Undercover officer allegedly used public money for romantic break in Venice

"Carlo Soracchi pretended to be an activist for six years while he infiltrated socialist and anti-fascist campaign groups. Internal documents show that the Metropolitan police paid for the flights and accommodation for the trip on the basis that he was going with a group of UK campaigners to consolidate and extend relations with Italian socialists."

"The woman he was deceiving into a year-long intimate relationship told the inquiry he went with her on a classic romantic break in a city associated with romance. The woman, known as Lindsey, said there were only two of them on the three-day trip, and they were only apart for 20 minutes."

"Lindsey was one of three women deceived into sexual relationships by Soracchi while he was undercover. He also had a two-year relationship with Donna McLean, during which he proposed to her and she accepted. He denies that he did this."

Carlo Soracchi, an undercover Metropolitan Police officer, infiltrated socialist and anti-fascist campaign groups for six years while deceiving multiple women into intimate relationships. The spycops public inquiry revealed that taxpayer money funded his Venice trip, officially justified as a group visit to consolidate relations with Italian socialists. However, the woman he was deceiving, known as Lindsey, testified that only the two of them attended the three-day romantic break. Soracchi deceived at least three women, including Donna McLean, to whom he proposed marriage while denying the proposal occurred. The inquiry, led by retired judge Sir John Mitting, examines police infiltration of primarily leftwing campaign groups from 1968 to 2010, focusing on officers who formed undisclosed relationships with women.

Read at www.theguardian.com