Undercover officer deceived women with grotesque and cruel' lies, spycops inquiry told

"Carlo Soracchi admitted he sought to elicit the empathy of one of the women by claiming that his sister had been abused by his father. He also told her that his father had died when he was actually alive. Soracchi also admitted to deceitfully receiving taxpayers' money to cover the cost of a trip to Italy to celebrate Valentine's Day with the woman, Donna McLean."

"The inquiry heard how he asked her to marry him and told her mother he wanted to have a baby with her. After accepting the marriage proposal, she discussed details of the wedding including seating plans and menus with Soracchi. Other witnesses have said the engagement was common knowledge within her circle of friends."

"McLean did not know that he was already married with a child, nor that he was an undercover police officer who would have to disappear at the end of his deployment."

"Asked by David Barr, the inquiry's chief barrister, if he had deceived his managers about the real purpose of this trip, he agreed, accepting that it was purely pleasure."

Carlo Soracchi, an undercover police officer deployed to infiltrate leftwing and anti-fascist groups between 2000 and 2006, conducted long-term sexual relationships with at least two women through systematic deception and emotional manipulation. He fabricated personal traumas, including false claims about his sister's abuse and his father's death, to elicit empathy. He proposed marriage to one woman, Donna McLean, discussed wedding details with her, and asked about having children together, while concealing his actual marriage and child. Soracchi fraudulently claimed £477 in taxpayer funds for a Valentine's Day trip to Italy with McLean, falsely justifying it as operational work. McLean remained unaware of his true identity, existing family, or that he would disappear at deployment's end.

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