsight as explained in more detail on a separate page; it showed that information gathered by undercover officers was used to mould the Commissioner's response to what was supposed to be an independent inquiry. Ellison stated that if this would have come out at the time, it would have caused riots.

However, in the late 1990s - as the Ellison Review documented - nobody had any second thoughts about the meeting. It was only after Richard Walton was informed that he was going to be criticised in the Ellison Review report, that he understood he was in trouble. His attempt to change his account was dismissed by Ellison, and the subsequent fall-out would lead to Walton being temporarily removed from his post as Commander of Counter Terrorism Command in March 2014. Within days after the Ellison Report was published, the Home Secretary announced her intention to set up a judge-led public inquiry into the spying operations.

Walton's case was referred to the Independent Police Complaint Commission; however Walton was restored to his post in December 2014 before the investigation was finished. In May 2015, the IPCC announced to have widened the investigation to include two further former Met officers.

Subsequent use of N81 intelligence

After the disputed meeting in Lambert's garden, a formal route was set up in September 1998 to channel information gathered by N81 and other undercover officers to Walton. SDS intelligence was to be forwarded, via DS McDowell to John Grieve of CO24 tasked with reinvestigating the Lawrence murder and restoring relations with black communities; Walton was to join CO24 in October 1998.

The channel was a secret operation; Commander Black wrote in a memo: "I have reiterated to [Walton] it is essential that knowledge of the operation goes no further. I would not wish him to receive anything on paper."

Ellison pointed out:

The correspondence file that was opened by Commander Black on 14 September 1998 still exists, and it includes retained notes and briefings sent to CO24, apparently from 28 September 1998 onwards. The majority of the correspondence consists of threat assessments relating to possible public order issues. These were around the London-based venues where Part Two of the Inquiry was considering holding hearings within the MPS area. Such briefings fitted the description given in Commander Black’s note on 26 September 1998, which suggested: “suitable material to DS McDowell, both tactical intelligence around the Lawrence enquiry and broader work on race crime”. Included within this retained correspondence was what we have summarised above as reports that touched on personal details regarding the Lawrence family emanating from N81’s reporting.

• More detail on N81: Meeting with the Lawrence Review Team and the profile on Richard Walton.

Update: N81's cover name: 'Dave Hagan' - active in the Movement for Justice

In April 2018 the Undercover Police Inquiry released the cover name of N81, and said he had been targeting several groups: the Movement for Justice, the Socialist Workers Party, Class War and the Movement Against the Monarchy from 1996-2001.

There is not much information yet on 'Dave Hagan's' activities in most of the groups. However, a key target was the Movement For Justice By Any Means Necessary (MfJ), a political group active in anti-racism and civil rights issues, and participating in family justice campaigns, mainly from its then base in Brixton, London. The part of the name 'By Any Means Necessary' comes from a quote by Malcolm X.

In 1998, the organisation described its aims as 'Building a militant mass anti-racist movement'; in 2014 it was: 'Building an independent, integrated, mass, youth and student led civil rights movement'. Throughout its history, the focus of its work has been anti-racism, highlighting police oppression and LGBT rights, as well as student politics, though latterly it has expanded this to include environmentalism.

MfJ was founded in 1995 / 1996 by a group based around the Kingsway College Anti Fascist Group. In 2014 it was revealed that undercover officer-cum-whistle-blower Peter Francis, of Special Branch's Special Demonstration Squad, had been one of the founders of the organisation; and then used his position to get involved in various family justice campaigns. In March 2016, it was further revealed that, another SDS officer, known only as N81, and who had been exposed for his role in spying on the Lawrence family at the time of the Macpherson Inquiry had been active in MfJ.

List of campaigns the MfJ may have had access to.

Targeting MfJ gave 'Dave Hagan' a variety of opportunities to report back on family justice campaigns and other events. A list of these be drawn up from the historical website of the Movement for Justice, though the degree to which MfJ and by extension Dave Hagan were involved is not always clear. In some cases, the involvement appears short lived or cursory, in others it went much deeper. Nevertheless, we supply them here as they indicate opportunities of how and where such targeting could have taken place. The list is likely incomplete (see Ricky Reel campaign below).

