A former undercover officer accused of deceiving a young woman into a sexual relationship while infiltrating an activist group has denied the claims in a new BBC investigation that casts fresh light on the Metropolitan Police’s disbanded Special Demonstration Squad.
The story disputed
The programme, Sex, Lies and Police Spies, centres on Andrew Coles, who served between 2003 and 2007 under the alias “Andy Davey” and was assigned to monitor environmental campaigners in the south of England. BBC News reports that a former partner alleges Coles maintained a fabricated personal identity complete with a backstory, a fake passport and a manufactured employment record at a green energy consultancy that did not exist, in order to gain the trust of a close-knit protest network that met regularly in Brighton and Bristol.
Why it matters
Coles is one of at least twelve former officers who have faced civil proceedings since the public inquiry into undercover policing concluded in 2023, with the Metropolitan Police having paid more than £23 million in settlements to women whose relationships were later revealed to be orchestrated deceptions. The revelations have reignited calls for a criminal investigation into the force, and for an amendment to the Police Act that would outlaw the use of sexual intimacy as an infiltration tactic.
A pattern across decades
The inquiry previously found that at least eight children were born to women who believed their partners were genuine activists, only to discover years later that their father had been a police officer operating under a false name. Coles, who left the force in 2010 and now works as a private security consultant in Devon, has consistently refused to comment on his deployments beyond confirming that his testimony to the inquiry was “truthful and complete”.
What happens next
Lawyers for the affected families say they will file a fresh wave of civil claims in November, seeking both damages and an official apology from the home secretary. Prime minister Andy Burnham’s office confirmed that the government is reviewing whether prosecution is warranted in cases where officers gave false evidence under oath, and that a white paper on intelligence oversight could be published as early as spring 2027. The full documentary airs on BBC Two at 9pm Thursday.
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