A4, Photocopied twelve page document, black on various coloured paper, undated. A background briefing for journalists produced and published by GALOP (Gay London Police Monitoring Group) in relation to the trial of Keith Hampson, MP, then a PPS (Private Parliamentary Secretary: an un-paid assistant) to the Secretary of State for Defence, Michael Heseltine. Keith Hampson had been arrested on 4th June 1984 in the Gay Theatre strip club at 69 Berwick Street, Soho, where it was alleged that he had indecently assaulted Stuart Marshall, a plain-clothes policeman. On 4th June 1984 he was committed for trial at Southwark Crown Court, and at the end of his trial on 25th October 1984, the trial judge directed the jury to find him not guilty.
The briefing sets out the background of the history and current practice of the Police using "agents provocateurs" (usually plain-clothes policemen) to entrap gay men, and then lying, cheating and fabricating evidence to gain convictions before uncritical magistrates in Magistrates' Courts, whereas juries consistently rejected Police testimony where it was contested in cases that went to the Crown Courts. Gives background as how the criminal law discriminated against gay men at the time, and how it was used and abused by the Police to get "easy" convictions of gay men.
