Sex, lies & videotape

It has been revealed that undercover police officers infiltrated anarchist and environmental groups and tried to use sexual relationships with female activists as a means of garnering intelligence. Mark Kennedy, an undercover officer who had sexual relationships with several women while infiltrating a ring of activists, alleges that these relationships were sanctioned by senior commanders in the Metropolitan Police. While his claims of official authorisation are disputed, it seems clear that a number of undercover agents engaged in a deliberate “strategy of promiscuity”. The affected women have expressed feelings of anger and trauma. Could they bring damages claims against the Metropolitan Police?

Provided sex occurs between consenting adults, the fact that one party to the relationship has lied to the other is obviously not actionable in itself. A sexual encounter which is consensual at the time it occurred would not become “rape” simply because one party pretended to be motivated by love. However, in this situation the state is involved in perpetrating the deceit,