15 March 2012

Leveson Inquiry: Module 2 - Press/Police - Day 11

Lord Justice Leveson
 "The focus of the Inquiry is ‘the culture, practices and ethics of the press’ in the context of the latter’s relationship with the public, the police and politicians. All of these matters overlap, and my goal must be to consider what lessons, if any, may be learned from past events and what recommendations, if any, should be made for the future, in particular as regards press regulation, governance and other systems of oversight."

Module 2
 

"The relationship between the press and the police and the extent to which that has operated in the public interest."

Useful Links:
Leveson Inquiry Witness Statements HERE 
Leveson Inquiry Witness Lists HERE
Video Recordings of each day's proceedings HERE
Live Feed From Leveson Inquiry Site HERE
BBC Democracy Live Feed HERE 
Telegraph Live Blog HERE
Guardian Live Blog HERE


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 Links to today's articles, blogs, comment and information relevant to the Leveson Inquiry:
  • 10:43 a.m. - Guardian Live Blog:
Former News of the World chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, who was arrested yesterday on suspicion of intimidation of a witness, has just tweeted:

@rosshawkins :
Brett's w/s reveals he was was asked to leave NI by Rebekah Brooks (then NI CEO) after judgment in a libel action


@JackofKent :
In my opinion, it is now clear The Times knowingly misled the High Court over investigation.
Can't watch Brett at #Leveson, but witness statement on #NightJack is an astonishing, discrediting account.
@JackofKent : As we all should be. RT @RichardMoorhead: #Leveson seems unimpressed with Brett's line on Forster doing it the second time legitimately
So Brett and others didn't even tell their QC re email hacking. So Times misled court, own lawyer and #NightJack's lawyers.
Brett to #NightJack lawyers at time: allegation that Times hacked email account was "baseless".
[This was the @NewStatesman exclusive where I raised issue of misleading the court as key in #NightJack and #Leveson: ]
Have never seen a lawyer so comprehensively taken apart. Am now peering behind my fingers.

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 Thursday, 15th March 2012
Link to yesterday's hearing HERE

Today's Witnesses:
Alastair Brett ( Formerly of The Times )
Mike Sullivan ( The Sun )
Peter Tickner ( Formerly of the MPS and the MPA ) Ross Hawkins, BBC, reports Peter Tickner not now appearing.
Stephen Wright ( Daily Mail )
Clive Driscoll ( MPS )


Alastair Brett   Witness Statement in Full

Guardian Live Blog HERE
Telegraph Live Blog HERE

Guardian Live Blog:
The inquiry has resumed and Alastair Brett, former legal manager of the Times, has taken the stand.
Brett joined the Times in 1977, and worked there until 2010. He worked under 11 different editors.

@nataliepeck : Brett was in-house lawyer for Times Newspapers Limited for 33 years - until 2010 - working under eleven editors including Harding.  Jay dives straight into questions about NightJack case and Times reporter Patrick Foster. Brett statement: I do remember being furious with Mr Foster.I told him he had put TNL and me into an incredibly difficult position.

Guardian Live Blog:
Brett is asked about the circumstances in the outing of the anonymous police blogger, NightJack.The inquiry hears that Patrick Foster, the former Times journalist, spoke to Brett on 20 May 2009 about the NightJack story.
Foster guessed security questions that allegedly enabled him to break into an anonymous Hotmail account. It was run by DC Richard Horton, of Lancashire police, whose NightJack blog about police life had recently been awarded the Orwell prize. Foster was thus helped to "out" NightJack's identity.The Times subsequently fought off a legal bid by Horton to protect his identity, without disclosing to the high court that the identity had been obtained from the Hotmail account. Mr Justice Eady tried the case on the basis that Horton's identity had been "deduced" from legitimate public sources.

Brett witness statement: I do remember being furious with Mr Foster - @IndexLeveson - Brett statement: . I told him he had been incredibly stupid. He apologised, promised not to do it again 
@rosshawkins :
Brett at : thought I've got to tell him you cannot behave like this in a proper newspaper like the Times

@nataliepeck :
Brett statement: I made a strategic litigation decision in good faith…[but] I accept that criticism unreservedly. 
Jay now asking Brett about Foster "fronting up" the NightJack story after hacking into Horton's email account.
Brett: At the time Foster persuaded me that he could clearly show only person NightJack could be was DC Horton.

