Jennifer Francis says she sought help from Met and was ‘simply told to carry on as I was’

The ex-wife of a former undercover police officer has criticised Scotland Yard and claimed his covert deployment caused huge stresses in their marriage and ultimately led to their divorce.

Undercover officers were required to be married or in stable relationships during their deployments, but Jennifer Francis, whose ex-husband, Peter, was sent to spy on anti-racist groups, accused the Metropolitan police of failing to give her any support when their marriage came under strain from the demands of his work.

Francis said she felt senior officers viewed her as being “usable, abusable and disposable” and the lack of support “only served to destroy our marriage, causing long-term damage to all those involved”.

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She is the first ex-wife of an undercover officer who infiltrated political groups to make public her experiences. Francis is one of a small group of ex-wives who are due to give evidence to a public inquiry led by the retired judge Sir John Mitting that is examining the conduct of police spies. The inquiry had granted her anonymity but she has waived it.

In her account, given to the Guardian, Francis said she did not find out until five years after their divorce that her ex-husband had had sexual relationships with two women while he was undercover and married to her.

She described the “lonely, isolating, frightening and ultimately very damaging” effect of her husband’s covert work on her and her family, which she said “led to the breakdown of my marriage and consequent financial loss”.

Francis said: “I witnessed my husband turn into someone I barely recognised as he tried to deal with the demands and stress of his deployment. Our inability to talk about his deployment or how he felt affected our emotional connection – he was unavailable on an emotional level.

“It irretrievably damaged and adversely affected our home and family life, our relationship and, ultimately, our marriage.”

Peter Francis went undercover between 1993 and 1997 as a member of the Met’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS). Officers in the unit developed fake identities and typically spent up to five years undercover infiltrating political groups. During his deployment, Francis usually spent six days a week away from home.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Peter Francis has become a whistleblower on undercover police operations. Photograph: Graham Turner/The Guardian

It is understood that SDS managers wanted the undercover officers to be married or in long-term relationships as they believed that a stable home life would discourage them from going rogue and remaining in their fake lives.

Francis suffered PTSD as a result of his covert work. A number of ex-undercover officers say their deployments caused them psychiatric damage.

Jennifer Francis said that when she sought help from SDS managers and the Met, she was “simply told to carry on as I was, to keep things calm at home and that my husband had to find his own way of dealing with the stress, such as walking on the hills or listening to his favourite music.

“That was it. I had no one else to turn to. There was no one else to turn to. I was isolated. There was no further support. Nothing.”

She added: “The Metropolitan police paid no regard to my welfare issues despite requiring the undercover officers to be married.”

Peter Francis has become a whistleblower, making public extensive details of the work and misconduct of the SDS. At the start of his whistleblowing, he disclosed that while he was undercover, he had two sexual relationships with women who did not know his true identity.

The undercover officers frequently deceived women into intimate relationships using their fake identities.

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Jennifer Francis said she “stood in solidarity” with the deceived women. “We are all victims of the same organisation: officers’ spouses/partners, women who were deceived into relationships, families on both sides and, in some cases, the officers themselves.

“I believe that institutional sexism exists in the hierarchy and management of the Metropolitan police … We, as women, have been exploited by men we thought we could trust and … we are regarded as collateral damage.”

The Met said it was “completely committed to equality, professionalism and treating everyone who comes into contact with police with dignity and respect. We will not tolerate any form of discrimination or prejudice amongst officers and staff; such attitudes have no place in the Metropolitan Police Service.”

It said it was “providing every assistance” to the public inquiry.