Met Police Secretly Monitored Activist Helen Steel During Search for Ex-Undercover Officer

Secret Surveillance of Helen Steel

Helen Steel, a well-known leftwing campaigner, and her parents landed at Auckland airport for a family holiday on December 14, 2002. It had been a tiring journey, so they were irritated when they were delayed leaving the airport for an hour.

Little did they know that this delay was part of a covert operation initiated three weeks earlier. Police in New Zealand, acting on instructions from Scotland Yard, had placed Steel under surveillance. They followed her and took photographs of her movements.

These revelations came to light during the spycops public inquiry, which is examining the conduct of undercover police officers who monitored more than 1,000 political groups between 1968 and at least 2010. Senior Scotland Yard officers had arranged for New Zealand police to secretly monitor Steel on two occasions as part of a calculated plan to protect an undercover officer.

Helen Steel testified that the surveillance and use of public funds were abuses of state powers intended to prevent her from discovering how John Dines, an undercover officer, had “deceived and sexually exploited” her. She was particularly upset about the police protecting what she described as an “illegitimate and undemocratic operation.”

Paul Condon, the former Met Commissioner, admitted during the hearings that Scotland Yard had failed to control officers involved in numerous abuses, including monitoring grieving families such as those of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, stealing identities of dead children, and lying in court.

The relationship between Helen Steel and John Dines began in 1990. At first, she believed he was an ideal man who wanted to have six children and spend the rest of his life with her. However, in 1992, Dines disappeared after claiming a mental breakdown, which turned out to be a lie to end his undercover deployment.

Steel suffered from “sadistic and callous psychological torture” over a prolonged period as Dines gave her contradictory signals—repeatedly going missing, claiming he could not handle their relationship, before returning and proclaiming his love for her. After his disappearance, she started investigating who he really was, eventually uncovering that he had been an undercover spy.

Documents before the inquiry revealed Scotland Yard’s secret tracking of Steel. While she tried to trace Dines, police logged her interactions with people like a barrister in Auckland, who provided legal advice during her McLibel case trial. The longest trial in English history, this battle involved Steel and another campaigner suing McDonald's.

In December 2002, Steel flew to New Zealand for two months with her parents to visit friends and family. At the behest of Scotland Yard, New Zealand police were instructed to monitor her movements. One report noted that “Steel has done little other than local shopping with her sister.” It also mentioned urgent inquiries to identify her sister and family.

As Steel contacted people she believed might have been Dines’s relatives, the Metropolitan Police devised a plan to move him and his family to Australia quickly. The cost of subsidizing the purchase of an expensive house in Sydney and compensating Dines for lost income as a barrister were included in this £2.5 million expenditure.

Senior officers claimed they did not know about Steel’s relationship with Dines, but campaigners dismissed this claim. Undercover officers routinely formed sexual relationships with women they were spying on, making their assertion implausible.

The case highlights the extensive lengths taken by law enforcement agencies to protect undercover operations and prevent activists from discovering the truth about their surveillance. Helen Steel's experience underscores the need for increased transparency and accountability in policing practices that involve secret monitoring of individuals and families.

Source: The Guardian