In my opinion, it is now clear The Times knowingly misled the High Court over investigation. - @JackofKent

Guardian Live Blog;
Brett denies that asking Foster to identify NightJack using only legitimate means after he had accessed the blogger's email account was a "cosmetic" process.
Barrow could have told Foster to lay off the story if there were great concerns, Brett says.Foster approached Horton and shortly afterwards Horton's lawyers sent a legal letter threatening court action to the Times editor, James Harding.
Jay points out that Horton emailed Foster telling him that printing a story would get him in trouble with his employer.

@nataliepeck :
Brett: When I was talking to Barrow, in light of Horton and Foster conversation, thought injunction unlikely. I got it wrong.
: Foster hadn't [done it legititmately] He used what he knew and found a way through to achieve the same result

Guardian Live Blog:
Brett is asked whether Harding knew about the injunction proceedings. "I am absolutely sure James didn't know about it, no," he says.
3.38pm: Brett says he did not believe at the time that Horton would follow through with an injunction against the Times.
He thought the matter would end at a threatening lawyer's letter, which arrived on 28 May 2009.
Brett is asked whether he believed at the time that the high court was being misled over the unmasking of NightJack.
Brett does not believe that, maintaining that NightJack had been identified entirely legitimately.
"No he hadn't, with great respect," says Leveson. "He couldn't put out of his mind that which he already knew."
 
@rosshawkins :
Brett at : I thought this was a one off until I found journo had been rusticated at Oxford. I went through the roof


Guardian Live Blog:
Brett says he did not mention the email issue to the Times's counsel before it went to the high court to fight Horton's injunction."Perhaps I was making a wrong decision but I was compartmentalising things. I put the earlier email hacking into a compartment [and concentrated on the legitimate investigative work to unmask NightJack]," he says.
Brett did email a second barrister to mention the incident in Oxford involving Foster in case it was brought up in court.
He admits he was "oblique to an extent which is embarrassing" in the email, which could be read as suggesting Foster had been involved in similar activity with Horton's email.
The barrister emailed back to say the Oxford incident was "just prejudice", but there might be trouble if Horton's email had been hacked into.
Brett is asked about Foster's witness statement to the high court injunction hearing in 2009.
The statement said Foster could not reveal "confidential sources".
Leveson says "there wasn't a confidential source" and "it was all about the email hacking".

Brett to lawyers at time: allegation that Times hacked email account was "baseless". - @JackofKent
Brett now: " 'Baseless' not the best word to have used". To say the least.
This is painful, compelling viewing.

Brett: Still thought we could seperare out clean issues of whether privacy law protected bloggers. - @nataliepeck

Guardian Live Blog:
Brett is asked why lawyers for the Times did not give the court an accurate account as to how NightJack was unmasked.
"I don't believe this was relevant to the real legal issues as to what went before Justice Eady," Brett says.

tells Brett he gets no pleasure from these difficult exchanges.-  @rosshawkins@rosshawkins :

[This was the exclusive where I raised issue of misleading the court as key in and : ] - @JackofKent
Have never seen a lawyer so comprehensively taken apart. Am now peering behind my fingers.

@nataliepeck :
Inquiry moves on to look at Patrick Foster's witness statement to High Court. takes over from Jay as works through it with Brett.
Brett: We're being fantastically precise. : I'm being precise because this is a statement being submitted to a court, Mr Brett.

@rosshawkins :
exceedingly stern, Jay snorting in laughter at Brett assertion. This is becoming v awkward viewing


Guardian Live Blog:
Leveson says that the Times "using an illegal mechanism" had exposed a story on the basis that the subject would not seek redress.Brett says he is not justifying an "end before the means" approach. "I wouldn't dream of condoning" email hacking, he adds.


Mike Sullivan   Witness Statement in Full





From Bob Quick's evidence to the Leveson Inquiry and reported in the Guardian Live Blog ( 7th March ):
Quick says on at least two occasions when he was invited to drinks at a wine bar near Scotland Yard, he saw Yates, Fedorcio and Stephenson having drinks with Lucy Panton of the News of the World and Mike Sullivan of the Sun.
He said he also recalled Yates in social situations with the Daily Mail's Stephen Wright. He adds he was surprised as Wright had written a number of articles critical of Blair and the Met.
Quick is asked if he believes Yates briefed Wright, but says he doesn't know.
He says such socialising had perception of looking inappropriate.
Guardian Live Blog HERE
Telegraph Live Blog HERE


From Guardian Live Blog:
Sullivan was promoted to crime editor in 2001 after 11 years as a crime reporter at the Sun.He confirms he was arrested earlier this year in relation to Operation Elveden.
Sullivan is asked about the Crime Reporters Association (CRA). He says that CRA members are regarded by the police as "trustworthy" and will be given more context to stories that may not be for publication.
The CRA expanded its membership to include journalists who reported on crime, rather than limited to specialist crime correspondents.

