Violent bully Andy Coles assaults and intimidates activists, including the woman he abused in the 1990s

Jessica and a fellow activist were confronted by Andy Coles while leafleting in his council ward.

For the last two years, ex-spycop turned Tory councillor Andy Coles has been exposed here and on other platforms as lying, mendacious, disreputable and utterly vile. Now it can be added that he is also a violent bully.

On Monday 29 April, Jessica (not her real name), and a fellow activist were distributing a leaflet for the upcoming local elections in the ward of Fletton & Woodston which Coles represents on Peterborough Council.

Entitled This is who the Tories think is suitable to be your councillor, it said Coles worked for the secret Scotland Yard unit that infiltrated protest groups, the Special Demonstrations Squad, and that he had groomed Jessica who was just 19 at the time by pretending to be an activist like her. As a result they had a year-long sexual relationship.

Jessica told Kit Klarenberg, reporter for Sputnik News, what happened next: “We’d just finished posting them through front doors in a cul-de-sac, when I turned round and he was standing 20 yards away filming us. It was a total shock — we hadn’t been face-to-face since 1993. I pulled my hat down and my friend shielded his face with leaflets, but Coles yelled that it didn’t matter because he had lots of footage of us already. I felt sick.”

In order to exit the cul-de-sac they were forced to pass close to Coles who then violently grabbed the leaflets off Jessica’s friend, wrenching their fingers in the process, while yelling: “I’ve got your fingerprints now, you’re going to jail!” He continued shouting and filming as he followed them.

After managing to give him the slip, they went to the local hospital fearing the activist’s fingers may have been broken. Fortunately they had suffered only tissue and possibly tendon damage. Jessica also reported the theft of their leaflets to local police and her friend reported Coles’ assault on him.
 
The seriousness of the attack lies not just in its violence but also in the intimidatory nature of the filming Coles did. Jessica has an anonymity order from the Undercover Policing Public Inquiry which forbids anyone revealing her real name or any details which might identify her. Coles is also the subject of an ongoing police investigation into sexual offences against Jessica.
 

Later the same day Coles gave a statement to the Peterborough Telegraph in which he said he had made a “counter claim about the incident” and added: “The circumstances are already reported to the council’s electoral services and I await their contact with police to investigate offences”.

Polling took place on 2 May and the Conservatives lost their overall majority by three seats which means the council is now under no overall control. Coles’ seat, however, was one of those not up for election. In 2016, due to boundary changes, Fletton & Woodston elected three councillors at once, for tenures of two, three and four years. Coles won the four-year term and is up for re-election next year.

Afterwards Jessica made the following statement which appeared on the Sack Andy Coles website:

Despite my abuser haranguing me in the street, I will not be intimidated. It just empahsises the importance of telling the people of Peterborough who this man really is. I stayed in the city for the rest of the week distributing the leaflets and talking to people about him.
‘Coles and his former colleagues talk up fears of intimidation and violence from the people they spied on, but the reality is that we are facing these things from him. All I want is justice and accountability. That’s what he’s really scared of’.

 


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