Between 2003 and 2010, Metropolitan Police officer Mark Kennedy—also known as Mark Stone— infiltrated environmental and social-justice campaigns for the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. His deployment included long-term intimate relationships conducted under a false identity; disclosures in October 2010 revealed a broader pattern involving undercover officers, including cases in which officers proposed marriage or fathered children before disappearing when their operations ended. At least eight women brought legal action against the Metropolitan Police and the Association of Chief Police Officers, and at least 12 women eventually received compensation in the High Court.
On 20 November 2015, the Metropolitan Police issued an unreserved apology, calling the relationships abusive, deceptive, manipulative, and a “gross violation” of the women’s privacy; settlements for seven claimants were estimated at £3 million. The force also acknowledged that supervisors had tolerated the conduct: in proceedings brought by Kate Wilson, police documents said Kennedy’s sexual relationship was carried out with the “acquiescence” of his cover officers and line manager. Undercover activity also helped collapse the Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station prosecution after the Crown Prosecution Service withheld evidence about Kennedy’s role and covert tapes. A public Undercover Policing Inquiry was announced in 2015 and remained unfinished as of December 2025; prosecutors declined rape and other charges, citing the narrow state of UK deception law.