Sean O'Neill:
Sullivan: you want to speak to a cop not a press officer because you want info "from the horse's mouth"


@nataliepeck :
Sullivan statement: I have met several Assistant Commissioners on a professional and, more rarely, on a social basis.
Sullivan statement: Normally speak to Dick Fedorcio once every week...we provide a good point of contact for each other.
Sullivan: Until last year, Dick and his staff often joined the CRA for a drink or two after commissioner’s briefings.
Sullivan statement: If a reporter and officer become friends, they should also be able to meet socially…
…in their private time without a recording of it being made.
 
Guardian Live Blog:
 Sullivan's witness statement says:
The growth of electronic media, and in particular the advent of 24-hour television, means that similar press conferences on big stories are now attended by many more journalists. The emphasis is on a fast-time response with more demands on journalists and police alike to get the story 'out there' as quickly as possible. Accuracy can suffer as a result, as proved by Sir Ian Blair's comments on the day of the shooting by armed officers of Jean Charles de Menezes. A press conference was held at the QE2 Centre to hold the sheer number of journalists.
Guardian Live Blog:
Kelvin MacKenzie's approach to the police was that he respected the commissioner but that he did not want to engage socially with the Scotland Yard boss, Sullivan says, because it might have compromised his journalistic integrity.
Sullivan says it is "ironic" that former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis wrote a story reporting that there were more than 200 corrupt officers in the police. Wallis had a good relationship with former Met commissioner Lord Condon and the former head of the DPA.
The Sun had a "fairly ambivalent" view of former Met commissioner Sir Ian Blair, Sullivan says. He believes the Sun was not Blair's cup of tea, and vice versa.
 
@hackinginquiry :
Sullivan had five meetings with Fedorcio 2004-8. Says purpose was to keep in loop of information.

Guardian Live Blog:
Sullivan says he and then CRA chairman John Steele of the Daily Telegraph had dinner with Met commisioner Lord Stevens, who wanted the police's public image to move on from the low following the Lawrence inquiry.
Sullivan had five one-to-one meetings with Dick Fedorcio, the Met police head of public affairs, between 2004 and 2008, the inquiry hears.He says the two developed a "close working relationship" over a number of years.
Sullivan says these meetings were to keep him in the loop of police activity but no overriding reason. The discussions might touch on the internal politics at Scotland Yard.
He says there were "difficulties" and frictions when Sir Ian Blair took over as commissioner, but adds that internal police politics were not deemed newsworthy by the Sun.

Sean O'Neill:
Jay: 'Were you part of Fedorcio's inner circle?' Sullivan: 'I would probably say I was'
Sullivan: dining and drinking w cops has become more infrequent "as Fleet St sobered up and the police became more professional"

 
@nataliepeck :
Sullivan: I was part of a group of long-serving crime reporters in circle of trusted journalists for Mr Fedorcio to talk to.
Sullivan: Knew Yates and Hayman relatively well. Going back in time I can't recall being particularly close to any ACs.
Sullivan: There has always been a problem understanding what the term "off the record" means.
Sullivan: I am not aware of the Sun using Southern Investigations for any purposes [contradicting Quick's evidence].
Bob Quick evidence on Sun/Southern Investigations here (p.85 onwards):
Guardian Live Blog:
Sullivan says the Sun – like other newspapers – is interested in celebrity arrests. But he never got any satisfaction from those stories professionally, he adds. 
Sullivan is asked what he means about "increasing political involvement in policing" in his witness statement.He says the office of London mayor Boris Johnson has invited reporters on raids with officers, which makes him uncomfortable.
Sullivan says he has met former senior Met police officers John Yates and Andy Hayman on rare social occasions.
Sullivan first met Yates in 1995 when he was briefed by him and two other reporters about the murder of a police mechanic.
He adds that it is a "mark of Mr Yates's true character" that the ex-Met police officer would years later recall that murder investigation and his regrets about not catching the culprit.
Sullivan says lunching police officers has become "an increasing rarity" in recent years as Fleet Street has sobered up and the police have become more professional.

