Watchdog quizzed over under cover police officer

The head of a police watchdog has said he did not feel it “appropriate or necessary” to examine the activities of a notorious undercover officer who spied on activists.

In a report published on Wednesday, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) said Mark Kennedy, a member of the now defunct National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), visited Scotland on at least 17 occasions and carried out “multiple activities” on each visit.

In 2015, the Metropolitan Police issued an “unreserved apology” to a number of women tricked into relationships by undercover officers, including Kennedy.

Asked about providing more information on Kennedy’s activities in Scotland during an appearance before Holyrood’s justice sub-committee on policing yesterday, HM Inspector of Constabulary in Scotland Derek Penman said: “We were about providing the nature and scale.

“We felt it was helpful to put that information in the public domain, but I was also conscious that information came from the information base which will effectively inform the Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI).

“We didn’t consider it appropriate or necessary to go in and look at the actual detail behind that.”

Justice secretary Michael Matheson has ruled out a separate Scottish inquiry into undercover policing.