The witnesses in the Inquiry this week were undercover police officer HN1/"Matt Rayner" preceded by the young woman he targeted for a sexual relationship over 30 years ago.
Compared to other undercover police officers who have given evidence, "Matt Rayner" came across as intelligent and well educated. He was willing to admit the basic facts of what happened but it was striking how many times he would not engage with the fact that what he had done was simply wrong, both in terms of his duties as someone working for the state and of basic morality. He would not acknowledge the vulnerability of his target or the harm he would foreseeably have caused bearing in mind that vulnerability. He seemed to think that someone would be back to normal a week or two after a suicide attempt.
It was very striking that someone in his position would have been given anonymity by the Inquiry, and maintained it, which is why he appeared as "Matt Rayner", when it has emerged that he had misled the Inquiry in a number of highly material respects in order to secure that anonymity.
I would love to know who "Matt Rayner" is. I get the impression he has been very successful over the past few decades and I wonder if he is highly placed in the Establishment.