Met Police investigated by watchdog for ‘illegal monitoring’ of environmental campaigners’ private emails

Secretive monitoring operation has been running for 'a number of years', says anonymous source

The Rainbow Warrior III, the newest ship of the enivornmental conservation organisation Greenpeace, accompanied by activists on its way to port in Hamburg (Getty)

Scotland Yard is being investigated by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) over claims its officers illegally hacked the emails of environmental campaigners and journalists.

The watchdog was first alerted to the allegations by an anonymous source, who claimed a unit inside the Metropolitan Police was working with counterparts in India to regularly monitor the inboxes of activists, four of whom worked for Greenpeace.

The letter, sent to Green Party peer Jenny Jones and seen by The Guardian, said the secretive monitoring operation had been running for “a number of years… using hackers to obtain email passwords”.

Ten alleged victims of the hacking – and their passwords - were named in the letter.

Five of those were contacted by lawyers said their passwords matched exactly that which was held by the police, while a sixth person said their password was almost identical. The remaining four on the list have not yet been contacted.

Cat Dorey, who has worked for Greenpeace since 2001, told the paper: “Even though Greenpeace UK staff, volunteers, and activists were always warned to assume someone was listening to our phone conversations or reading our emails, it still came as a shock to find out I was being watched by the police. It’s creepy to think of strangers reading my personal emails.”

Ms Jones called for a “full-scale criminal investigation into the activities of these police officers” and said it should be referred to a public inquiry, which has now happened.

A spokesperson for the IPCC said: “After requesting and receiving a referral by the Metropolitan Police Service, we have begun an independent investigation related to anonymous allegations concerning the accessing of personal data.

“We are still assessing the scope of the investigation and so we are not able to comment further.”