I was tricked into having a relationship with a married undercover cop

Kate Wilson had no idea her boyfriend of 14 months, and friend of many years, was a police officer who had faked everything to spy on her... until the day her world came crashing down. After winning a lengthy legal battle against Scotland Yard, she has written a book about how the deceit derailed her life

- By Samantha Wostear

ACCIDENT and emergency nurse Kate Wilson has compassion and kindness running through her veins. Her dedication to helping others is the reason she first studied medicine, started campaigning for a better world... and possibly why she was mercilessly targeted in a heartless covert mission by undercover police officer Mark Kennedy.

For eight years Kate, known as Katja, shared a life with Mark. They were in an intense relationship for 14 months but after that ended, they remained as close friends for a further five years. They lived together, travelled together, campaigned side by side, sent each other love poems and shared their innermost secrets or at least Kate did.

Mark had a dark secret. While she was discovering political activism in the late 90s, he was being briefed to infiltrate people just like her, as a rising star in the police force.

"The police used me and other women like me in the most despicable way. Under the guise of gathering information, they lured us into sexual relationships," says Kate, 46, who has written a book, Disclosure: Unravelling the Spycops Files, about her devastating experience.

"The police knew what was going on, they had to, and they put me and others like me in danger. They claim these officers are vetted but I've found out Kennedy failed the psychological test for undercover work but passed it on the second attempt - I'm not quite sure how that works."

But it did and Kennedy was approved to embark on an undercover operation spanning seven years. In 2003, their two worlds collided when they both attended a meeting at the SUMAC centre in Nottingham, a place where activists of all kinds would come together, advertise events and recruit volunteers. Kate, then 25, knew most of the people there but one day, a new guy sat down next to her who was chatty and engaging.

"We hit it off instantly," she recalls of the moment she met Mark Kennedy, or his undercover alias, Mark Stone.