A former police spy has condemned the Metropolitan Police for disclosing her involvement in a 1998 Animal Liberation Front raid that released up to 6,000 mink into the New Forest. The officer, who used the alias Christine Green, said senior officers should 'hang their heads in shame' for exposing her role while concealing the identities of those who authorised the operation.
Green spent five years in the Met's covert Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) in the 1990s, posing as an animal rights activist. She criticised the force for revealing her fake name while shielding her superiors, whose authorisation for her participation could have reached the rank of detective chief superintendent. 'That seems like double standards to me,' she said.
In a statement, Green described suffering mental health problems from her undercover work and undergoing therapy. She wrote: 'That the current senior management team at the Metropolitan police has chosen to expose my role, knowing the vilification and furore that would follow... is scandalous. It is the Metropolitan police, not I, who should be holding its head in shame.'
The Met publicly apologised to Hampshire Police for concealing Green's involvement in the raid and its knowledge of the culprits. Hampshire detectives had investigated but charged no one. The Met said the decision to disclose Green's identity was made by a public inquiry examining police infiltration of political groups since 1968, and details were published due to public interest.
Green offered a 'heartfelt apology' to activists she befriended, saying her 'duplicity' had long-term effects on her health. She insisted she was not an agent provocateur and that her role was to gather intelligence, not entrap individuals. The Met confirmed she is not being treated as a suspect.
