'Jessica' was a young (19 years old) animal rights campaigner when she was targeted in 1992 by Andy Coles and had a relationship with him. In this statement she talks about feeling groomed: "I look back now and realise I was naive, idealistic, unsophisticated and a very young 19. Appallingly I also now know my "boyfriend" was a 32 year old, married undercover policeman working for the Special Demonstration Squad. I had believed him to be about 24 at the time. I attended my first demonstration at 14 years old, I am just grateful I never met him then".
She also explains how the experience of finding out she had been abused by a police officer has affected her: "This has been one of the most stressful times I have ever known: my life as I knew it was a lie. One of the people that I trusted most never existed. I can't look back at those times in the same way now. I can't trust my judgement, because I got things so wrong. I am now beginning to look at people I know differently. I can't even feel that I'm being paranoid, because it's justified."
In her own words: "This is a story that has to be told, has to be prevented from happening again. I am not the first person to go through this, and unfortunately, I will not be the last. We don't know the full scale of the abuse at the hands of the undercover police. "
below: key background links
1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/12/cambridgeshire-deputy-police-commissioner-facing-calls-to-resign-over-spy-allegations
2] http://www.cambridgeshire-pcc.gov.uk/the-commissioner/the-commisioners-deputy/
3] https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/our-stories/
4] Jessica's statement in full can be found here: https://policespiesoutoflives.org.uk/jessicas_statement