1995: Brian Douglas justice campaign.

After Brian Douglas died in police custody at Kennington police station, MfJ worked with the Lambeth branch of Unison to establish a public meeting. Also associated with this family justice campaign was Youth against Racism in Europe (YRE), then infiltrated by Peter Francis – who recalled attending a protest at Kennington police station in 1995 as part of the YRE.

1995: Against the new Asylum Bill

Government minister Brian Mawhinney paintbombed by Movement for Justice activists, 1995.

In September 1995, MfJ launched a campaign against the Conservative Government’s Immigration and Asylum Bill and published “Howard’s Racist Immigration and Asylum Bill – What it is and how to fight it”. On 15 November 1995, a number of its activists carried out a flour and paint bomb attack on Conservative Party chairman Brian Mawhinney over his role in introducing the Bill while he was on his way to give interviews following the official opening of Parliament. This brought the campaign against the Bill and the group to national media attention, and the subsequent trial was used to put questions to Mawhinney and other Tory officials. Four members of the group were convicted of assault in April 1996. The event brought the campaign against the Bill and the group to national media attention, and the subsequent trial was used to put questions to Mawhinney and other Tory officials.

1995: Wayne Douglas justice campaign

On 5 December 1995, Wayne Douglas collapsed and died at Brixton police station. A protest was held in response on 13 December 1995 leading to disturbances.A protest was held in response on 13 December 1995, leading to disturbances. A jury found that a police restraint technique had led to his death, but various verdicts ruled it accidental. The family campaign fought these rulings for years. MfJ were vocal in support of the campaign and Peter Francis also specifically mentioned it as one he had reported on.

1996: Pan-African Freedom Fighters Asylum Campaign

MfJ helped found and played an active role in the Pan-African Freedom Fighters Asylum Campaign (PAFFAC). This was an alliance of refugees and their supporters based in the Community Centre at 365 Brixton Road.

1997: Oscar Okoye justice campaign

Oscar Okoye was a black man went into a coma after being arrested by Streatham police and put in custody on 14 June 1996. He subsequently died in hospital on 11 November 1996; the death was ruled to be of natural causes. The MfJ would work with his family and others to build a campaign, which included Oscar's son establishing a branch of MfJ at Lewisham college.

1997: Anti-BNP mobilisation

Movement for Justice: protest over BBC giving the British National Party airtime, 21 May 1999. ©1999 John Hunt/OutRage! London. Image taken from Outrage! archives.

Following the election of BNP councillor Derek Beackon in Tower Hamlets, the British National Party called for a march in East London on 20 September 1997. Movement for Justice was among the groups who mobilised in opposition. Amongst other things, the organization produced ‘bust cards’ for those attending in case of arrests. MfJ subsequently joined other groups, including the Anti-Nazi League, in confronting the small BNP assembly at Stratford Broadway.

1997: March for Justice

The group was involved in organising the March for Justice against police harassment and deaths in custody for 15 November 1997.

1998: Lambeth Police Consultative Committee & CS Gas campaign

On 3 March 1998, an MfJ representative presented on why the police should not be using CS gas to the Lambeth Police Consultative Group. This was part of a campaign on CS gas, and the Lambeth Police Consultative Group voted for a suspension of its use. It was followed up by a public meeting on 12 February 1998 at Brixton Recreation Centre. One source stated that members of the Lambeth branch of the MfJ were attending the monthly local Community/Police Liaison Group. At another point it is stated that members of the Lambeth branch of the MfJ attends the local Community/Police Liaison Group every month.

1998: Family campaign in Hampton Wick

In May 1998 Movement for Justice are supporting a family living in Hampton Wick, Kingston who complained of four months of harassment by local police.

1998: Free Steve Lewis Campaign

The MfJ supported the Free Steve Lewis Campaign, in support of a man said to be wrongfully accused of two rapes and sentenced to 15 years in 1996 on the basis of police DNA evidence. He claimed that the evidence had not been released to defence lawyers.

