THE Metropolitan Police stored “intimate emails” between a female activist and an undercover police officer who had started a relationship with her, a court heard today.

Private messages sent between Mark Kennedy and environmentalist Kate Wilson were allegedly retained by the Met, despite the force denying that it approved of or even knew about the relationship.

While operating in activist circles, Mr Kennedy began relationships with several women to better monitor the groups’ activities between the 1970s and the early 2000s.

At the ongoing public inquiry, Ms Wilson is one of eight women bringing a case against the Met, claiming that the force’s use of “romantic” tactics had breached their human rights.

Though Scotland Yard formally apologised to victims of the deception and acknowledged that the tactics were “abusive, deceitful, manipulative and wrong," the case is attempting to disprove the Met’s assertion that it would “never” have authorised such a tactic.

Ms Wilson had a two-year relationship with Mr Kennedy but did not learn of his true identity until 2011, when he accidentally left his passport in another activist’s car.

Her lawyers dispute Scotland Yard’s plea of ignorance and want to “remedy” the situation by examining how deep the surveillance of her went and how far up the chain of command the information was passed.

They are also demanding that over 10,000 pages of documents relating to Ms Wilson be disclosed to her before being destroyed.

Charlotte Kilroy, representing Ms Wilson, alleged that Mr Kennedy’s police handler saw the pair together on at least one occasion.

“This was deeply degrading and humiliating. Her emotional integrity was subordinate to the interests of the defendant in gathering intelligence.”

Commenting on the Met’s apology, Ms Kilroy said: “We don’t accept that apology was as full as it should have been. It suggests that this was a ‘bad apple’ situation.

“It was not a bad apple situation. It was a tactic of deployment.”

Speaking to the Press Association, Ms Wilson said: “There’s been a lot of focus on me, but there’s at least 22 other women who want answers. I’m getting some answers and they still aren’t.

“It’s been very difficult and the police are very obstructive.”