Scotland Yard Apologises To Women Deceived Into Relationships With Undercover Officers
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The judge chairing the public inquiry into undercover police who had sex with their activist targets has caused an outcry by saying that officers were less likely to enter illicit relationships if they were happily married.
Sir John Mitting’s “old-fashioned” views angered those who were duped into relationships, marriage and even having children with police officers who infiltrated the environmental and animal rights protest movements. His comments, and wider unease over his handling of the inquiry, are likely to lead to a boycott of proceedings by victims.
The inquiry has already cost more than £9 million but is not expected to hear any evidence until next year. It was ordered in 2014 by Theresa May as home secretary, but has been beset by delays.
Sir John, 70, said that his experience of life had shown that men who were in lengthy marriages were “less likely to have engaged in extramarital affairs”.
Victims told The Times that the remarks added to their concerns about the judge’s ability to carry out a proper investigation into police tactics that resulted in dozens of women being duped into relationships over three decades.
Sir John has been considering whether the cover names and real identities of officers should be released. Discussing an application in February, he indicated that he thought it was unlikely that the officer would have entered illicit relationships because he had a long marriage.
He said: “We have had examples of undercover male officers who have gone through more than one long-term permanent relationship, sometimes simultaneously. There are also officers who have reached a ripe old age who are still married to the same woman that they were married to as a very young man. The experience of life tells one that the latter person is less likely to have engaged in extramarital affairs than the former.”
The above is an abstract of an article from The Times Newspaper by
The cases involved four officers who worked on an undercover unit called the Special Demonstration Squad, Bob Lambert, John Dines, Mark Jenner, and Jim Boyling, and another from the National Public Order Intelligence Unit, Mark Kennedy. They became involved in intimate sexual relationships with members of environmental campaign groups they were trying to infiltrate from the mid-1980s to 2010.
via Scotland Yard Apologises To Women Deceived Into Relationships With Undercover Officers
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