London’s Metropolitan Police has officially named two officers who had relationships with women while working undercover. Jim Boyling and Bob Lambert have been accused of deceiving the women by entering into relationships with them without disclosing their genuine identities.
Three women are now suing the Metropolitan Police, but the force maintains that the relationships had not been approved and were based on genuine feelings.
According to the Daily Mail, this is the first time that the force has named two undercover officers, previously having neither confirmed nor denied their identities. Last month, Mr Justice Bean of the High Court ruled that the Met could no longer rely on this rule, leaving the police with no choice but to name the officers.
Under the name of Jim Sutton, Boyling had sex with three women between 1995 and 2000, later marrying one of them and having two children with her before divorcing in 2008.
Lambert had relationships with four women while pretending to be a left wing environmentalist between 1984 and 1988, having a son with one of them. One of his relationships lasted 18 months.
A spokesman for the Met said: “In compliance with the order of Mr Justice Bean the MPS has confirmed in its defence that Jim Boyling and Bob Lambert were undercover police officers.
The women are claiming for deceit, assault, negligence and misfeasance in public office against the men, who were secretly members of the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), which monitored potentially violent political activists.
Solicitor Harriet Wistrich said: “The police have been on notice of this case for three and a half years and until this judgment, they have wilfully refused to engage in any meaningful way with the most serious allegations put to them.
“Their ongoing refusal in the face of an overwhelming body of evidence in the public domain has greatly aggravated the distress caused to my clients, who want answers from the police as well as justice and accountability.”
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