An environmental campaigner deceived into a six-month relationship with a police spy has told the Undercover Policing Inquiry of the ‘state rape’ she endured after being targeted for surveillance.

Giving oral evidence on 3 February, the witness known as ‘Monica’ detailed the ‘sexual violation’ she experienced at the hands of Jim Boyling, a Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) officer. Boyling, using the cover name ‘Jim Sutton’, infiltrated the environmental group Reclaim the Streets (RTS) between 1995 and 2000.

Monica described the relationship, which began in April 1997, as a calculated ‘tactic’ to bolster his activist persona. She argued that her consent was ‘vitiated by deceit’, stating she would never have entered an intimate relationship with a serving police officer.

The inquiry heard how Boyling used ‘mirroring,’ a trained undercover technique, to make Monica feel safe during a period of vulnerability following her mother’s death. Monica testified that the realisation her most personal moments were reported back to managers felt like an ‘explosion’ that permanently altered her life.

The testimony revealed a pattern of emotional abuse and what Monica described as ‘contempt’. Monica recalled Boyling mocking her feminist beliefs while maintaining an activist ‘mask’. She described a ‘Truman Show moment’ where Boyling staged a dramatic argument to exit their flat, leaving her ‘begging on my knees’ for him to stay, a move she now views as a calculated strategy to manipulate her emotions.

She further detailed how Boyling undermined her health; despite knowing her mother had recently died of a smoking-related illness, he smoked heavily in their home, restarting Monica’s own severe addiction. Monica also expressed ‘heartbreak’ over the revelation that Boyling, a lead organiser for the 1997 ‘Never Mind the Ballots’ tour, likely used his position to sabotage the campaign.

The scale of intrusion was highlighted by the discovery that Monica was the 9th most reported-on person in Boyling’s files, which included invasive details about her family.

In July 2023, a police tribunal found Boyling guilty of gross misconduct . While the tribunal noted a culture of ‘tacit approval’ within the SDS, Boyling had already been dismissed in 2018 for a separate relationship.

The Metropolitan Police previously issued an unreserved apology to women deceived by spycops. Former Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt acknowledged the ‘abusive and deceitful’ nature of the deployments, though focus remains on whether senior leadership will face further scrutiny.