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Leveson inquiry: John Twomey, James Murray, Jeremy Lawton - live Leveson inquiry: John Twomey, James Murray, Jeremy Lawton appear
(40 minutes later)
4.40pm: Lawton has now finished giving evidence. 9.58am: Welcome to the Leveson inquiry live blog.
4.32pm: Lawton appeals to Leveson not to recommend restricting police relations with the press. Today's witnesses are crime correspondents: John Twomey of the Daily Express, James Murray of the Sunday Express and Jeremy Lawton of the Daily Star.
"I am just looking at the climate we are in and the doors are shutting everywhere … if it's not endemic then you do have the old sledgehammer and nut scenario," he says. Twomey is also chairman of the Crime Reporters' Association.
4.28pm: Lawton says he believes the Daily Star's coverage Madeleine McCann disappearance could have gone a different way if the Leicestershire police had briefed reporters off the record. The fourth witness is Dave Harrison, a retired criminal investigator.
He remembers how the Portuguese police leaked to their journalists that "forensic test results positively showed that linked her to the hire car, that her parents didn't hire till three or four weeks after she had disappeared". Please note that comments have been switched off for legal reasons.
Those forensic test results became a bone of contention between the UK and Portuguese police. The Leicestershire police did not think the results had shown that but chose not to correct this. 10.08am: The inquiry has begun and the first witness is retired criminal investigator Dave Harrison.
"I don't understand why Leicestershire police on this occasion, even if it was unreportable, did not brief, 'this was not right, the leak was wrong'," he says. Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, explains that some witnesses are appearing out of order as they can only make certain dates.
4.17pm: The Daily Star says the attorney general's decision to prosecute the Sun and the Mirror over Jefferies "had a real real impact". 10.15am: In December 2006 Harrison was part of a Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) team working on the hunt for the Ipswich serial killer who murdered five prostitutes.
Lawton says this had never happened before and agrees it meant "a sea change" in relation to crime reporting. 10.17am: During the hunt for the killer, a News of the World surveillance team was deployed to identify who the Soca team were.
The Sun and the Mirror were both fined for contempt of court. The surveillance team followed police vehicles, and parked on the outskirts of Ipswich in the same spot the officers would normally be.
"The attorney general has acted and I think people have listened," says Lawton. Harrison says it was clear that they were professionals, possibly ex-special forces.
4.13pm: Lawton also covered the murder of Joanna Yeates between the release of Chris Jefferies and the arrest of Vincent Tabak, as he was on leave earlier in the case. 10.30am: Harrison says the Sunday Mirror had also engaged a team that mounted surveillance.
He says he did not get any "off the record" guidance from the police. Its picked the first suspect up and took him to a place where he could be "debriefed".
4.11pm: The police hunt for killer Derrick Bird who shot his twin brother David was a prime example of the mutual trust that can exist between the police and the press, Lawton says. However, that suspect was not the murderer.
Bird had made a specific threat "to execute members of the public whenever he read or heard something about his family that he didn't like", he recalls. 10.31am: Harrison says police investigations can be hampered by newspapers that deploy professional surveillance operations.
The press were briefed on this and were asked to observe a police blackout. Lawton said he didn't believe they had the legal right to request this, but the police knew they could trust the press. The inquiry hears how murder suspects often return to the scene of the crime, or may commit further offences, but if the suspect knows they are being followed they would behave differently and elude the police.
"I came out of that and rang my newsdesk and [we] pulled a double-page spread … not one organisation, TV, radio, breached that embargo," says Lawton. 10.33am: Jay has now finished his questioning of Harrison.
4.06pm: Lawton says good press relationships "help all round", particularly for families of the victims of crime. At around 15 minutes, that was one of the shortest testimonies of the Leveson inquiry which is expected to come back to the subject of the hunt for the "Suffolk Strangler", Steve Wright.
"In the old days we would have to go round to the family," he says, individually or en masse and then request a briefing from the police. 10.41am: John Twomey of the Daily Express has the stand.
This has changed. He cites a recent Greater Manchester police media package sent by email which included details of the crime, an agreed statement from two members of the family, a photo the family were happy to release and CCTV footage. Since 2009, he has been chairman of the Crime Reporters' Association.
4.01pm: Leveson is interested to know if there is any continual professional training at the Daily Star which, for instance, brings them up to speed with the new Bribery Act, for instance. 10.47am: Twomey says a "tighter budget at the Express" means it can't pitch for exclusive pictures and stories as often as other papers.
Every update in the law is distributed by email to staff, says Lawton. Relations between police and the media changed over time but noticeably so around the time of the Stephen Lawrence murder when newspapers became more critical of the Met.
He adds he gets two or three emails a day from the legal department in relation to adjudications by the PCC and other relevant rulings. 10.51am: The inquiry is returning to one of its most frequent themes - police and journalists in the pub.
