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Spycops may have had intimate relationships with activists from their inception, inquest hears
Former officer says SDS officers were foot soldiers for MI5

by Bethany Rielly

INTIMATE relationships between spycops and campaigners may have occurred from the very inception of a secret Scotland Yard unit, a public inquiry heard today. 

It had previously been understood that relationships between officers working for the shady Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) — set up in 1968 to infiltrate protest groups — and campaigners did not begin until the mid-1970s. 

The Undercover Policing Inquiry heard evidence today from former officer Joan Hillier, one of the first SDS members.

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