The Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) was set up in 2015 by then-home secretary Theresa May after a series of disclosures about undercover tactics. 'It's profoundly sinister, and an affront, not just to the basic fundamental rights of those I represent, but to democracy itself,' he added. Mr Weatherby told inquiry chairman Sir John Mitting 'there is nothing funny' about the images shown and that he was not making a 'light-hearted point'. 'It was misspent over the course of decades and decades of state sanctioned clandestine activities by the police monitoring justice campaigns, anti-racism, anti-police violence groups, environmental campaigns, community solidarity networks, animal rights groups, and the political activism, rebel clowns, musicians, artists, campaigners and others.' 'This is what millions of pounds of money, diverted from budgets that could have been allocated to the police to protect our communities, or that could have been allocated to other public budgets - to the NHS, to schools to libraries or to the arts - was misspent on. Mr Weatherby asked the inquiry into the use of undercover officers: 'How is that legitimate policing?' The officer was photographed at an anti-arms trade protest in the tank with the Globalise Resistance group, which he infiltrated from 2002 until he was unmasked in 2004. He also showed a picture of HN118, whose assumed name was 'Simon Wellings', who he said used his time undercover to build an orange military tank out of plywood and cardboard. Mr Weatherby said EN34 infiltrated the group, along with a series of other peace and environmental campaigns, over a five-year period during which she 'befriended and tricked countless individuals'. In the clip, filmed in Leeds in 2004, she appears in costume and clown make-up, waving a feather duster, as part of the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army (Circa) - a street performance campaign group. Peter Weatherby QC, who is representing 18 individuals and organisations who have been spied on, played a video of an officer known as EN34, whose undercover name was 'Lynn Watson'.
Peter Weatherby QC, who is representing 18 individuals and organisations who have been spied on, played a video of an officer known as EN34, whose undercover name was 'Lynn Watson' infiltrating the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army