Undercover police officer guilty of gross misconduct over sexual relationship with activist

A former Metropolitan Police officer who had a sexual relationship with a woman he was spying on while working undercover has been found guilty of misconduct.

The activist, known only as Monica, was left feeling "duped, misunderstood and ridiculed" and with a "feeling of sexual abuse" after James Boyling's identity was eventually revealed years later.

The officer, who used the pseudonym Jim Sutton, had a sexual relationship with Monica for six months in 1997 while infiltrating the environmental activist group Reclaim the Streets.

A disciplinary panel in Southwark, south London, heard on Monday that Boyling's relationship with Monica began when they kissed outside a pub after a "Never Mind the Ballots" activist event.

They later went to his undercover "duff" flat in Dulwich, southeast London, the tribunal was told.

Boyling and Monica were “definitely known as a couple” and attended Glastonbury and an Earth First gathering together, the panel heard.

The hearing was told how the officer did not report the relationship to managers, despite the fact they were supposed to meet twice a week.

His line manager, a detective inspector known as N10, had four such relationships while working undercover between 1983 and 1987 and got one activist pregnant, the tribunal heard. Another officer, named as N11, also had sexual relationships with female activists and resumed his undercover identity without authorisation, the tribunal heard.

Boyling, who worked in the Met's Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), later married another female activist, who exposed his true identity in a 2011 article for The Guardian.

Sexual relationships with activists were not explicitly banned because refusing sexual advances could blow their cover, but undercover officers were advised to make them “fleeting” and “disastrous”.

SDS bosses preferred undercover officers to have a stable family life, but Boyling got divorced shortly before infiltrating Reclaim the Streets. Boyling, who did not attend the hearing, was found guilty of breaching professional standards for integrity and discreditable conduct. Standards for authority, respect and courtesy, which he was also accused of breaching, were not found to have applied at the time.

He admitted the relationship but denied his actions amounted to gross misconduct. He unsuccessfully tried to get the case dismissed at an earlier stage. His lawyer Alisdair Williamson KC argued the rules on relationships were “blurred” and liaisons were “an acceptable and accepted part of the legend and cover”. Tribunal panel chairman Darren Snow said Met guidance on relationships was “poor, inadequate and negligent", but that gross misconduct still occurred.

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He said the fact the relationship was not reported to supervisors "undermines the suggestion it was focused on intelligence".

“We are of the view that entering a sexual or emotional relationship under a false identity cannot ever have a proper policing purpose," he added. Monica, who initially complained about Boyling in February 2018, failed to bring criminal charges against him in December 2018.

The High Court rejected her appeal against a decision by the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute him for rape and misconduct in public office. The SDS existed between 1968 and 2008 and its actions are subject to a lengthy public inquiry. A decision on whether Boyling would have been sacked if he was still an officer was due to be handed down later on Friday.