Undercover police officer lied to spycops inquiry about sexual relationship

An undercover police officer who infiltrated left‑wing and animal‑rights groups appears to have misled the undercover policing inquiry by denying a sexual relationship while on duty.

Using the alias Dave Evans, the officer initially testified that he had not formed any relationships during his covert deployment.

This week, however, he was compelled to admit that he had a relationship lasting at least six months—possibly up to two years—though he could not recall the exact duration.

The admission followed after campaigners presented evidence of the relationship to the inquiry.

A core focus of the inquiry is the pattern of undercover officers forming sexual relationships with women without revealing their true identities; four have fathered—or are alleged to have fathered—children with such partners.

Evans was among roughly 139 undercover officers deployed by police to monitor tens of thousands of primarily left‑wing activists over four decades. Between 1998 and 2005 he infiltrated the Socialist Workers Party and animal‑rights groups such as London Animal Action.

Four years ago, his initial statement to the inquiry declared: “I did not engage in any sexual activity whilst in my undercover identity.”

In a second statement signed this year, he acknowledged that “with the benefit of hindsight” he should have disclosed a relationship with a woman identified as Olivia.

The admission followed after campaigners, notably Helen Steel—a social‑justice activist and defendant in the high‑profile McLibel case—provided evidence of his relationship with Olivia to the inquiry.

Steel herself was misled into a two‑year relationship by another undercover officer, John Dines. She spent 18 years searching for him; at one stage senior police spent £2.5 million of public money to relocate him to prevent her from finding him.

When questioned by Don Ramble, a barrister at the inquiry, Evans was asked whether he had lied in his first statement. He responded, “I accept that it was not completely truthful with hindsight.”

He explained that he had not disclosed the relationship initially because “she was not an activist nor part of any target group; I did not feel this was relevant.”

During his covert deployment, Evans pretended to be a landscape gardener as part of his false persona. He met Olivia in 1998 when he attended a college course under his fake identity. At no point did he reveal to her that he was actually a police officer.

The inquiry heard evidence that Evans and Olivia together attended social events with animal‑rights campaigners and at least one demonstration. Olivia is not giving evidence to the inquiry.

The spycops inquiry has been scrutinising wide‑ranging wrongdoing committed by undercover officers. The government is considering whether the remaining stages of the inquiry, which has been running for more than a decade, should continue in a different format.

Victims of the surveillance, however, say that any move to cut the inquiry short would amount to a cover‑up.

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