ULTIMATE BETRAYAL
I had a six-year relationship with the man of my dreams – only to find out he was a married undercover COP spying on me
The cop may have had sexual relationships with as many as 10 women while spying on an environmental group
A WOMAN who had a six-year relationship with the man of her dreams eventually discovered he was actually an undercover cop spying on her.
Police officer Mark Kennedy had been given the alias of Mark Stone and sent to live and spy on a group of environmental activists in 2003.
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He passed on any secrets he found to his superiors and MI5.
It’s believed he had sex with up to 10 other women while undercover.
One woman was involved with him for six years before she found a passport in his real name.
Kennedy had been undercover for seven years before he was unmasked in October 2010.
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Questions are still being asked about why was he being paid to lie to the activists, many of whom had done nothing illegal and why was he allowed to form long-term relationships with some of the women under false pretences.
The case and the issues raised are explored in a new BBC podcast called Undercover: The Spycops.
DISCOVERS PASSPORT
‘Lisa Jones’ – not her real name – found her partner’s passport while she was looking for her sunglasses in the glovebox and thought she’d take a quick look at his picture.
But she was shocked to discover that his passport was in the name of Mark Kennedy and not Mark Stone.
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She began to wonder if her partner of six years was really the man he said he was.
Lisa said: "I stopped being able to see clearly.
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“We were on holiday in the Alps and it felt like the mountains were swimming - I felt like I was losing my grasp on reality.
“I started looking around for a bit more information and found a phone that didn't have much battery left but it did have messages from two children calling him dad.
“You can't be in a relationship with somebody for six years and find out they've got children you didn’t know about - that's not normal."
How the undercover cop was revealed
‘Mark Stone’ approached an environmental group known as Earth First in August 2003.
He befriends them and is accepted into the group, getting the nickname “Flash”.
He spies on them, passing on information to his police bosses and MI5.
Kennedy, undercover, starts a relationship with ‘Lisa’ and could have had as many as 10 sexual relationships with other women in the group, including Kate Wilson and Eleanor Fairbraida.
By the summer of 2006, Kennedy entered the circle of people planning the first of the annual Climate Camp gatherings, helping to set up the encampment near the Drax coal-fired power station in North Yorkshire.
Suspicions about the real identity are raised when a passport with his proper name is discovered.
On October 21, 2010 six friends confront him, he confesses and breaks down in tears, saying that he is not the only cop working undercover.
‘Mark Stone’ was unmasked as Mark Kennedy.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal found in January 2022 that his actions amounted to an "abuse of the highest order" and that he had "grossly debased, degraded and humiliated" Kate Wilson.
The inquiry is ongoing and expected to conclude in 2026.
It’s believed Mark Kennedy has a number of relationships while he was working as an undercover cop, although Lisa says she was his long-term partner and they were in love.
CONVINCING LIES
With hindsight, Lisa said she did have some doubts from time to time but she was always won over by his convincing lies and he managed to talk her round.
A few months after they had returned from their trip to the Alps in his van, her suspicions resurfaced and this time she decided to investigate.
Lisa said: “When he went back to work, I was suddenly left on my own and had time to reflect.
I felt like I’d been fractured into many tiny pieces and I really didn’t know who I was anymore
'Lisa'
“I went to visit a friend who just so happened to be doing some ancestry research and I remember asking him ‘can you look anyone up?’”
They didn’t find anything for Mark Stone but then they looked for Mark Kennedy.
Their search came up with birth certificates for both his kids which said their dad’s occupation was a police officer.
He had told her he worked as a Rope Access Technician.
Lisa told the BBC podcast: “I felt like I’d been fractured into many tiny pieces and I really didn’t know who I was anymore.”
The pair had started a romance after they discovered they shared a love of climbing and the great outdoors.
Lisa said: “I was absolutely in love with him.
“Finding out he was a police officer turned my whole identity upside down. It felt like an explosion had gone off - nothing has been the same since.
“It rips the bottom out of your world.”
NOT THE ONLY ONE
Lisa wasn’t the only one left feeling betrayed by Mark’s lies.
Kate Wilson dated Mark for two years and waived her right to anonymity when she took the police to court in 2018.
She claimed her human rights had been infringed by allowing Mark to have a sexual relationship with her while covering up his real identity.
The Investigatory Powers Tribunal found in January 2022 that his actions amounted to an "abuse of the highest order" and that he had "grossly debased, degraded and humiliated" her.
It also ruled that Kennedy had “invaded the core of her private life”, “caused her mental suffering" and had “interfered” with her “sexual autonomy” showing “a profound lack of respect” for her “bodily integrity and human dignity.”
She was given £229,000 in compensation.
Other former lovers and friends are continuing their fight for the truth.
Kennedy is yet to tell his side of things to the ongoing public inquiry which is due to end in 2026.
I was lying because it was my job to lie. I'm not a dishonest person
Undercover cop Mark Kennedy
In 2011 though he told he was simply doing his job.
He said at the time: “My role was to gather intelligence so appropriate policing could take place.
"It wasn't to prevent people from demonstrating. I was lying because it was my job to lie. I'm not a dishonest person. I had to tell lies about who Mark Stone was and where he was from for it to be real.”
However, the women who he had sexual relationships while spying on them with say it was unethical.
Another woman, who says she had a brief affair with Kennedy, told The Mirror former partners and pals want the full truth to come out.
She told the paper: “For 12 years we’ve been fighting to uncover the truth and get justice.
“Initially I felt shame then fear after being infiltrated in such a way. Something like that takes a long time to get over - it’s a personal betrayal and It leaves a big shadow hanging over your life.
“This shouldn’t happen in a functional democracy - the government sending in spies to infiltrate activists' lives.”
Andy Whittaker, the podcast’s producer, who was working at Radio Nottingham when the story broke, says he was horrified when he first heard the claims.
He said: “To me an undercover police officer infiltrated drug gangs or terrorists.
“I had no idea police officers were living a double life for that amount of time.
“As the months went on it then became clear that he’d had a significant number of relationships while he was there.
“It’s shocking that a police officer working on behalf of the state is having that many relationships with people he is supposedly targeting.
“The podcast asks why? Why was he allowed to get away with it?”
The podcast also reveals Kennedy allegedly tried to set up a liaison with one of his friends and two of his housemates when he was undercover and living with the activists.
Whittaker said: “It shows that he was either setting up another police officer for casual sex as a perk or he was trying to bring another officer in - so sex was being used as a tactic.
“This is something the inquiry is looking into.”
The BBC podcast recalls how Mark Kennedy, calling himself Mark Stone, appeared at the Sumac community centre in 2003, saying he wanted to help out with environmental campaigns.
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He soon made friends and was accepted into the group until his true identity was revealed when a case against the protesters, who were said to have been plotting to shut down Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station in Nottingham, collapsed.
He had been paid to live among them for almost eight years.
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