THE Metropolitan Police has been accused of offering a “meaningless and insulting” apology to 10 women deceived into relationships with undercover officers. 

The apology, made as part of a recent settlement with several women who brought civil claims against the Met over the abuse, failed to acknowledge institutional sexism in the force, the group said.

The women, who are members of the Police Spies Out of Lives campaign group, said in a statement on Friday that Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball had acknowledged that they were telling the truth and apologised for what happened to them. 

“But she has not acknowledged the institutional sexism which is at the heart of this abuse,” they said. 

“This omission is an insult and renders her apology meaningless.

“How long do we — and all of the affected women — have to wait for a full and open apology for the sexism which was the driving force for the abuse?”

The group includes “Jessica,” who was deceived into a relationship with undercover officer Andy Coles — now a Tory councillor — when she was a 19-year-old animal rights activist. 

In 2015, seven women secured an apology and settlement from the Met, which acknowledged that the sexual relationships were abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong. 

It’s thought that at least 50 people were tricked into relationships by undercover officers serving in police units that infiltrated more than 1,000 political groups over 40 years. 

The apology comes ahead of the return of the public inquiry into the scandal next week, with a series of short hearings summing up what has been uncovered since the probe started hearing evidence in 2020. 

In a huge blow to the police, the inquiry recently concluded that the Special Demonstration Squad, which spied on activists from 1968 to 2008, “should have been disbanded” decades before it was. 

“Alison,” who was deceived into a five-year relationship with spycop Mark Cassidy, told a press conference today that evidence to the inquiry has shown a “culture of misogyny” was established in the unit during the 1970s. 

“And today we are seeing the consequences of this misogynist policing culture in some of the appalling headlines recently,” she said. “The Metropolitan Police have known about this culture for decades and done nothing.”

The inquiry will hear closing statements next week from those spied on since the late 1960s, including trade unionists and blacklisted workers, family justice campaigns, politicians and anti-racism campaigners.