Officer guilty of gross misconduct over sexual relationship while undercover
A former officer who deceived a woman into a sexual relationship while he went undercover in an activist group has been found guilty of gross misconduct.
Detective Constable James ‘Jim’ Boyling was alleged to have entered into the relationship between 1996 and 1997.
At the time, Boyling was an undercover officer working in the now-defunct Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) Special Demonstration Squad (SDS).
During the misconduct hearing, it was alleged that he had formed a long-term sexual relationship with ‘Monica’, who was a member of an activist group Boyling had deployed into, and who – at the time of their relationship – only knew him by his cover identity ‘Jim Sutton’.
Returning its decision on Friday (July 14), the misconduct panel found that Boyling breached Standards of Professional Behaviour in respect of integrity and discreditable conduct, and that gross misconduct was proven.
No sanction was imposed by the panel, which was led by an independent legally qualified chair with a superintendent from another force and an independent lay member.
The MPS said it “awaits the full written rationale to consider the findings in full”.
Boyling had been dismissed from the MPS in May 2018, following a misconduct hearing which found gross misconduct proven in relation to a different sexual relationship he deceived another woman into, between 2001 and 2005. He was also added to the College of Policing’s Barred List.
The first interim report from the Undercover Policing Inquiry, published last month, had highlighted “unacceptable and immoral behaviour” by some officers.
As well as entering into sexual relationships while undercover, it found some officers also used dead children’s names to create their false identities.
Former High Court judge Sir John Mitting, chair of the Inquiry, said “had the use of these means been publicly known at the time, the SDS would have been brought to a rapid end”. Instead, it continued to operate in secret for another 40 years.
The report found that six undercover officers had sexual relationships with at least 13 women.
Officers entering into sexual relationships with the women they were smonitoring was also found by the Inquiry to be a “perennial feature” of the SDS until its closure in 2008.
The report concluded that the actions of this unit were “disproportionate and unlawful” and it should have been closed down at an early stage.
Sir John said most of the groups ‘spied on’, which included women’s liberation groups, posed limited risk to public order and no risk to the safety of the State.
The report did, however, acknowledge that some officers did important work, at personal risk, to gather intelligence to prevent future disorder.
MPS Commander Jon Savell, who leads on Professional Standards, said: “We are sorry for the immense hurt and pain caused by Boyling’s actions, which were appalling and totally unacceptable. We also accept that there were failures in the way he was supervised and managed.
“The ongoing Undercover Policing Inquiry is examining other instances where SDS officers deceived women into relationships while they were deployed. We will continue to support the Inquiry as it seeks answers for those women affected.
“Undercover policing is an important and lawful tactic, and I want to reassure the public that in 2023, it is subject to far greater oversight and legal guidelines when compared to the 1990s.”