 @IndexLeveson :
Sullivan says Sun generally supportive of police position
Sullivan says he has changed his stance on a few points in his statement

Guardian Live Blog:
Sullivan talks about Bob Quick's evidence in which he said he saw him, the Sun's Lucy Panton, the Mail's Stephen Wright drinking with the Met's John Yates and Sir Paul Stephenson when he was deputy commissioner. He says Quick's interpretation of the event is wrong.He adds he was not particularly close to any assistant commissioner but knew Yates and Andy Hayman quite well.
The Sun has always seen rank-and-file police officers as part of its core readership, Sullivan says, so has supported them.

Sean O'Neill:
Sullivan: I've been told there's a system at Yard for grading reporters according to who is most favourable to the Met
Sullivan: I would like to be "crystal clear" that The Sun has never used Southern Investigations
Sullivan: Filkin report was patronising about journalists not practicing abstinence; he says cops and lawyers are hardly teetotal


Ross Hawkins:
Sun's Sullivan : since last summer Met have been calling to ask about stories citing "police source"
Sun's Sullivan : first I knew you could intercept messages on a mobile phone was when Goodman / Mulcaire arrested


From Sullivan's Witness Statement: (via Guardian Live Blog)
Sullivan's witness statement relating to this "grading" reads:
Does the Head of Public Affairs at the Metropolitan Police Service and/or corresponding persons in other police forces act, or seek to act as gatekeepers controlling access by the media to other police personnel?
Very much so. One of the duties of the head of the DPA is to scrutinize all media stories and look for examples where a journalist may have more information in an article or broadcast than the given 'party line.' If they have any concerns, the Directorate of ProfessionaI Standards is notified and this can lead to leak inquiries being instituted.
I am led to understand that analysts are also used to scan stories looking for potential leaks. Such is the extent of media monitoring in the Met, that I believe that they even have charts on individual reporters with a system of marking to show if they are regarded as being favourable or not towards the Met.

@JoshHalliday :
The Filkin report into police and press relations is "naive" as it requires absolute openness to work, Sun's crime editor says
 Mike Sullivan, Sun's crime editor, says Filkin report was “let down by its patronising tone” to journalists
Scotland Yard quick to deny claim it grades journalists on favourability. Sun's crime editor maintains he believes it was accurate.
@nataliepeck :
 Garnham, representing Met, briefly questioning Sullivan on his claims on grading system.



Stephen Wright    Witness Statement in Full

Journalisted Articles by Stephen Wright 











Fom Bob Quick's evidence to the Leveson Inquiry ( 7th March ) reported in Guardian Live Blog:
Quick says on at least two occasions when he was invited to drinks at a wine bar near Scotland Yard, he saw Yates, Fedorcio and Stephenson having drinks with Lucy Panton of the News of the World and Mike Sullivan of the Sun.He said he also recalled Yates in social situations with the Daily Mail's Stephen Wright. He adds he was surprised as Wright had written a number of articles critical of Blair and the Met.
Quick is asked if he believes Yates briefed Wright, but says he doesn't know.
He says such socialising had perception of looking inappropriate.
Guardian Live Blog HERE
Telegraph Live Blog HERE


Guardian Live Blog:
Wright raises a CRA briefing with Lord Condon in 1999 and says he asked an uncomfortable question about the future of the former Met commissioner. He suggests some CRA briefings were too "cosy".
"Sometimes I felt CRA briefings were a way for some senior officers to control the flow of information," he adds.
Wright says it was a "bunfight" among crime correspondents during the Rosemary West trial in Winchester in October 1995. He describes it as "chaotic" and says there was "a lot of skullduggery" among journalists.
He says some journalists were paying witnesses for information, which he adds he is proud the Daily Mail never did.

@JoshHalliday :
Steve Wright of the Daily Mail laments financial plight of newspapers: "The quality of journalism is not what it was 20 years ago”
 

Sean O'Neill:
Wright: there is a danger that dwindling resources in media will lead to falling standards of reporting
: "there are powerful tools available to the press that can and do dramtically help the pursuit of criminal justice in this country"

@nataliepeck :
Wright covered Soham murders, Harold Shipman case and murder of Milly Dowler.
Wright: Media able to provide valuable help to the police in their investigations.
Wright: Article on Colin Stagg taking DNA test resulted from him arriving at police station with TV crew.
Wright: We think very carefully about what we write and publish but occasionally we get it wrong.

