1 day ago
7
An undercover police officer deceived two women at the same time over many years in a sustained betrayal of both of them, the spycops public inquiry has heard.
Mark Jenner had a relationship with a leftwing activist, known as Alison, for five years without disclosing to her that he was in reality an undercover officer who was spying on political campaigners.
During those years, he was married, with his wife knowing nothing about his relationship with Alison. His wife gave birth to his child during this time. She became the first wife of an undercover officer to testify at the inquiry when she gave evidence on Tuesday.
The woman, known only as S, who has now divorced Jenner, said she was “sickened” by the managers of the undercover unit who permitted the deception to happen and treated her badly.
She told the inquiry she had willingly taken on the extra burden of childcare and housework to support her then husband while he was under cover, as his managers told her he was doing important and dangerous work for the country.
She told the inquiry the managers were “two-faced on lots of levels”. “I gave up five years of my life … they took me for granted.”
She added that, judging from the evidence that had come out of the inquiry, she believed the activists who were infiltrated “should never have been spied on”.
Between 1995 and 2000, Jenner pretended to be a campaigner while he infiltrated anti-fascist and leftwing groups. One of these groups worked to expose corruption within the police.
He began a relationship with Alison shortly after he started his deployment and then moved into her home to live with her for four years as a couple. She has told the inquiry Jenner had “sadistic tendencies” as he strung her along when she wanted to have children with him.
Alison did not know he was married to S, with children, at the same time.
Alison described their routine in which Jenner stayed with her overnight and then left in the morning saying that he was going to work as a joiner, and then reappeared at the end of the working day when they would spend the evening together.
S said Jenner would arrive home in the morning and spend much of the day there before disappearing to what she had been told was the flat or house he was using for his undercover work. Jenner disputes that he spent so much time at home with S.
S said she was “happily married” to Jenner when he joined the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), a Metropolitan police unit that spied on political campaigners.
SDS managers visited her and assured her that he would be doing valuable work. In return, she said, she made sacrifices and became primarily responsible for looking after their children.
She said the SDS managers did not tell her SDS officers routinely formed sexual relationships with women they had been sent to spy on. If she had known that, she would never have agreed to her husband going under cover, she added.
She said her “world fell apart” when she eventually discovered her husband’s relationship with Alison.
Jenner, whose police codename was “Touchy Subject”, is to be questioned by the inquiry over four days next week. A key question is expected to revolve around the extent to which his superiors knew about, and approved, his long-term relationship with Alison.
The inquiry is scrutinising how about 139 undercover police officers spied on predominantly leftwing campaign groups between 1968 and at least 2010.
