A US citizen has filed for legal action in a bid to force British Prime Minister Theresa May to include the north in an inquiry into the activities of undercover police officers in England and Wales.
The case has been taken by American citizen Jason Kirkpatrick who was one of several anti-globalisation campaigners who were befriended by former police officer Mark Kennedy while they held events on both sides of the border over a decade ago.
Kennedy is one of several former undercover officers accused of tricking women into having sexual relationships with them.
The Undercover Policing Inquiry, which is being headed by Lord Justice Pitchford, was set up last year to probe the infiltration of political organisations by undercover police units since 1968.
Kennedy visited the north with anti-globalisation activists in 2005.
Mr Kirkpatrick said he had launched the legal action in a bid to find out why he was “targeted in Belfast by one of the most elite undercover officers of the British state”.
His solicitor Darragh Mackin of KRW Law said it was “illogical to assert that an investigation is required in London, but not in this jurisdiction”.
Calls for the Pitchford Inquiry to also operate in Scotland have won cross-party support at Holyrood.
