Undercover officer admits lying to spycops inquiry about sexual relationship

An undercover police officer who infiltrated leftwing and animal rights campaign groups has been forced to admit he had a sexual relationship lasting at least six months while operating under a fake identity, after previously telling a public inquiry he had not.

The officer, who used the cover name Dave Evans during his deployment, had originally testified to the long-running inquiry into undercover policing, widely known as the spycops inquiry, that he did not form any relationships while living under his false identity.

That account has since been contradicted, with the officer now acknowledging the relationship took place during his time embedded in the campaign groups he was sent to monitor. The admission adds to a series of disclosures before the inquiry concerning undercover officers who formed intimate relationships with people they were surveilling, often without those individuals knowing the officers' true identities or purpose.

The spycops inquiry was established to examine the conduct of undercover police units that infiltrated political and campaign groups in England and Wales over several decades. It has previously heard evidence describing relationships between undercover officers and activists, prompting scrutiny of the oversight and rules governing such deployments at the time.

The latest admission is likely to renew questions about the reliability of undercover officers' testimony to the inquiry and about the adequacy of safeguards intended to prevent officers from engaging in intimate relationships while undercover. The inquiry's examination of these deployments is continuing.