Undercover police can have sex 'when necessary'

New guidelines for undercover police state that officers must never start relationships with members of the groups they infiltrate and should only have sex if they face a threat to their safety in not doing so.

The College of Policing has gone public with its 80-page document after eight women sued when they discovered they had relationships - and children - with men they did not know to be officers. The women, who began legal action in 2011, had been associates or members of social justice and environmental campaign groups.

The guidelines say it is "never acceptable" for an undercover operative to have sex with somebody who does not know they are infiltrating an organisation. They also say that taking controlled drugs will never be "authorised as a tactic".

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But officers will be able to justify sexual activity with members of groups they infiltrate if they can show that they perceived an immediate threat to themselves or others were they not to do so, says The Guardian.

The code adds that officers may engage in "communications of a sexual nature" with group members if an authorising officer believes it is "necessary and proportionate to operational objectives".

Alex Marshall, the chief executive of the College of Policing, told Radio 4's Today programme: "It's never acceptable for an undercover officer to form an intimate sexual relationship with the people they're targeting or they meet while carrying out these duties."

He added that undercover policing should only be used to infiltrate "people who represent a risk to the public".

It emerged in 2014 that the Metropolitan Police had planted an undercover officer among the supporters of the family of black teenager Stephen Lawrence, who was murdered by white racists in 1993.

Many undercover officers also stole the identities of dead children, living under their names, The Guardian says.

An inquiry chaired by Lord Justice Pitchford is currently examining various undercover policing operations, dating back as far as 1968 and including the surveillance of the Lawrence family.

There will be a six-week consultation on the guidelines for undercover police before a final version is released later this year.