Woman says finding out son's father was undercover officer destroyed her life

A woman was "absolutely ruined" after discovering by chance that the father of her son was an undercover police officer, more than two decades after their child was born, a public inquiry has heard.

- Rob Evans

The woman, known as Jacqui, described how the undercover officer, Bob Lambert, had fathered their son and then vanished two years after his birth, claiming to be on the run from the police.

She told the undercover policing inquiry that Lambert had told her lie after lie, leaving her to uncover the truth by accident when she read an article about him in the media.

She has been deeply traumatized and has undergone hours of therapy. She said she had become reclusive, adding: "Everything about my life has just been absolutely ruined. I don't really have a life anymore."

Jacqui gave evidence on Thursday about Lambert, a central figure in the spy cops scandal.

He was part of a secret Scotland Yard squad that spied on political activists. Between 1984 and 1989, he went undercover to infiltrate animal rights and anarchist campaigners.

During his deployment, he had sexual relationships with Jacqui and at least three other women without disclosing to them that he was a police spy and was married with two children.