‘Cult of Masculinity’ Blamed for Undercover Police Officers’ Relationships, Inquiry Told

A lawyer representing 25 core participants has told a public inquiry a “cult of masculinity” was to blame for the behaviour of undercover police officers who had sexual relationships with women in the 1980s and early 1990s. Charlotte Kilroy, KC, who is representing a number of women who were tricked into having relationships with officers from the Metropolitan Police’s special demonstration squad (SDS) between 1983 and 1992, told the Undercover Policing Inquiry there had been widespread “contempt for women” and “disregard for the law.” Last year, the first phase of the  inquiry—which looked at the years 1968 to 1982—found the “great majority” of the SDS’s clandestine operations were unjustified....