Row erupts over police use of undercover officer

POLICE were facing serious questions yesterday after using an undercover officer to infiltrate climate campaign groups for up to ten years at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

The trial of six protesters accused of conspiring to shut down the coal-fired Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottinghamshire in 2009 collapsed after Pc Mark Kennedy offered to assist their case, although the Crown Prosecution Service denied the link.

Defence lawyer Mike Schwarz said the officer's identity was only discovered after he was confronted by campaigners and added that if his evidence had been kept secret there could have been a serious miscarriage of justice. He said the case raised concerns over the role of an officer as "agent provocateur", called for an inquiry into "murky" police tactics.

Earlier this month, 20 protesters were sentenced to a mixture of community orders and conditional discharges after they were convicted of conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass at Ratcliffe. The Met Police said it was "not prepared to discuss" an undercover officer.