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The Metropolitan Police have published the manual used to train undercover spies to infiltrate protest groups for the first time.

The so-called 'tradecraft' manual, given to members of the Met's Special Demonstration Squad, instructs new recruits on how to steal the identities of dead babies using methods inspired by a Frederick Forsyth novel.

The document, finally published yesterday after numerous Freedom of Information requests, also suggests agents should: "try to have fleeting, disastrous relationships" with group members.

The Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) was a controversial team of undercover Special Branch officers, who infiltrated and spied on protest groups and activists from the 1960s to the 1990s.

A police investigation - Operation Herne - was set up in October 2011 to look into allegations made against the SDS, including using dead children’s identities.

The force has also been forced to apologise and pay out £425,000 to a woman who had a child with Special Branch detective Bob Lambert, who was working undercover and spying on a protest group of which she was a member.

The document has been heavily censored, with all but a handful of passages in the 60 page document blacked out and most of the accompanying reference material removed.

Here's the important things to know about the manual.

Taking the identities of dead babies

According to a report produced by to Operation Herne, rooting through death registers stored at London's St Catherine's House was one of the first tasks a new agent would perform.

They would spend hours searching for a name they could use to obtain passports and driving licences without arousing suspicion.

The manual described the practice, which was apparently stopped in 1995, as 'unsafe' - but said there was no alternative.

The tradecraft manual says the method of finding identities to use was inspired by the Frederick Forsyth novel Day of the Jackal.

Sexual relationships

The manual includes a passage advising agents "who have no other option" to "try to have fleeting, disastrous relationships with individuals who are not important to your sources of information."

The situations that might lead an agent to engage in such behaviour have been redacted.

It's thought that more than 100 women may have been duped into having sexual relationships with undercover police working for the SDS - including at least one who had a child with an officer.

The Met has since issued new guidance banning undercover officers from having sex with targets.

Returning to normal life

One fascinating passage describes lightheartedly what officers can expect when returning to normal Special Branch life after an undercover tour.

It says "The first thing you notice on arriving back at CO [Scotland Yard] is that you can't find anything.

"Overall you will have a slight feeling of detachment. You are no longer in charge of your working life."

A 'Q&A' section, reads:

First of all ask yourself the following questions.

Q: Why does my suit not fit. A: Because you're fat.

Q: Why do I have to get up at 7.30am every day? A: Because they will stop paying you if you don't.

Q: Why do I have to get off the tube with the rest of the lemmings? A: Because they took your van off you.

Q: Why am I poor? A: Because you've got used to spending money you no longer have

The section also warns that many former undercover officers suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - and that help was available to officers that were troubled.

Committing crimes while undercover

An appendix to the manual - which the undercover agent is required to sign along with his handler - explains that undercover police are not allowed to become 'agent provocateurs'.

This means they're not allowed to encourage people to commit crimes they wouldn't have committed anyway.

Agents are permitted to show 'interest in and enthusiasm for' unlawful actions in order to keep their cover, and participate in offences which are already underway or suggested by others.