By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-03-06 22:01:35 | Updated at 2025-03-07 00:56:12
3 hours ago
For just over seven years, 'Lisa' could not think of spending her life with anyone other than her boyfriend Mark Stone.
Like her, he was passionate about campaigning against climate change and was a familiar, trusted face in her social circle. He had even at one time dated 'Naomi', one of her close friends.
They went away on holiday, shared intimate moments with one another and lived together.
When Lisa's father sadly had a stroke and passed away early on in their relationship, it was Mark who supported her through her darkest moments of grief.
He was, in her own words, a man she and her family embraced, especially as Mark seemingly had no family of his own.
But in 2010 she discovered every part of their relationship had been built on a devastating lie.
His real name, as she heartbreakingly discovered, was not Mark Stone, but Kennedy - and he was an undercover police officer.
His task had been to infiltrate the environmental campaign group Lisa participated in and was told to deploy any lengths necessary - including forming a romantic relationship with her.
For just over seven years, Lisa could not think of spending her life with anyone other than her boyfriend Mark Stone - but she would eventually discover she had been duped by him
In 2010, Lisa's life was turned upside down when she discovered Mark was in reality an undercover police officer tasked with spying on her
His real name, as Lisa heartbreakingly discovered, was not Mark Stone, but Kennedy - and he was an undercover police officer
As his long-running deception began to unravel, Naomi, who had dated Mark before Lisa, had the creeping realisation she too had been romantically duped by him.
And as they were set to discover, there were other undercover officers like Mark who had been mistreating female activists across the UK for more than 40 years.
Lisa and Naomi are just two of five 'chilling' stories revealed in ITV’s mesmerising three-part documentary, The Undercover Police Scandal: Love And Lies Exposed, which airs from tonight (Thursday).
Some of those featured are talking publicly for the first time about their involvement in a scandal thought to have involved more than 60 female victims - with some even having children with their undercover lovers.
Recalling how their relationship began in 2004, when she was 29, Lisa said she met Mark through people she knew and it was not long before she 'fell' for him.
'He had come with some of my friends from Nottingham, they trusted him so I trusted him,' she said.
'The more I got to know Mark the more it felt like we had lots in common. We were both involved in the climate movement. We really thought we could make a difference.
'I fell for him. He had this knack of making you think you were the most special person in the moment. That was intoxicating in some ways.'
Lisa and her friend Naomi, who had also dated Mark, were just the tip of a wider scandal of undercover police officers who had been mistreating female activists for more than 40 years
Mark Stone was the perfect boyfriend - until Lisa discovered he was hiding his real identity
Lisa was content in her relationship with Mark, but just a day after he celebrated his 40th birthday she noticed a concerning change in him.
'Over time he just seemed to be coming apart at the seams. He had this paranoia I hadn't seen before.
'He thought people were following him - but I thought it was just a symptom of his poor mental state.'
Fearing he was on the brink of burnout, in 2010 Lisa suggested they take a holiday to the Dolomites in Italy, where they could enjoy nature, cycling and climbing.
It would prove to be a turning point in their relationship.
As they drove up a picturesque mountain side, Mark indicated that he wanted to get out and cycle the rest of the route.
Lisa agreed to drive their van to the end and meet him there - but as she leaned over to the glove compartment to grasp her sunglasses she could not have foreseen what she would discover.
'While rooting around I found his passport. I looked at the photo, but it said Mark Kennedy - I had always known him as Mark Stone.
Lisa uncovered Mark's secret during a trip to Italy in 2010 when she saw his real passport
His devastated lover also found that Mark was married and had two children - but was in a relationship with her to 'spy' on her environmental activism
'Then I found an iPhone and went into his emails. There were messages from other people called Kennedy - and they were calling him 'Dad'.
'He's got a different name and kids I didn't know about - in that moment I felt like the ground was shifting beneath me. Who is this person?'
Lisa then became overwhelmed with fear that she was abroad with a man she had no idea who he really was.
Becoming emotional at the thought, she said: 'I was alone with him in the mountains. I was afraid.'
After he arrived at the van, Lisa confronted Mark with what she had seen. But he convincingly told her that the passport was in his mother's maiden name because of trouble he had run into in his past as a drugs runner.
As for the children, they were not his, Mark assured her. His best friend had been killed in front of him during a drug deal that went wrong - and in that moment he had promised his friend that he would look after the youngsters.
'He cried in my arms for hours that night,' revealed Lisa. 'It really felt like we properly shared something.'
And yet, when they returned to the UK, niggling questions remained.
Naomi had also been in a relationship with Mark and began to question everything after she discovered the truth
She is one of five women telling their story together for the first time in a new ITV documentary
She decided to investigate further and discovered that while no Mark Stone with his date of birth and birthplace could be found in UK records, she did find one for a Mark Kennedy.
From there she discovered that he was indeed the father of two children, that he lived in Ireland and that he was married.
She was not however prepared for the information contained on his marriage certificate - which listed his profession as 'police officer'.
'At that moment my heart just stopped', she said.
Lisa would come to confront Mark face-to-face one more time before ending the relationship entirely, where he confessed to being a part of a special police task force called the National Public Order Intelligence Unit.
As the life Lisa thought she knew completely unravelled, she decided to publicly 'out' Mark's real identity through a social media post.
'I had no idea in that moment what that post would spark,' she said, but it would prove to be a catalyst in uncovering the wider operation conducted by the police over more than four decades.
It would also be the moment that Lisa's friend Naomi - who like her had been an environmental campaigner - would come to realise everything about her relationship with Mark had been a lie.
Met Police has apologised to the women for the relationships they entered into with undercover police officers, adding 'these were abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong'
Lisa said she was 'broken' and 'felt like a shell of myself' after she discovered the truth about her relationship with Mark
Naomi felt that she had been 'hit in the head' by the revelation.
She tells the documentary: 'Finding out that Mark was a police officer - how could that be, because I've been in a relationship with Mark, he's my friend, he's Mark.
'He came to my brother's wedding, he met with my family, I went on holiday with him. I mean I just felt like I'd been hit in the head.
'I had to re-remember my friendship in the context that he was an undercover police officer put in my life by the police force in order to spy on me and all my friends and family. I mean, who would accept that?'
Both women said they had been left feeling emotionally distressed by their experience.
For her part, Lisa said she was 'broken' and 'felt like a shell of myself.'
The revelation set in motion a chain of events that led to a 2014 public inquiry into what became known as the ‘Spycops’ scandal, as well as a civil case for damages from the Met Police by a group of victims, Lisa and Naomi among them.
The legal action ended in a fulsome public apology from the then Assistant Commissioner Martin Hewitt and substantial damages paid to each of the claimants.
Mark Kennedy was part of the Met's National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPIOU) which employed undercover officers
While the inquiry is still ongoing, a spokesperson for Met Police told the producers of the documentary that they 'apologise unreservedly for the significant harm and distress caused to the women who were deceived into sexual relationships by undercover officers.'
The statement added: 'These were abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong.
'The Met failed to make clear to undercover officers and their managers in the 1980s that such relationships were unacceptable or provide training and guidance.'
The Undercover Police Scandal: Love And Lies Exposed starts tonight at 9pm on ITV1, ITVX and STV Player
