‘I indulged in a lot of self-harm’: UK woman tells of damaging ‘spy cop’ relationship

The conduct of the officer, who called himself Rob Harrison, will be examined by a public inquiry, along with that of 139 police spies between 1968 and 2010 Photograph: Handout

A woman has revealed how an undercover police officer formed a long-term intimate relationship with her without disclosing his real identity, vanished from her life – and then reappeared seven years later.

When the officer came back, she says, he persuaded her to break up with her then boyfriend of five years, saying he wanted to resume their relationship and have children together.