1998-1999: Student Fees

The MfJ also took part in the campaign against student fees, including a demonstration against fees on 25 March 1998. In the same year its activists were involved in National Student Union politics and free education campaigns, and the group supported both the Save Free Education and the Campaign for Free Education platforms.

1999: National Civil Right March

In anticipation of the publication of the Macpherson Report, a march was held, calling on Paul Condon to be sacked as Commissioner of Police, for justice for those who died at the hands of the police and in racist attacks, and for the creation of an independent civil rights movement. It was organised by The Monitoring Group with a range of people and organisations supporting it, including MfJ and associated groups.

1999: March against Immigration Controls

MfJ supported the March called by the National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns (NCADC) and the National Assembly Against Racism under the banner of the Coalition for Asylum and Immigration Rights (CAIR). It took place on 27 March 1999.

1999: Soho pub bombings

MfJ joined other anti-racist and trade union branches in backing the Outrage! march on the 1 May 1999, in aftermath of the Soho pub bombings. MfJ took part in the protest, with a leading member being quoted in subsequent press reports.

1999: Harry Stanley family campaign

Harry Stanley was a painter shot dead by police on 22 September 1999 in Hackney, for carrying a chair leg; police claimed they had mistaken for a gun. It is believed that the Movement for Justice was associated with the Harry Stanley justice campaign, though it is not clear to what extent.

1999: Delroy Lindo justice campaign

Delroy Lindo was a friend of Winston Silcott and helped set up the justice campaign. As a result he was subjected to police harassment and arrest. Following one such arrest in December 1999, MfJ organised a protest outside the police station he was being held in.

2000: All London March Against Racist Police Frame-up and Murder

Along with Police Crimes Against Civilians (Delroy Lindo justice campaign) & Dwayne Brooks, MfJ helped organised the All London March Against Racist Police Frame-up and Murder to take place on 22 January. Others involved in organising were the Winston Silcott Defence Campaign, Roger Sylvester and Harry Stanley Justice Campaigns, Islington UNISON and Miscarriages of Justice UK.

2001: Deaths in custody and the Brixton disturbances

On 16 July 2001 Derek Bennett was shot dead by police in Brixton; the police claimed he was holding a gun though it turned out to be an imitation gun cigarette lighter. In response a protest was organised by Movement for Justice and others, called to coincide with a public meeting of the Lambeth Police Consultative Group. 100 people turned up and turned into a full blown disturbance as people vented anger over police brutality and unaccountability.

Justice for Ricky Reel campaign

Not included in the above list, but now thought to be connected is the campaign around the death of student Lakhvinder "Ricky" Reel.

Reel, a young Asian man died in unexplained circumstances in 1997, shortly after being racially abused by two white men in Kingston, south west London. His mother, Sukhdev Reel, challenged the lack of police investigation in to his death and has been a prominent voice in seeking police accountability. She has said that the undercover inquiry had informed her that Hagan was also involved in her family justice campaign. She told the BBC that she had been informed that officers gathered intelligence on her in 1998 and 1999, and stated:

People would come to my home and offer their support, shake our hands, shake my children's' hands," she said. "We would offer them cups of tea, our door was always open. Did Hagan shake my children's hands? Who was he? I need a photograph, a real name. And I want to ask him why he did it.

Following the confirmation of N81 as 'David Hagan' in April 2018, Sukhdev Reel publicly asked the Inquiry for photos to be able to identify the spy in her family campaign.

Additional UndercoverResearch resources

• N81
• N81: Meeting with the Lawrence Review Team
• N81: File Notes SDS,
• N81: IPCC investigation
• Lawrence Review Team.

• Bob Lambert
• Richard Walton

External Sources

• The Ellison Review Full title: The Stephen Lawrence Independent Review, Possible corruption and the role of undercover policing in the Stephen Lawrence case. Vol. 1. March 2014.
• Operation Herne Full title: Operation Herne, Report 2, Allegations of Peter Francis, March 2014.
• Rob Evans, Police facing claims that senior officers knew about spying on Stephen Lawrence family, The Guardian, 2 July 2015.