Latest from the Spy Cops inquiry

A former Metropolitan police officer has told the public inquiry into undercover policing that “smearing people” is a “security service job”. The live stream of the hearing was swiftly paused, one of several breaks in the broadcast due to restrictions on reporting.  

Trevor Morris, who used the cover name Anthony “Bobby McGee” Lewis, infiltrated the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), the Anti-Nazi League and the Stephen Lawrence family justice campaign. Morris deceived two women into relationships during his four years undercover in the Special Demonstration Squad.

Last week, the inquiry interviewed Morris over a three-day period, scrutinising his undercover deployment which took place between 1991 and 1995. Two women who were deceived into sexual relationships by Morris called his behaviour “degrading and morally bankrupt”. 

One of the women, “Bea”, had a relationship with him for over a year. She said Morris had “horribly” used her to shore up his fake identity as he infiltrated the Hackney branch of the SWP in east London. David Barr, KC for the inquiry, put it to Morris that Bea had testified that she would never have consented to the relationship if she had known Morris was a police officer. He replied, “I don’t know that … People can say things in the cold light of day, but is the reality that?”

Morris had a sexual encounter with a second woman, “Jenny”, at the end of his deployment. He had befriended Jenny over the course of his infiltration of the SWP. During her testimony on Monday, Jenny told the inquiry, “I think sex without consent is rape … I did not consent to sleep with Trevor Morris.”

Morris testified that he had sexual relations with both women under his fake identity but remained stubbornly unapologetic. “I regret them because it would be better for everyone if they had not happened. But at the time they happened I was, for all intents and purposes, my alter ego … so I lived this ultra-deep cover.”

Asked twice by barrister David Barr, the public inquiry’s KC, if what he did was completely wrong. Morris replied: “I am not accepting that it was completely wrong.” 

Morris has been the first undercover officer interviewed to brazenly defend the police tactic of forming intimate relationships with women using their fake identity. He went on to criticise the Metropolitan Police commissioner for apologising to the women who were deceived into sexual relationships by undercover officers. He said the apology – first made in 2013 and then issued again last month by Peter Skelton on behalf of Sir Mark Rowley – was “outrageous”. 

The apology clearly states that the relationships were “abusive, deceitful, manipulative, and wrong”. The Met also admitted that managers of the undercover officers had failed to prevent the relationships from happening, stemming from a wider culture of sexism. 

In a spiky exchange, Morris snapped at Barr: “It is relatively unacceptable that the commissioner says that as though it means nothing to him … Did he ever do that job? No, he didn’t. Did he know what it was like not seeing your family growing up? No, he didn’t. It’s outrageous.” Morris said many of the undercover officers had gone on to have mental health issues as a result of the stress of their job.

The public inquiry – led by Sir John Mitting – is examining how 140 undercover officers spied on more than 1,000 political groups since 1968. It opened in 2015 following a series of revelations about the misconduct of undercover officers in the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) and the subsequent National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU).

During his deployment, Morris used the identity of a deceased child to create his cover. Anthony Lewis died in 1968, aged seven, from complications of sickle cell anaemia. Members of Anthony’s family made a statement to the inquiry prior to Morris giving evidence. One of Anthony’s sisters, Marva, said “Using a dead child’s identity would never be justifiable, but it seems especially disrespectful to use it to spy on anti-fascist or anti-racist groups. When I think of this, my upset about Anthony turns to fury and disgust.”

Before commencing their deployment, undercover officers would visit the national registry of births and deaths in London to find a dead child whose identity they could steal in order to create their legend. They were then issued with passports, driving licences and bank accounts in the name of the deceased child, to protect them from exposure as spies by suspicious activists.

Morris was questioned on why he chose Anthony Lewis as his cover. David Barr highlighted that sickle cell mainly affects people from an African or Caribbean background. Morris denied that this affected his decision to adopt Anthony’s name. The Lewis family disagree.

Late on the last day of the hearing, activists picked up on information already in the public domain about Morris’ further alter ego – a writer/ podcaster named Carlton King. A member of the public recognised Morris from a post shared on X. It is not known why this wasn’t included in evidence as Morris published a book about his undercover life, Black Ops: The Incredible True Story of a British Secret Service Agent.

There is a lot to digest amongst this material.  Much of what King/ Morris says simply doesn’t add up, but what is shockingly clear is that Morris feels no remorse for his behaviour and in fact feels quite sorry for himself, blaming other people for his immoral activities. 

The inquiry will resume hearing evidence in late September.