Senior officers knew about or tolerated Kennedy's relationship with Wilson, the tribunal found. Photo: Kate Wilson
VICE World News spoke with more than half a dozen people closely involved with the UK climate movement who came in contact with “Mark Stone” during the 2000s. Some of them, like Wilson, are still attempting to rebuild their lives. They have been largely unable to engage in climate activism since Kennedy was exposed. And they say the shockwaves of distrust and paranoia he sent into their community destabilized a movement that was on the verge of making a huge political impact.“Let’s roll back history a bit,” said Harry Halpin, a former climate organizer from the U.S. who said he was tracked by FBI agents after attending activist meetings with Kennedy. Halpin said there was real global momentum building behind a climate protest movement during the late 2000s. But instead of “pressuring governments with the help of scientists to stop climate change,” it largely fizzled. He holds Kennedy partly responsible.“Let’s be very clear: Mark intentionally destroyed that process,” said Halpin, who now runs an internet privacy company that employs Chelsea Manning. “He did that by picking on key people and destroying their lives.”“He was controlling people’s ability to organize politically.”
Mark Kennedy in 2011. The tribunal found he had had sex with at least 11 women while undercover. Photo by Nick Stern
Mark Kennedy even went to Kate Wilson's grandmother's 90th birthday party. Photo: Kate Wilson
In addition to being useful to the movement, Kennedy could also be lots of fun to be around. “He was a nice guy, super friendly, really easy to get along with,” said Jason Kirkpatrick, a climate activist who first met Kennedy around this time, and is working on a documentary about undercover policing called Spied Upon. “He had some money, he offered to buy rounds of beer; that made him quite popular.” For many activists at the G-8 summit, staying in the camp itself was one of the highlights. They cooked communal meals, networked, partied, and practiced direct democracy, a decentralized form of decision-making where everyone, at least in theory, has equal say and power. That got some climate activists thinking: What if they made camps like this a regular thing?“He offered to buy rounds of beer; that made him quite popular.”
Tight security around Drax power station, where activists were gathering for a "Camp for Climate Action" in August 2006. Photo by John Giles/PA Images via Getty Images
Police deal with climate change protesters at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in October 2009. Photo by David Jones/PA Images via Getty Images
Kennedy with his band—the 69ers—performs at his own 40th birthday in 2009. Photo by Nick Stern
Danny Chivers, second from right, was one of six defendants whose charges were dropped in Nottingham Crown Court in 2011, following revelations about Kennedy infiltrating the climate movement. Photo by David Jones/PA Images via Getty Images
Mark Kennedy in 2011. He was exposed as an undercover cop the year before. Photo by Nick Stern
Back in the UK, the Metropolitan Police issued an official apology to Wilson and other activists in 2015. “They were deceived fair and simple,” it read. But the apology claimed that Kennedy was a rogue officer and that his superiors never would have authorized him to sleep with activists as an intelligence-gathering tactic. Wilson thought that was bogus. In a 2018 Guardian article she said, “I want to know how high up the police hierarchy knowledge of the abuses went.”“Senior officers either knew of the relationship, chose not to know of its existence, or were incompetent and negligent.”
Last September, after nearly 10 years of court battles, Kate Wilson won a tribunal case for breaches of her human rights. Photo by Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images