The Evening Standard today reported that:

Mark Kennedy had left the Met seven months earlier and joined a company run by former Special Branch detectives.

Global Open describe themselves as:

run by former New Scotland Yard Special Branch officers.

Where the Evening Standard or the poster of this article got their information is unclear, but as well as helpfully revealing the existence of this company, it does raise serious questions about whether Mark Stone really did switch allegiances as claimed by many mainstream news sources yesterday, or whether he saw an opportunity to make more money with Global Open.

In a different article yesterday, the Evening Standard noted that:

"[Kennedy] is said to have become "depressed" over his "betrayal" of the cause and is believed to have moved to the United States.

Again they appear to be the only source that suggested where he might be. It is worth noting that Global Open also state on their website that:

Global Open (USA) LLC is our sister company, registered and run in the United States of America for the benefit of North American corporations and individuals.

It shares the core aims and objectives of Global Open in Europe. It uses the services of former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officers and their associates.

The questions raised are whether Mark Kennedy is now spying on activists in the States, and whether his 'depression' was grounds for medical retirement and a handy little police pension for the rest of his life.

There are many companies and state stasi that have been attacking all of us for a long time, and they tend to be a secondary priority for us, seen more of a hazard than a target.

Some individuals and groups have started fighting back directly, but I suggest it is time for mass action from all movements against the scum. They are a ball and chain around our legs.

Apart from the specialised anti-infiltrator groups we need to put the fear of god into them with some mass actions and serious repercussions. Payback for all the lives they have destroyed and damage they have done. Even a thousand people could take over their places of work, destroy their documentation, and make them realise they are not immune.

Whilst its worthwhile pointing out that private skumfucks like this exist
the poster has not providedany evidence that Mark-shithead-Kennedy is now with this outfit.

please could mods remove it.

could the poster just re post without the unsupported allegation.

oops just read the standard's peice, wonder who their source, is that is actually the first sugestion of something new about the whys of Mark shithead Kennedy since the current media flurry,

Global Open Are run by a former head of the Animal Rights National Index (ARNI), which was later subsumed into the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), the unit that PC Kennedy is said to have been run by.

This is more likely to actually be the sub-unit of NPIOU called the Confidential Intelligence Unit whose speciality is running the long-term infiltrators - that is, it subsumed the old Special Demonstration Squad in the re-organsiations that took place in 1999 and in 2004 which saw the creation of NETCU and the National Domestic Extremism Team. CIU appeared in the media a couple of years back when it was advertising for new staff whose job would include targeting environmental protest groups such as Climate Camp and Plane Stupid.

Global Open appeared in documents produced in injunction taken out against animal rights groups documents about five years ago. It is believed that Global Open prefers to specialise in providing information on protestors and campaign groups to companies, unlike others in its field (they are not the only ones). Given all this, they are a natural fit for PC Kennedy, however, this article provides circumstantial rather than concrete evidence that it is they who he is working for.

My contract with BAE Systems ("BAE") began two years ago. I was
contacted by Rod Leeming from a management consultancy called
Global Open Ltd, who said he had been approached by BAE because
BAE needed someone to provide BAE's media and lnternet monitoring
requirement in order to examine potential threats to it. Such threats
came from a diverse range of groups including political interest groups.


Knew I'd heard that name before........

Mark Kennedy / Stone AKA Flash worked for Global Open a private security company who spy on behalf of corporations.

Global Open first came to light for during the CAAT (Campaign Against the Arms Trade) for employing Paul Mercer to spy on CAAT

CAAT Briefing
 http://www.caat.org.uk/issues/sfo/CAATvMercer-briefing.pdf

Court Documents
CAATvMercer

Global Open:  http://www.globalopen-uk.com/
Global Open Ltd
10 Springpark Drive
Beckenham
Kent
BR3 6QD



Company Information

Companies House Number: 04152470
Incorporation Date: 01 Feb 2001
Latest set of accounts: Filed on: 23 Sep 10
Made up to: 31 Mar 10

Directors
MR VICTOR RAYMOND BARRITT ASH

RODERICK LEEMING

ALISON JANE LEEMING

Former Director
MRS HEATHER MARY MILLGATE

spies alert

26.10.2004 18:13
Human wrongs - Animal rights

So it looks like theve finally found someone accessing the DVLA computers at Swansea. He got 5 months for doing the right thing. Well done youve found one infiltrator, now all that you have to do is find the rest of them. And there will be hundreds of them!

