An MP has used
parliamentary privilege to name an undercover police officer who
allegedly planted a fire bomb at a London department store in 1987.
Green MP Caroline Lucas said a jailed man, Geoff Sheppard, believed police officer Bob Lambert planted a device.
Mr Lambert infiltrated the Animal Liberation Front and his
evidence helped convict two men of fire-bombing three Debenhams stores.
In an
interview with the Guardian, Mr Lambert denied planting the device.
The attack in Harrow, north west London, did £340,000 of
damage and was part of a series of attacks on stores, including attacks
in Romford and Luton, which cost £8m and caused Debenhams to stop
selling furs.
When contacted by the BBC for a response, Mr Lambert referred to his statement in the Guardian.
He told the newspaper: "It was necessary to create the false
impression that I was a committed animal rights extremist to gain
intelligence so as to disrupt serious criminal conspiracies.
"However, I did not commit serious crime such as 'planting an incendiary device at the [Debenhams] Harrow store'."
Speaking in Parliament, Ms Lucas called for a "far reaching public inquiry into police infiltrators and informers".
Ms Lucas said one of the other men who was jailed claimed when he
heard about the fire at Debenhams in Harrow "I straight away knew that
Bob had carried out his part of the plan".
Ms Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said: "It seems that
planting the third incendiary device was perhaps a move to bolster
Lambert's credibility."
She said Mr Lambert was known by the alias Bob Robinson and
"pretended to be a committed environmental and animal rights campaigner
between 1984 and 1988".
Ms Lucas said: "In October 2011, after he was exposed as an
undercover officer, Bob Lambert admitted that, and I quote 'In the 1980s
I was deployed as an undercover Met special branch officer to identify
and prosecute members of Animal Liberation Front who were then engaged
in incendiary device and explosive device campaigns against targets in
the vivisection, meat and fur trades'."
She said: "Mr Lambert has also admitted that part of his mission was to identify and prosecute specific ALF activists."
Ms Lucas added: "He says: 'I succeeded in my task and that
success included the arrest and imprisonment of Geoff Sheppard and
Andrew Clarke'."
'Culprit never caught'
She said: "Sheppard and Clarke were tried and found guilty,
but the culprit who planted the incendiary device in the Harrow store
was never caught."
Ms Lucas said: "Bob Lambert's exposure as an undercover
police officer has prompted Geoff Sheppard to speak out about that
Harrow attack.
"Sheppard alleges that Lambert was the one who planted the third device and was involved in the ALF's co-ordinated campaign."
The Brighton MP said Sheppard had made a statement, which she
had seen, and she quoted from it: "Obviously I was not there when he
targeted that store because we all headed off in our separate directions
but I was lying in bed that night, and the news came over on the (BBC)
World Service that three Debenhams stores had had arson attacks on them
and that included the Harrow store as well.
"So obviously I straightaway knew that Bob had carried out his part of the plan.
"There's absolutely no doubt in my mind whatsoever that Bob
Lambert placed the incendiary device at the Debenhams store in Harrow. I
specifically remember him giving an explanation to me about how he had
been able to place one of the devices in that store, but how he had not
been able to place the second device."
Ms Lucas said: "This case raises anew questions about the
rules governing undercover police infiltrators and informers,
particularly when it comes to those officers committing a crime - an
area where the law is particularly grey."
Tougher guidelines
Police Minister Nick Herbert insisted there are tougher guidelines for police to follow.
He said: "Undercover operations are sometimes necessary to
protect the public to prevent or detect crime. I think we should commend
the difficult and often dangerous job performed by our undercover
officers.
"It is important for me to point out that the deployment of
Lambert took place in the (1980s) and that was before the Regulation of
Investigatory Powers Act 2000, or RIPA as it is known, came in to
purpose.
"That is the legislative framework that enables police and
the authorities using covert human intelligence sources such as
undercover officers to ensure they are acting within human rights
legislation."
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'BBC'
