Helen Steel

Steel was a victim of the UK Spycops scandal, deceived into a long term relationship with police officer, John Dines, (known to Steel as John Barker) who was working undercover, as part of a wider police operation, to gain information on campaigners involved in the organisation London Greenpeace. Steel met Dines in the late 1980s, and in 1990 began a relationship with him, which lasted 2 years. They lived together, and had discussed starting a family together. After 2 years Dines disappeared abroad, claiming to have had a breakdown. Steel has said she spent years searching for him, and it was during this time that she discovered he had been using a false identity (that of a dead child). She tracked him down and confronted him in 2016, when he then apologised to her.

Helen Steel (born 1965) is an environmental and social justice activist who is known for her involvement in the McLibel case, an English lawsuit for libel filed by McDonald's Corporation that lasted for 10 years and was eventually taken to the European Court, where Steel and Morris won their case against the UK government on the grounds that they had been denied a fair trial. She is a key figure in the 'Spycops' scandal and subsequent Undercover Policing Inquiry.