In the meantime time to get on get on the case of a real scumbag. These guys spy on us for money. They are ex filth. And when their (ex) mates pass on information to them they dont get 5 months, just hard cash instead.

The name of the company is Global Open. The boss is Rod Leeming who lives in SE London at 10 Springpark Drive, BR3 6QD. Why not write to them or call round asking them to stop spying on activists? Or better still let the neighbours know that they have a potentioal peeping tom living next door.

Over the next few weeks we will release further details of Rods family and asscicates unless we hear that he has stopped all his peeping activitis.

"digging up someones mum near you"

A.R.M. for the animals

The stuff about Global Open is very interesting. There are other similar companies such as Verity in Newbury which would be good to hear more about if people have come across them.

Please keep posting as we'll try and compile it all up. If you want a more secure method of communication, please email us directly at info {{at}} activistsecurity.org (we have pgp / gpg as well).

AS.org

Don't forget this lot:

 http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/392929.html?c=on

It appears that Global Open’s Heather Millgate also runs a solicitor’s firm.

‘She qualified as a Solicitor in 2001 and specialises in all types of personal injury claims. She has a particularly keen interest in head/brain injury. She is associated with Headway, the National Brain Injury charity, and in 2005 she ran the London Marathon to raise much needed funds for their Helpline, a crucial service for those new to brain injury. Heather has appeared on BBC Breakfast Television to raise the profile of this excellent service.’

Millgates Solicitors
Orchard House
36 Orchard Drive
Linslade
Leighton Buzzard
Bedfordshire
LU7 2PL

01525 300404

So although Kennedy was essentially doing the same thing – spying on US – he was now doing it directly for private companies rather than the police. This is surely less defensible and definitely suggests that his claims of remorse about what he did are false.

There appears to be a fairly strong case for Bindman’s to seek a court order to force Global Open to reveal what information it was being given by Kennedy. During 2010, before he was exposed, he was privy to a lot of legally privileged material about the Ratcliffe case. It also seems likely that Global Open’s client base includes E.on. If either this material was passed to Global Open and/or given to E.on it would appear to a serious case of contempt of court. There are also Data Protection implications.

I'm still unconvinced there is any proof that Mark shithead Kennedy is now working for this particular firm. but I think that the Standard piece is interesting . It actually could explain Mark's loss of his passport (and flat) and why he had been acting increasingly strangely. He had lost the protection of the state.

It also might also help explain why he had moved his focus away from the eco anarchist and anti- fascist left in recent times and appeared to have been developing a more Animal Rights bent.

After his set up by SL & Partner on Newsnight last night showing him to grovel, the state is either playing a long game or Mark shithead Kennedy has no friends left.

Unless of course he was trying to get back in our favour for his newer paymasters.......

Hey

My 2 p worth

If he has gone 'native' and prepared to help the ratcliffe defence - no police company will surely give the scum bag a job

The Eve Stan says this is from an inside source and there are persoal injury lawyers being mentioned - I reckon he is sueing the cops for his bad back when the friendly community cops of drax gave him a good kickin.

And i was sorry for the arse at the time.

Unless someone can enlighten as to where all this new info comes from my bet the cops are getting their own back ha ha couldn't happen to a nicer fella.

The Times was apparently told that he had been employed by Global Open but, on legal advice, chose merely to describe it as a security company run by former Special Branch officers. The Evening Standard merely repeated this story. Global Open is the only company of this nature which fits this description.

It is possible that the story was fed to the Times by the police to divert attention from their wrongdoing but this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t investigate what he was doing for Global Open.

It is also worth noting that Heather Millgate resigned as a director immediately before Kennedy was exposed. Was this just a coincidence or did she, as a solicitor, realise the mess that she was about to find herself in?