4.00pm: Lawton is firmly on the "tea and sandwiches" end of the hospitality spectrum. Entertaining doesn't apply to police officers, he says. Twomey explains it is "very unlikely" for informal information to be passed on over the phone – it would normally through a face-to-face meeting, perhaps in a pub.
"The officers I have dealt with, even if the thought of some inappropriate [offer]… you would blow your contact and risk arrest. I can say that pretty firmly," he adds. 10.55am: Leveson puts it to Twomey that if vital information is passed on to a journalist, the police "have lost control" because the journalist may then decide to publish on public interest grounds.
3.54pm: Lawton says treating police officers as friends is a "risk". He says they are not friends – the relationship is a work one. Twomey says there would be a "careful reflection", there would not be a "rushing into print".
3.51pm: Lawton says live TV briefings are a problem. They have "robbed reporters" of the opportunity to "have an open conversation" with police officers. "You would never go ahead with any story that would possibly jeopardise apprehending a criminal … or a prosecution," says Twomey.
3.45pm: "Have I have been tipped off about celebrity arrests? No," says Lawton. 11.02am: Twomey has been a crime reporter for 24 years. He says the "bread and butter" crime stories come from the lower ranks of the police force – inspector, chief inspector and superintendent level.
3.41pm: Lawton says he doesn't have difficulty in getting access to officers when he requests a conversation with them through the press office. 11.04am: Twomey met Dick Fedorcio, the Met's director of public affairs, about "twice a year", sometimes on his own, but sometimes with one or two other members of the Crime Reporters' Association.
He has never provided hospitality for officers in the Met. "I always found him very proper, very professional, and very loyal to the organisation and to those in command," says Twomey.
Lawton is more interested in meeting detectives who have "hands on" knowledge of crimes rather than senior police chiefs. 11.06am: Lunches between senior officers and the CRA have now ceased, which is a bad thing, says Twomey as reporters are not getting the briefings they used to get about issues such as counter-terrorism.
3.35pm: Lawton says most of his stories come from outside London. He doesn't have the level of contacts of John Twomey of the Daily Express or Sandra Laville of the Guardian, he says. 11.15am: Twomey says the standard of the restaurant used for informal contact with the police was directly proportionate to the seniority of the officer involved.
In his current role, he does not have day-to-day contact with Met officers. Some £60 to £80 a head would be spent with senior officers.
However he says Scotland Yard's press office has been very helpful, given his limited contact with it. "These must be lunches with alcohol, it goes without saying," says Jay.
3.31pm: Jeremy Lawton of the Daily Star takes the stand. 11.16am: Twomey says the benefit of the lunches with the CRA was "to keep the access open".
3.20pm: Murray has now finished giving evidence and the inquiry is taking a short break. "If we did have a terrorist emergency to 2005, we wanted similar access that we could then, but we wanted it to be improved, to be quicker," he adds.
3.19pm: Murray has suggested the inquiry looks to the Press Council of Ireland. 11.20am: Leveson returns to one of his favourite themes in this module: why lunches? why alcohol?
He says clause 14 in the PCC code of practice states that journalist have a "moral obligation" to protect sources. The Irish version of the code is stronger and says journalists should "protect confidential sources of information." He ays he is not "puritanical" about eating or drinking, "but is it really the case, that the way of attracting the attention of the most senior officers was … inviting them to a very nice lunch?"
Leveson asks Murray if he is legally bound by the Irish rules which have a statutory framework in a way that the journalists in the UK are "not bound" by the PCC. "Help me, if it doesn't create a bit of a problem which requires this sort of inducement?" asks Leveson.
Leveson is trying to get at the legal differences, but Murray is not briefed fully on the topic. Twomey denies it is an "inducement" and says it's just "a more convivial, comfortable" way of meeting. But he agrees that Leveson is not being "too straight laced" to voice a level of concern.
3.08pm: Murray was involved in the Sunday Express's coverage of the arrest of Christopher Jefferies during the Joanna Yeates murder inquiry. He says it goes on everywhere – defence correspondents meet army officers in their clubs.
Jefferies, who had no involvement with the killing, won "substantial damages" from eight newspapers over libellous coverage of the arrest. 11.24am: Twomey says police officers don't want to be stuck in Scotland Yard all the time, and they are more likely to be off their guard over a nice lunch.
"We didn't take the view he was in any way guilty or anything like that," says Murray. It doesn't mean to say they are knocking back £400 bottles of champagne; [it's] over a couple of glasses of wine and a decent meal, there's a tradition there and I think they would expect it. They don't want to be in Scotland Yard when they could be out in a comfortable place with people they know and they can trust.
3.04pm: We're now back to the "A word": alcohol. If you can only meet them in police stations or Scotland Yard, they are probably more likely to be toeing the party line.
