UK undercover officer affair 'torture'

A woman who was allegedly duped into a two-year relationship with an undercover police officer has claimed she was the victim of "psychological torture".

The Metropolitan Police officer is claimed to have proposed to the woman, known by the pseudonym Andrea, in 2003 but ended the relationship the next year.

After telling Andrea he was going to visit his dying father in Italy, the man returned to claim he had been told his father had sexually abused a female relative, according to the joint investigation by the BBC's Newsnight program and The Guardian.

Andrea told Newsnight: "As far as I was concerned I was going to spend my life with this man, and his life was my life."

In November, Scotland Yard apologised to seven women who were deceived into "abusive, deceitful and manipulative" relationships with undercover police officers.

Following a four-year legal battle, the Metropolitan Police announced they had reached a settlement with the women over civil claims relating to the "totally unacceptable" behaviour of officers working for two now-defunct units.

Andrea is now taking legal action against the Met. Her solicitor, Harriet Wistrich, claims the officer, who used the cover name Carlo Neri, had a clear "exit strategy" in place.

"This is clearly a pattern that they worked on," Ms Wistrich told Newsnight.

"The other women that had other relationships described similar exit strategies and in each of those cases they were very harmful.

"This is one of the worst I've heard in terms of inventing a whole story of sexual abuse and violence that didn't actually exist and I think that was a particularly sick thing to do."

A judge-led inquiry into undercover policing opened last year.

Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt said the force was providing its "fullest possible support" to the inquiry.