This may be of interest . . .

Global Open Ltd, United Kingdom
Sector: Bio-agriculture
Organisation Profile:
Global Open (Europe) Ltd
Global Open Limited was founded in the United Kingdom
and is run by former New Scotland Yard Special Branch
officers.
Global Open advises our existing base of clients about
events in Europe and other continents. Our combined
experience totals over 200 years of service and offers our
clients an unrivalled pool of talent and experience.
Discretion and confidentiality Intelligence is gathered
responsibly and legally from diverse sources.We are used to
handling sensitive information as a matter of routine. We
confidently deal with issues necessitating a measure of
discretion and confidentiality between company and client.
Global Open (USA) LLC
Global Open (USA) LLC is our sister company, registered
and run in the United States of America for the benefit of
North American corporations and individuals.
It shares the core aims and objectives of Global Open in
Europe. It uses the services of former Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) officers and their associates.
Organisation Role & Activities (Products & Services):
An appropriate response to the threat relies upon an
accurate assessment of the changing risk.
We ensure that our client have peace of mind by providing:
• Forward looking intelligence via our bulletin board
• Notification and an assessment of future events
• Daily or weekly, industry specific reports
• Monthly strategic reports on the main groups
• Statistical information
• A 24-hr alert/monitoring service
• Notification of high-risk dates
• Immediate circulation of new activist tactics
• Advice to minimise security expenditure
• Advice to maintain a low cost response
• Contingency planning and staff training
Where necessary, Global Open will:
• Discuss the level of intelligence gathering required by
the client and act within those instructions;
• Advise whether the requirement is considered to be
proportionate to the risk.
• Companies engaged in project security who are
concerned about the threat from activism should
arrange an appointment to discuss their requirements.
• Strategic assessment

Until they are targeted, risk managers engaged in business
continuity planning often exclude the risk from activism
connected with, for example:
• Animal rights;
• Environmental issues;
• Anti-corporatism;
• Anti-globalisation.
Organisation’s Achievements:
Corporate Social Responsibility
Global Open will identify and assess local NGOs that may
be approached and report on whether dialogue could be
useful.
Corporations need an early warning of a potential threat
to their reputation, particularly if the propaganda put out
on the Internet is politically motivated or is based upon
false data. Often corporations need to respond quickly to a
growing threat with their own facts in order to avoid the
momentum of reputation damage.
Global Open will monitor the Internet and inform
corporations of reputation threats so that they can
respond rapidly when necessary.
Corporations seeking to enhance their role in local
communities need to identify worthy local organisations
and maintain a dialogue with potential allies. Companies
must be careful in their choice of NGOs. The publicity given
to the practice of CSR must stand the test of examination
by political groups in opposition to the corporation.
Approaching NGOs
Activists monitor CSR with interest in order to identify
corporate ‘greenwash’. This is a term used by activists to
denote the practice of hollow or insincere CSR. It increases
the probability of being targeted by activists and political
opponents.
The support of reputable NGOs will demonstrate a
commitment to those affected by the activities of the
company and should deter a counter-campaign by activists.
Global Open will make the initial approach to a NGO if
required and identify an individual or leading group that is
willing to co-operate.
Number of Staff: 18
We Offer: Intelligence Gathering on the threat to
commerce in all countries where there is a perception of
risk from single-issue activism
Contact Person(s):
Mrs. Heather Millgate
Lawyer/Marketing Manager

 http://www.eumbio.org/download/eumbio%20catalogue%20270707.pdf



There is a picture of Millgate here . . .

 http://www.justgiving.com/heathermillgate

It lists John Millgate who is presumably her husband.


From her (now deleted) Linkedin entry . . .

Heather Millgate’s Summary

As a Director of Global Open Ltd and a practising solicitor. I am part of the strategic risk assessment team at Global Open Ltd and specialise in the legal aspects of risk in respect of UK and European Law under the Convention of Human Rights.

Global Open Ltd advise and respond to the economic threat to commerce from European extremist and activist groups in the field of animal rights, climate change, energy, anti-war and anti-corporatism.