@rosshawkins :
Like other crime corrs Wright stressing they have to be trusted, maintain a reputation among cops, s/times withhold info
Stephen Wright at : as crime reporters we act ethically but we are soon out of work if we rely on press releases


Guardian Live Blog:
Wright is asked whether he received unauthorised information from police contacts.He says he received authorised information from officers at inspector level or above, but did not speak to anyone below inspector rank.
"I am a journalist and we want to gather information. What we hear and whether we use it is an entirely different matter," he adds.
Wright is asked about the murder of Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon common in 1992.
An article by Wright was deemed by police officers to be poignant, he says. Wright told Nickell's partner that he would try get justice for him.
"There's been a lot of emphasis on the negative side of a journalist and police officer," he tells Leveson.
"In this case I wanted to, if I could, raise this issue with a senior officer who had a lot of influence at the Yard to see if there was anything he could do about this. That's all I wanted to do and I don't want anybody to think anything else."
Break for Lunch.....

@nataliepeck :
We're back at with Stephen Wright. Jay moves on to the Stephen Lawrence case.
Wright: Dacre sought my knowledge on evening before the "Murderers" front page published. Wasn't aware it was his plan until then.
Wright: No one on the investigation team gave me info for Lawrence articles [doesn't want to reveal source further].
Wright: We would not have run the story if we thought it was going to jeopardise the investigation in any way.


 @JoshHalliday :
Wright of the Daily Mail says journalists in Crime Reporters Association have received "intimidating" phone calls from Met over sources
  RT : Mr Jay QC lets this point go. 'I may return to this,' he says

Guardian Live Blog:
Wright is asked about his Daily Mail article, published on 8 November 2007, about a meeting between police and the Lawrence family, referred to earlier today by DCI Clive Driscoll.The journalist says he is particularly protective of sources but adds that "no one on that particular investigation team" was responsible for leaking that information to Wright.
He declines to say whether it was a police officer.
I am concerned in the current climate … I have current colleagues in the CRA who have been receiving intimdating phone calls from a certain department in the Met police service about who sources are. I am very concerned indeed about these matters.
@rosshawkins :
Wright of Mail says he doesn't agree his story wd jeopardise Lawrence inquiry, and he ran it past Met and wasn't asked to pull it
 
Guardian Live Blog:
Wright does not believe his November 2007 article could have jeopardised the Lawrence investigation.The Daily Mail enjoys a fantastic relationship with the Lawrence family, he adds, maintaining that the story was in the public interest.
Leveson says the Daily Mail took an "important lead" on the Lawrence murder investigation, but pushes on whether the story could have been unhelpful to the ongoing police inquiries.
Wright says that it comes down to a judgment call. He adds that the Daily Mail would not have published the story if the police objected or if they thought it could jeopardise the investigation.
 Wright says he put the Lawerence story to the Met press office "late in the day" and a decision was made to run the story.
Wright says in September 2010, the paper had another Lawrence story and decided not to run it after talking to the Met.

@JoshHalliday :
QOTD by superb Steve Wright of Daily Mail: “Contrary to the Filkin report, there’s no trickery in my reporting. None at all.”


Guardian Live Blog:
 Wright says he would never write a story based on being told something by someone and not checking whether they were happy for him to publish it.
"Contrary to the Filkin report, there's no trickery in my reporting. None at all," he tells the inquiry.

@IndexLeveson :
Wright: am happy to meet police officer for coffee, breakfast, drink...hospitality is a small part of way in which journo operates


@rosshawkins :
Wright of Mail - you don't go to meeting with police officer expecting to get a story, it's about gaining knowledge & context

Wright of Mail at : police officers follow the evidence, we follow the story, Ian Blair made himself the story
Wright of Mail - there was a civil war at the Yard at that time (c2006) at the top level. It was my job to report on that 
  
@nataliepeck :
Wright: To my knowledge never met Lord Stevens in a restaurant, only at his offices.
Wright: Would have asked Fedorcio about Lawrence case but he never spoke about it, don't believe he had any knowledge about it.
Wright: Fedorcio not the source of any unauthorised disclosures or information to me.
Wright: Had private lunch with Blair when appointed in 2004 to say I would be fair. Sadly he was architect of his own downfall.
Jay: Were you close with AC Yates or AC Hayman? Wright: I wouldn't say so.
Wright: Any hospitality has got to be closely monitored. I've been very aware of not meeting people too often.

