An undercover officer has admitted he “callously and cruelly” deceived a woman into a five-year relationship while infiltrating leftwing campaigns, the spycops inquiry has heard.
Mark Jenner and the leftwing activist, known as Alison, lived as a couple, but he never told her that he was in reality an undercover officer who was spying on anti-racist activists.
He admitted that he strung her along when she wanted to have children with him in an “extremely cruel” way.
He said the relationship provided the “perfect” opportunity to present himself as a more rounded individual that helped him to gain the trust of the activists he was infiltrating.
Giving evidence on Wednesday, he admitted that the deception “turbo-charged” his covert deployment and enabled him to collect more information about the activities of the campaigners he was spying on.
It was the first time that Jenner has spoken publicly about the deception and his five-year deployment in the 1990s. Alison has waited for an explanation of how and why he treated her badly for more than two decades since she first suspected that he was a police spy.
During his deployment, Jenner was married with children. He concealed his relationship with Alison from his wife.
He admitted that his treatment of his now ex-wife was a “gross betrayal”, agreeing with her description that his conduct was “appalling, unconscionable and unacceptable”. He had a child with her while living with Alison.
David Barr, the inquiry’s barrister, challenged him that he was deceiving Alison “not only about who you were, but also about your marital status”, he replied: “Of course, I was in the business of deception.”
Asked if he could have avoided having the relationship with Alison, he replied: “I wasn’t interested in avoiding a deceitful sexual relationship.”
Jenner has been giving evidence over three days to the inquiry, which is tasked with examining how undercover officers spied on tens of thousands of activists between 1968 and at least 2010.
For decades, the officers frequently formed sexual relationships with women using their fake identities – a central issue that is being scrutinised by the inquiry.
Jenner infiltrated anti-racist and leftwing groups in Hackney, east London, between 1995 and 2000.
During his deployment, he lived with Alison for four years in a flat and became an integral part of her life. He was welcomed into her family, attending weddings, a funeral and other gatherings. They went on holidays abroad together.
Jenner told the inquiry that “a number” of his managers and other undercover officers within the unit he worked for, the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), knew about his relationship with Alison as it was an “open secret”. They did nothing about it but warned him to be “very careful”. At one point, one of the SDS unit members joked about it.
Jenner said that early on during his deployment, he had moved into Alison’s flat as there were “exceptionally good” benefits to his covert operation. The relationship made him appear more credible and enabled him to be easily contacted by the activists, he said.
Barr asked him: “Did you give any consideration to whether Allison would have consented to sex if she’d known who you really were?” He replied: “No I didn’t.”
By 1998, Alison wanted children with him and they went to counselling. He admitted deliberately stringing her along by saying that he wanted children but at a later stage.
Asked if he was “wasting her fertile years”, he replied: “That is the reality of it, Yes.”
Alison has told the inquiry that Jenner was “well-fed, warm, had regular sex from a woman who loved him and enjoyed a varied and entertaining social life with my wide circle of friends and extended family who welcomed him with open arms”.
When that description was put to him by Barr, he agreed it was correct, and that it was all “obtained by deception … always in the knowledge that at some point you are going to walk out of her life”.
In 2000, he disappeared from her life, pretending to be going though severe depression. After more than a decade of research, she established that he had been an undercover officer.
Jenner was given a commendation by his superiors for his covert work.
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