We are reliant relies upon the absolute integrity of our staff when dealing with the threat to corporations, particularly when assessing highly confidential information that has a direct bearing upon the threat from activists.

I pride myself in working for a forward looking company that deals with commerce and some government departments in European countries in the field of domestic extremism.

Heather Millgate’s Specialties:

Legal aspects of risk in respect of UK and European Law, intelligence gathering and analysis, advising companies who wish to deal with extremism issues or put in place contingency plans.


From the 2009 BioFinance conference . . .

Lunchtime Workshop
Reduce Your Level Of Vulnerability
14.15 – 14.30
A light hearted, but serious mini workshop provided by Global Open. Designed to raise awareness on personal and organisational risk and how to reduce your level of vulnerability.
Confirmed Speaker:
Heather Millgate
Global Open

Other speakers came from AstraZeneca, Wyeth, GSK, Bristol-Myers Squib, Roche.

"Now documents reveal links between Kennedy and a company run by ex-Special Branch officers, Global Open, which keeps a ‘discreet watch’ on protest groups for clients including E.ON."

The story was taken off the Daily Mail website shortly after it appeared.

Did anyone keep a copy?

This may possibly be because newspapers often hold stories back for the print editions – where they make their money – but it might have been because of a legal threat from E.ON.

It therefore appears increasingly likely that Kennedy was working for Global Open after leaving the police and until his exposure which blows a hole in all of his pathetic protestations and elevates him to mega-scum. It might also explain why Heather Millgate is suddenly so keen to distance herself from Global Open.

Global Open's focus is definately on animal rights and this would explain Kennedy's increased interest in these groups in the final stages of his infiltration career. Global Open has a US operation and, if he is in the States, could they be looking after him?

A far more sinister aspect of this emerging scandal is that Kennedy, having spent seven years infiltrating protest groups, moves seamlessly into a private company run by former SB coppers. Although we can only be disgusted about what he did, it is important to recognise that when he left the police he was a valuable asset.

Who facilitated this seamless move into the private sector?

What are Global Open’s links with their former colleagues in NPOIU?

Having given Global Open this valuable asset did the police expect a payback?

But google are still showing the link if you search for the quoted text

I'm surprised nobody's mentioned his being beaten up by cops at Drax before now (after winding them up good and proper!)...did they know who he was? was he being given a message from them? was he doing it for a bit of activist cred? why did the police helicopter vanish at that moment?

This Global Open stuff is really interesting...still no actual evidence he worked for them but keep digging and sharing folks...this is a much more constructive thread.

Flash Mark getting beaten up by his rozzerista mates at Drax HAS been mentioned before (at the time of his first exposure last October). I think a kicking by conspiracy is fantasising too far. Just some boneheads in blue doing their usual and someone standing up to them.

Remember, it was on this action that Met and W.Yorks cops were on the verge of trading blows with each other, sergeants pushing each other in the chest, cops piling out of vans to get stuck in, and top cops rushing to get between them before it fully kicked off. All with our outer gate crew and others looking on. That's how much control Old Bill had of events. They were a violent, abusive shambles, not a conspiracy

If Mark (then quite new) thought his activist cred would be enhanced by a kicking,it didn't last long. He refused to sue them, giving a rather crappy excuse. That should, perhaps, have aroused suspicion at the time, but I don't think it did and wasn't widely known.

In The Daily Mail Kennedy says "They removed him from the undercover role in October 2009. He says he was effectively forced out of the police, with officials telling him he was only ‘qualified to drive a panda car’.
 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347601/My-life-run-The-police-spy-lifts-lid-years-eco-warrior.html

The Guardian says "In February 2010 – a month before resigning – he set up Tokra Limited.."
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/12/mark-kennedy-policeman-corporate-spy

So he resigned in March or April when presumably he"decided to remain undercover in Nottingham, working for a private security firm paid to gather intelligence on protest movements for energy companies." (Daily Mail again)

So what was he doing between October and March? If he disappeared for about six months, wouldn't activists find this suspicious? Or is the Daily Mail story a load of tosh?