Met had ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, says spycop who tricked women into sexual relationships

An undercover officer, Jim Boyling, testified to the spycops public inquiry that his superiors in the Metropolitan Police adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy regarding officers forming sexual relationships with activists. Boyling, who infiltrated environmental and animal rights groups between 1995 and 2000, deceived three women into intimate relationships, believing his true identity would never be discovered. He stated that managers in the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) knew such relationships were "inevitable" but avoided direct discussion, and he was never explicitly told not to engage in them. The inquiry is examining the conduct of approximately 139 undercover officers who spied on predominantly left-wing campaigners from 1968 to at least 2010, with a central focus on these deceptive relationships and their impact on the women involved. Boyling received praise from senior officials for his work gathering information about protesters.

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