A SCOTTISH detective played a key role in the disgraced ‘sex spy’ unit central to a judicial inquiry into undercover work at the Metropolitan Police.
Paul Hogan, who was at Tayside Police before joining the single force, was seconded to the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU) where he handled covert operations at the G8 summit in Gleneagles.
The disclosure has fuelled calls for the Pitchford Inquiry, set up to examine the ethics of police infiltration of protest groups, to cover activities in Scotland.
Lord Justice Pitchford is examining the practices of two Met-based undercover units set up to keep tabs on so-called political subversives and extremists.
The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) operated for 40 years until 2008 and focused on London, while the NPOIU, which had a UK-wide remit, was created in 1999.
Both specialised in embedding police moles into organisations, but it has since emerged that non-violent groups were targeted and undercover officers slept with female targets.
The most notorious NPOIU police mole, Mark Kennedy, had sex with numerous females who knew nothing about his real police identity.
Police Scotland has faced calls to say if any officers from north of the border worked for the NPOIU, but the force has consistently refused to answer.
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It can now be revealed that now retired Hogan, who joined the old Tayside force in 1992 before rising to the rank of detective inspector at Police Scotland, was seconded to the NPOIU and performed a vital management role.
A biography retrieved from the Linkedin social media site revealed that the 54 year old worked with the NPOIU between 2003 and 2007.
According to the profile, he was an “intelligence coordination/field officer” for the first nine months:
“Seconded to a National Unit responsible for gathering, assessing and disseminating intelligence relating to Domestic Extremism, including Animal Rights, Left & Right Wing Extremists and Environmental Extremism.
“Attending force areas throughout the UK I would work with covert assets to assist with the planning, preparation and implementation of any operational policing response to planned demonstrations where there was potential for extremist activity.
“As part of my remit I would provide presentations on the capabilities of the unit (NPOIU) to a wide range of partner agencies and interested parties including all law enforcement bodies within the UK and interested commercial partners such as the pharmaceutical industry, often the victim of unwanted Animal Rights extremism.”
Between September 2003 and March 2005, the biography makes clear he handled undercover officers:
“Coordinated the activities of 5 Field Officers who had liaison responsibilities across all Police Forces within the UK.
He added: “Made significant contribution to critical plans for the G8 Summit to ensure maximum intelligence dividend.”
During the next eleven months, his role at the NPOIU included managing undercover activities at the G8.
“Leading a team of 19 with a 1/4 million budget I controlled all the department's covert intelligence assets and ensured legislative compliance.
“Contributed to covert policing activity at the G8 Summit providing logistical support to all officers and particularly those unfamiliar with the location.
On the 19 months leading to up July 2007, the biography elaborated: “Maintaining my previous responsibilities I operated at a strategic level developing opportunities to improve our covert capabilities and enhance our intelligence gathering.”
He then resumed his duties at the Tayside force before taking up a senior post in Police Scotland’s Specialist Crime Division. He lives in the outskirts of Dundee and now works in the private sector.
A policing source told this newspaper that Hogan’s career confirmed that officers from Scotland were seconded to management roles at the NPOIU, rather than being used as undercover assets.
The Sunday Herald revealed recently that Eleanor Mitchell, who was head of Police Scotland’s Professional Standards Department before retiring this year, was also linked to the NPOIU.
Picture: Findlay
Neil Findlay, a Labour candidate for Holyrood who has campaigned for police transparency, said the revelations showed why the Pitchford inquiry had to extend to Scotland.
"Here is yet more evidence of the Scottish link to the undercover policing scandal. We know a number of Scottish officers were seconded to the now discredited NPOIU and SDS and that both units were involved in undercover surveillance at Gleneagles and in other events in Scotland. We need full disclosure about the activities of these units via a full public inquiry."
Jason Kirkpatrick, an activist and film-maker who was spied on during the Gleneagles G8, said: "If Paul Hogan indeed had responsibilities for undercover operations during the Scottish G8 in 2005, then I want to know if he was responsible for having me targeted in Edinburgh, and interfering with my press work at that time. People in Scotland have a right to see the truth exposed."
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We will not discuss the secondment of officers to the NPOIU and we do not have any remit to discuss the work of that unit. Police Scotland does not comment on matters relating to intelligence or covert operations.”
A source close to the force said the retired officer did not wish to make any comment.
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