Woman’s life ruined after finding son’s father was undercover police officer, inquiry told | Metropolitan police
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A woman was “utterly devastated” after accidentally discovering her son’s father was an undercover police officer more than two decades after their child was born, a public inquiry heard.
The woman, known as Jackie, described how undercover officer Bob Lambert gave birth to their son and then disappeared two years after his birth, claiming to be on the run from the police.
She told the undercover police investigation that Lambert told her lie after lie, leaving her to discover the truth by chance when she read an article about him in the media.
She is deeply traumatized and has undergone hours of therapy. She said she became reclusive, adding: “Everything in my life has just been completely ruined… I don’t really have a life anymore.”
Jacqui testified Thursday about Lambert, a central figure in the spy-cop scandal.
He was part of a secret squad from Scotland Yard who have spied on political activists. Between 1984 and 1989 he goes undercover to infiltrate animal rights activists and anarchists.
During his deployment, he had sexual relations with Jacqui and at least three other women without revealing to them that he is a police spy and is married with two children.
He is also accused of setting fire to a branch of Debenhams while pretending campaign against the fur trade. He denies the allegation.
In the 1990s, he became a senior manager in the force at a time when his undercover officers were conning women into intimate relationships. Lambert was awarded a commendation for his undercover deployment and an MBE for his work with the police.
Lambert is due to be questioned next week by the inquest. Sir John Mitting, retired judge, f checking the behavior of some 139 undercover police officers who spied on tens of thousands of mostly left-wing activists between 1968 and 2010.
Jacqui told the inquest she found Lambert “fascinating” when they met in 1984. At the time, she was a young animal rights activist.
Shortly after they started their relationship, she told Lambert “on many occasions” that she really wanted a baby. They had unprotected sex and Lambert never mentioned contraception, she said.
When she told him she was pregnant, he seemed happy, Jacqui said. She described how Lambert watched her give birth to their son in an “intimate experience” – one she didn’t know she was sharing with an undercover officer who had been sent to spy on her and other animal rights activists.
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Jackie said the registration of their son’s birth was a “fiasco” as Lambert made up reasons to ensure he was not named as the father on the birth certificate.
She described him as a “hands-on and devoted” father after the birth of their son, who changed his nappies, bathed him and brought him gifts. He contributed financially.
She said he “seemed confused” when their relationship ended in 1987. She had become irritated with him because he claimed to be leading an “off the grid” anti-capitalist lifestyle while she was struggling financially.
The following year, Lambert told her and other activists that he had to flee to Spain because the police were about to arrest him for committing crimes for further animal rights campaigns. It was a fake story that allowed him to disappear at the end of his undercover deployment without arousing suspicion. He actually went to work at Scotland Yard.
For the next 24 years, he disappears from the lives of Jacqui and their son and makes no effort to contact them.
In 2012 she happens to see a photo of Lambert in the Daily Mail newspaper, which identifies him as a former undercover officer. Within 24 hours she tracked him down while working as an academic at St Andrews University.
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