Landmark Hearing Sides With Activist in Battle Against UK ‘Spycops’

It’s 9am on 4th October 2018, and beneath central London’s grey skies, environmental and social justice activist Kate Wilson stands outside the imposing, jagged gates of the Royal Courts of Justice, awaiting the start of an extremely important Investigatory Powers Tribunal hearing.

She’s joined by her legal team, a colourful legion of supporters, and numerous journalists and photographers. To understand their presence today, one must travel back to 2003, when she met and fell in love with fellow activist Mark Stone. A seemingly perfect match, with much in common and many shared interests and dreams, they quickly became romantically entangled — travelling together, living together, sharing their most intimate secrets with one another.

The relationship would end amicably after two years, and they remained very good friends, maintaining regular contact until October 2010, when Kate received a devastating phone call from a friend. They’d rung to inform her Mark Stone didn’t actually exist — he was in fact Mark Kennedy, an undercover officer in the Metropolitan Police’s National Public Order Intelligence Unit, who for seven years had infiltrated and spied on protest movements across Europe.

Neverending Story

Ever since, Kate has battled tirelessly for answers. In 2011, her fight became a fully-fledged legal one when she along with seven other women deceived into intimate relationships by undercover officers sued…