An undercover police officer who tricked a woman into a relationship and fathered her son behaved ‘recklessly’ according to the ongoing ‘Spycops’ inquiry.

The inquiry heard last week from Bob Lambert, one of 139 undercover officers who infiltrated over 1,000 political groups. Lambert deceived a woman, known as Jacqui, into a relationship while undercover in her animal rights campaign group. He told a superior when she became pregnant, though no action was taken. He disappeared from Jacqui and their son’s life two years after he was born.

Lambert’s son said in a statement ahead of his evidence that ‘as an organisation the Metropolitan Police Service were happy for me to go through my whole life without knowing the true identity of my biological father.’ He has urged the inquiry to ensure that no one else has the truth of their identity obscured from them for two decades.

The inquiry also heard from witnesses that Lambert was behind an arson attack on a Debenhams department store that caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage. He denies being behind the attack while infiltrating the animal rights group.

In a statement ahead of this tranche of evidence, campaign group Police Spies out of Lives said: ‘these officers were sexual predators and Met Police hid the truth from the children they fathered. Undercover officers acted as agent provocateurs. They rigged the justice system and lied to the courts, spying on defence campaigns.’

This week the inquiry will hear further evidence from Bob Lambert.