For five years, Alison* and Mark lived together and were very much in love, filming jokes and yearly highlights on a camcorder to watch back when they grew old together.
But it turns out that Mark Cassidy was not a joiner from Birkenhead, as Alison had believed – nor was he in love with her. He disappeared – dumping Alison by letter – in spring 2000. Just months later, she found out he was a police officer called Mark Jenner, working undercover for the Metropolitan Police Special Demonstration Squad – and had a wife and children.
In a shocking new documentary, home video footage shows Mark and Alison on Christmas Day, which he spent with her family rather than his own. The inside story of a secret unit of undercover police, paid to spy on members of the public who were suspected of being political or environmental activists, is now being laid bare in a three-part ITV series.
Alison, who altered her appearance for the documentary, and four other women decided to speak about their relationships with officers on covert operations. But thanks to an ongoing public inquiry it has emerged that there are at least 60 women who were deceived. Some have only found out in recent months that they were involved with someone living a fake life.
Alison says, “I’m here to tell this story so people understand what has happened in the British police. We want people to understand why we are campaigning for this to never happen again to other women, to understand that the misogyny and sexism in our culture has filtered down and is reflected in the police and the security services, and to hopefully galvanize people.”
‘God complex’
Discussing her own experience, Alison says she didn’t suspect a thing when she was with Mark. He even managed to explain away a credit card with another surname on it, claiming he bought it from a dodgy bloke at the pub and promising to get rid of it. Footage shown over three episodes shows him seemingly carefree on camera, laughing, smoking and joking like any normal boyfriend.
“The video footage is indicative of Mark on a personal level, but also of the unit as a whole – of their arrogance. They were supremely arrogant. They just never, ever thought they’d be exposed,” Alison tells us. “They each had a god complex and we were being contained and managed. But in the Christmas Day footage, and other clips you’ll see, you forget, when watching it, that he had a wife and children.”
Alison teamed up with fellow campaigner Helen in 2003. Helen had a two-year relationship with ‘John Barker’ who turned out to be undercover policeman John Dines. Years later they met other women who had been through similar scenarios and they began their push for changes in the force. Eight women launched legal action against the Met Police in 2011.
In 2015, Theresa May, then Home Secretary, set up the Undercover Policing Inquiry, after a public outcry over covert officers’ actions. It is not due to finish until December 2026 and has so far cost a reported £88 million. But the costs to the women involved are much more than just financial.
Wasted years
Alison continues, “Mark stole some of the most fertile years of my life. I was with him from the age of 29 to 34. He left in spring, I turned 35 that summer.
“Yes, I have been able to rebuild my life. Partly because I come from a small Jewish community in London. I was fortunate enough to find someone I went to a Jewish youth club with. But had it not been somebody I grew up with, I don’t think I would have been in a position to trust someone new.
“I have moved on. I have a very full life – I’ve been able to rebuild it. But this story is really about the whole experience.”
Other women in the documentary have similar tales of being duped and finding new relationships difficult. In 2010, Lisa discovered that the sevenyear relationship she had with tattooed professional climber ‘Mark Stone’ was fake. In the documentary, she says she never had children and adds poignantly, “I ended up spending all those crucial, most fertile years of my life in my thirties with somebody who didn’t really exist.”
In response to the programme, Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Jon Savell has now admitted that the relationships were “abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong”.
In a statement, he said, “It would be inappropriate to comment on some of the issues raised as there is evidence yet to be heard by the Undercover Policing Inquiry, with which we are fully cooperating.
“However, I’d like to apologise unreservedly for the significant harm and distress caused to the women who were deceived into sexual relationships by undercover officers. These were abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong. The Met failed to make clear to undercover officers and their managers in the 1980s that such relationships were unacceptable or provide training and guidance.
“Undercover policing has undergone significant reform since this happened and today is underpinned by strong governance and oversight with clear ethical guidelines and a legislative framework.”
Looking ahead to the end of the public inquiry, Alison and the other women are hopeful the outcome will be given a higher profile as a result of the documentary, and they want to see further changes rather than just apologies.
Alison adds, “The best case scenario will be that the judge finds institutionalised sexism and misogyny in the Metropolitan Police in the way that Macpherson found institutionalised racism in the police with the Stephen Lawrence inquiry.
“We’d also like some of the officers who’ve received commendations, and [undercover officer] Bob Lambert, who has an MBE, [to] have these rescinded.
“This is complicated legislation, but we also want parliament to look again at the laws around consent and sex by deception.
“Seeing it on-screen is very affirming and validating, and makes us feel that we can influence a far wider and a much bigger audience than we have done so far. We want people to watch the documentary and have their interest sparked in the ongoing struggle for justice.”
*Name has been changed
The Undercover Police Scandal: Love And Lies Exposedcan be streamed on ITVX