An undercover police officer has publicly confessed to cruelly deceiving a woman into a five-year intimate relationship as part of a covert operation targeting leftwing activists in the 1990s.
A Life Built on Lies
Giving evidence at the Undercover Policing Inquiry, Mark Jenner, who used the fake identity Mark Cassidy, admitted his actions were "callously and cruelly" deceptive. For five years, he lived with an activist known as Alison, fully embedding himself in her life and family while secretly spying on anti-racist campaigns in Hackney, east London.
Jenner, who was married with children throughout the deployment, concealed his relationship with Alison from his wife, a betrayal he later described as "gross". He agreed with his ex-wife's assessment that his conduct was "appalling, unconscionable and unacceptable".
‘Perfect’ Cover and ‘Turbo-Charged’ Spying
The officer told the inquiry that the romantic relationship provided the "perfect" opportunity to present himself as a credible, rounded individual, helping him gain the trust of the activists he was infiltrating. He admitted the deception "turbo-charged" his covert work for the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), enabling him to collect more intelligence.
He lived with Alison for four years in a flat, was welcomed into her family, attended weddings and funerals, and went on holidays abroad with her. All the while, his managers and colleagues within the SDS were aware of the relationship, treating it as an "open secret" and merely warning him to be careful.
Stringing Along and Wasted Years
The inquiry heard one of the most devastating aspects of the deception. When Alison expressed a desire to have children with him, Jenner deliberately strung her along, attending counselling and pretending he wanted children at a later date. Confronted with the fact he was "wasting her fertile years", he replied: "That is the reality of it, Yes."
He admitted he gave no consideration to whether Alison would have consented to a relationship if she had known his true identity as a married police officer. In 2000, he abruptly vanished from her life, feigning severe depression. Alison spent over a decade piecing together the truth.
Despite the profound human cost, Jenner was commended by his superiors for his covert work between 1995 and 2000. The ongoing public inquiry continues to examine the conduct of undercover officers who, for decades, routinely formed intimate relationships using their false personas.
