Three senior judges have ruled that the undercover police officer Mark Kennedy unlawfully spied on environmentalists and arguably acted as an "agent provocateur".

In a damning ruling explaining why they quashed the convictions of 20 climate change activists, the appeal court judges said they shared the "great deal of justifiable public disquiet" about the case.

The judges, who included the lord chief justice, said "elementary principles" of the fair trial process were ignored when prosecutors did not disclose evidence about Kennedy's work to activists' lawyers.

The court announced on Tuesday that it would quash the convictions of the activists, who were wrongly accused of conspiring to break into Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in 2009.

The judgment also made several criticisms of Kennedy, including that his deployment could have been construed as "entrapment". It revealed Kennedy was part of a long-term programme "to infiltrate extreme leftwing groups" in the UK. Other court documents say the spy programme was called Operation Pegasus.

Kennedy, who has expressed remorse for the seven years he lived deep undercover in the environmental movement, responded by saying in a statement issued by his publicist, Max Clifford: "I refute the claim that I acted as an agent provocateur. At no time have I or did I actively encourage a group or person to engage in an activity that they were not already engaged in."

But it will now be for senior police officers to explain why Kennedy, one of a network of police spies planted in protest groups, may have incited protesters to commit criminal acts they were later prosecuted for.

Among those who will be asked questions is Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), which was responsible for the shadowy unit to which Kennedy was seconded.

The national public order intelligence unit was later transferred to the Metropolitan police, under the command of the assistant commissioner John Yates, who resigned this week.

Orde is being tipped as a replacement Met commissioner. So too is Bernard Hogan-Howe, the top-ranking officer conducting an official inquiry into the Kennedy affair for Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary.

ACPO said in a statement: "The law is quite clear that undercover officers are absolutely prohibited from inducing people to commit offences they wouldn't otherwise commit. We are hopeful that the reviews into these events will make recommendations that will perhaps bring further robust governance, accountability and intrusive management into undercover policing, while preserving the value of the tactic to keeping communities safe."

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/20/police-spy-on-cli...