Guardian Live Blog:
Wright says he had one-to-one meetings with the Met police head of public affairs, Dick Fedorcio, once a year to catch up with his Scotland Yard press department.
One such lunch was in November 2007 at The Tapster in Buckingham Gate.
He says have asked Fedorcio about the Lawrence case but they never spoke about it.

@ nataliepeck :
Wright: Closeness and intensity of contact is a key issue but banning all informal contact will not serve public interest.


@IndexLeveson :
Wright says it is wrong to ban all informal contact between police and media. Public will be worse for it if such rules brought in
Wright: if every contact w/media is examined to nth degree, could lead to corruption of different kind. Balance must be achieved
Wright on recording meetings between press and police: poses bureaucratic problem, Met has enough bureaucracy as it is 

Guardian Live Blog:
Wright concludes his evidence by saying that he hopes the inquiry will consider the importance of investigative journalism in the public interest.
"The Metropolitan police … is like journalists, not above scrutiny," he adds.
Leveson agrees, before saying: "...Who's holding you to account?"
Wright has now finished his evidence.
Clive Driscoll  Full Witness Statement

Mr Garnham also raised concerns about allegations against senior officers made in a statement to the inquiry by Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll, who led the Met's investigation into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. 


Guardian Live Blog HERE
Telegraph Live Blog HERE


Guardian Live Blog:
10:12 a.m. The inquiry has begun.Jonathan Caplan, counsel for Associated Newspapers, is complaining that the witness statement of DCI Clive Driscoll was only circulated to core participants late yesterday. Driscoll's evidence apparently refers to the Daily Mail reporter Stephen Wright, who gives evidence today, and his coverage of the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation.
"The Daily Mail and his reporting has been the subject of a lot of positive comment and awards, and he will deal with it," Caplan says. He adds: "It's extremely unfortunate that it has come as late as it has."
Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll of the Met's specialist crime department takes the stand.

@jacquihames :
DCI Driscoll the honest voice of cops on the coal face

 
 Guardian Live Blog:
Driscoll has been in charge of the Met police policy unit on sexual offences
He was also the senior investigating officer on Operation Fishpool, the second review of the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation.

@nataliepeck :
Driscoll: Previous investigations into Lawrence murder suffered because of leaks. Made decision not to speak to the press.
Driscoll: Nov 2007 meeting with Mrs Lawrence resulted in press enquires two hours after it finished.
Driscoll: Spoke to Stephen Wright who agreed not to run second story. He said no police source had been involved.
Driscoll: Senior member of Met suspected of unoffocially briefing press, now being investigated by IPCC and Elveden.

Lawrence Murder: Evidence Missed  By Forensic Experts - Mail Online


Sean O'Neill:
 Driscoll stressing steps taken to keep details of Lawrence investigation on a need to know basis
Oct 07, NotW disclosed info about new Lawrence team and forensic review of case
Driscoll: have huge respect for Mail and Steve Wright's work over Lawrence case, but why did they undermine it with 07 article?
Driscoll statement: Lawrence family were "distraught" about leak of meeting to D Mail
Driscoll: "Every time a story leaked to the press I had to repair relations with the [Lawrence] family"
LGC (private forensics company) subsequently inadvertently released info to Sunday Times about Lawrence case
Driscoll's concern is that disclosure of info about new evidence would hamper his ability to question suspects
Driscoll: "I became convinced that someone was deliberately attempting to disrupt the investigation"
Driscoll: Mail later agreed not to publish a second article on Lawrence case which could have impeded investigation
Driscoll reported allegations of systematatic leaking by "senior member of Met Police Service" to anti-corruption team 

Guardian Live Blog:
Driscoll says in his witness statement that a contact who had provided information to the Stephen Lawrence investigation asked him not to pass his name to an unnamed senior Met police officer because it was "well known in Fleet Street that this person briefed outside official meetings and later added a more serious allegation".
The witness statement says: "This concerned the close relationship between this senior member of the MPS and sections of the media. The relationship was rumoured to be corrupt."
It adds that an internal "confidential operation" was undertaken into the claims and they could not be corroborated. He says the findings have been passed on to the IPCC and Operation Elveden.
However, he says that the concern about the senior Met officer was made to him later by two journalists separately and independently.

Peter Tickner

Guardian Live Blog HERE
Telegraph Live Blog HERE