Spycops: State sponsored adult grooming
What is ‘Spycops’ about?
Police investigating activist groups were encouraged to form relationships with members of those groups.
Often the people they targetted for relationships were not the targets of investigation, merely ‘disposable assets’ who were horrendously used to obtain information.
Information the police actually accrued undercover appears sparse, but the officers involved , in our view, overstepped a line by forming romantic and sexual relationships with people, even having children.
Some of the officers were married and lived doubly double lives. Some took the identities of children who had died.
It is almost impossible to justify the officers’ actions. Mny people’s lives were ruined, and the long term effects linger on.
There are still enquiries and legal activities, but justice for the deceived victims does not seem to be served, and accountability a distant dream.
The long term effects of these behaviours include the fact that Rape by Deception has effectively been rendered legal, with no way for those deceived into relationships having little legal recourse unless other crimes have been committed.
There is an important societal conversation to be had about boundaries and accountability in policing. Too many lives have been destroyed for simply standing up for what they believed was the right thing to do, using their right to protest. When campaigners break laws, they are all aware that they may face consequences. When they join a group and find themselves deceived at a personal and intimate level, that’s a separate conversation.
It’s not an understatement to say that the Spycops case hits at the very core of our justice and democracy systems, with far reaching political consequences, and deserves far closer attention than it currently receives.
‘Alison’s story
Kate Williams talks about her own ‘spycops’ story and legal journey.
ITV Love and Lies
“The chilling true story of scores of officers who posed as loving partners - and the women who became detectives to expose the infamous Spycops scandal.”
When the State puts spies into people’s lives, it’s way more than undercover policing. It’s grooming.
Former undercover policeman Mark Kennedy (AKA Mark Stone) speaks to Channel 4 News. One thing is clear - he refutes that the force knew nothing.
Video podcast discussing the enquiry
An interview with Alison, who was aware that the police might watch, but had no idea about the truth. Trained, funded, false id.
Bob Lambert, an undercover spy, duped ‘Jackie’ into a relationship. A child was born. The Met acknowledged the relationship shouldn’t have happened, but are failing to address their duty to the child, and tried to fight him in court, denying responsibility.
ITV Love and Lies
People begin to understand what’s happening, and the level of deceit is frightening.
“Alison and Helen discover that their exes were part of a covert police spy unit, and Lisa exposes Mark online.”
We have tried to keep what we’re covering here to just mainstream media.
However, this is a former undercover police officer talking about tactics used.
Eleanor talks about how her environmental activism left her a target to police infiltrators who went too far. Rules were broken.
ITV Love and Lies
The women turn detective, uncover a state secret, and take legal action, as pressure piles onto the Metropolitan Police.
The Ellison Review
In July 2012, politician Teresa May commissioned Mark Ellison QC to conduct a review examining allegations of corruption surrounding the initial, deeply flawed, investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
Ellison was also asked to examine whether the Metropolitan Police had evidence of corruption that ithad not diclosed to the Macpherson Inquiry.
The Enquiry
The Undercover Policing Enquiry was set up in 2015 to get to the truth about undercover policing across England and Wales since 1968 and provide recommendations for the future.
It is uncovering lots of information, including information about victims who already spoken up. It is believed that there may be around 200 victims groomed by police officers in order to obtain information about activists, people campaigning for what they believed in.
Some may have broken the law in pursuit of their aims, but policing overstepped a mark when people were duped into intimate relationships with people who were not who they believed them to be.
Grooming? Absolutely. Intent: the officers intended to deceive; Consent: the vistims would not have consented to intimate personal relationships had they known the truth.
So far the enquiry is one of the most expensive in British history, by April 2026 believed to be clocking in at around £120 million, although final figures will be produced later.
Information on Andy Coles’ ‘Tradecraft Manual’, which shows clearly that this was an organised infiltration rather than officers acting beyong their scope: Tradecraft Manual
This is the video channel for the enquiry: Undercover Policing Enquiry official YouTube channel.
World Unspun video podcast on Jessica’s part in the enquiry
Lambert’s undercover role - persuading people into an anti-fur attack on Debenhams. And even had a child with an activist.
The Lush Campaign
The cosmetics company, Lush, bravely took on Skycops as a campaign.
As environmental campaigners, it made sense - their own staff are campaigners.
But it missed the mark. They were hit by a backlash that saw their staff threatened, and branches visited by police officers suggesting they stop.