The Bureau recommends an investigation by the Guardian revealing another case of an undercover police operative tricking a woman into a sexual relationship in order to bolster the credibility of his cover story.
The officer, Bob Lambert, who was assigned to infiltrate left-wing and animal rights groups, started the 18-month relationship with the woman in order to bolster the authenticity of his false persona. The woman in question was not involved in any causes under surveillance by police.
Although police chiefs have claimed that spies are not permitted to have sex with activists as part of undercover operations, the Guardian has uncovered evidence that sexual relationships were used by police spies as recently as last year, as part of what the paper calls ‘a secret police operation to monitor political activists that has been in place since the late 1960s’.
In a statement to the Guardian, Lambert, now an academic, issued an ‘unreserved apology’ to the woman. He also expressed apologies to ‘law-abiding members of London Greenpeace’, which he also infiltrated as part of his operation.
‘I should point out here that the vast majority of Met special branch undercover officers never made the mistakes I made, have no need to apologise for anything, and I deeply regret having tarnished their illustrious, professional reputation,’ he said.
For the full investigation, click here and here.