Barr suggests that it might "lubricate" conversations for journalist, but a police officer may say something they might "later regret". 11.27am: Andy Hayman, the former assistant commissioner in charge of counter-terrorism, was one of those at the CRA meetings.
Murray protests and says that quite often alcohol gets in the way and officers and journalists will end up talking about " how Chelsea played, what's going on, politics" and not about work. "Was he freer in the way he expressed himself, gave away secrets? No, I don't think he did, certainly not in my presence," says Twomey.
"Some of the best information I've got is over a cup of tea, when everyone is very sober," he says. 11.37am: Twomey says he is concerned about proposals that police record or at least log every meeting with a journalist, as recommended in the Filkin report.
2.58pm: Murray says "you can forget any lunches or meals in the evening" if a new system requiring officers to record their meetings with journalists is introduced. "That would have a kind of freezing effect. Officers would be less likely to talk to you," he says.
He questions why any officer would "bother spending 10 minutes filling out a form" specifying he is going for an Italian with Murray from the Sunday Express. He adds a detective chief inspector seeking promotion "will probably cease all contact" because the record of meetings would come up at an interview.
"They are very busy people," he says. Leveson protests that this might be looked upon as an officer "doing their job properly" and wonders why Twomey is concerned.
2.55pm: Murray agrees with Leveson that he has to find a framework that will work for everyone and will minimise the risk that some people within the trade will always break the rules. Twomey says the fear in the officer's mind over their career would be real.
"There will be some rotten apples in the journalistic barrel and they will let us down … they are damaging to us in our relationship with the police and our reputation as journalists," he says. 11.42am: The inquiry is now taking a short break.
2.54pm: Murray tells Leveson: "There is a need for a recalibration [of the press/police relations] … but it all seems to relate to one newspaper, or one newspaper group. You have to be careful not to draw in the innocent parties, when you are doing the recalibration." 11.51am: Twomey says reporters are not carrying out "a complementary detective role".
The judge reminds him the issues that he is investigating – press ethics – relate to more than one newspaper or group. He tells Leveson he is "shocked" to hear evidence this morning that News of the World had a surveillance operation in Ipswich during the hunt for the "Suffolk Strangler" in 2006.
2.49pm: Murray says he thinks it would be better if there were more police officers in the press office. In the early days it would have been 50:50 between police and civilians. If that did happen, that's quite shocking, I'm dismayed if it's the case … quite unbelievable really that a newspaper should go to those lengths.
He says the police have "a higher authority" about giving information and they are perhaps more "relaxed" about giving out information than civilians. It would have taken most crime reporters, almost all crime reporters by surprise.
"A lot of the civilians aren't fully briefed – they have to go back to the officer before coming back and perhaps haven't asked the supplementary question," he adds. 12.01pm: Press appeals are vital for police hunting criminals says Twomey, who recalls a high-profile double murder in south London in which the victims were knifed and burned.
2.27pm: Journalists are not detectives, says Murray, in response to revelations that the News of the World had a surveillance team spying on the police hunting the Ipswich serial killer in 2006. The investigating officer was young and didn't feel comfortable giving details of the postmortem on the record or on camera, so it was communicated non-attributably by a senior press officer and "resulted in a great deal of publicity" and the ultimate capture of the attackers.
"I don't think journalists should play the role of detective. Playing an amateur detective can get you into all sorts of trouble and that's not what we're about," says Murray. 12.08pm: Twomey says he found the Filkin report into police and press relations "condescending" in parts towards crime reporters, particularly the recommendations that police officers be wary of flirty journalists.
Murray believes the News of the World operated as a "lone wolf" in this regard.

There have been stories in the past about the NoW having the resources to employ former detectives, having the resource to employ former special services, and having camper vans with blacked-out windows looking at properties, sometimes in showbusiness, to see if two stars are having a relationship...
NoW pretty much a lone wolf was carrying out that sort of activity. In terms of mainstream newspapers, I can't think of anything [any other newspaper] which has such a well organised enterprise.
2.18pm: Murray says Sir Ian Blair's "honeymoon period" was over fairly quickly following the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes and the London terrorist attacks in 2005. The suggestion that de Menezes had jumped over the barrier had come from the Yard, which later turned out to be false.
Another example was the Rachel Nickell murder inquiry. When Colin Stagg was arrested, the police seemed "confident" that they had their man, but there was some suggestion in the press that the evidence didn't stack up against him.
Murray says he covered some of the remand hearings and there was no forensics and there was "entrapment to my mind". He openly questioned officers, saying: "Are you sure you have the right guy here?"
2.06pm: The inquiry has resumed with the Sunday Express's James Murray contunuing his evidence.
He is discussing a lunch seven years ago with Dick Fedorcio, the Met's director of public affairs.
David Barr, counsel for the inquiry, asks if the lunch involved alcohol. Perhaps a glass or two, says Murray, who adds it was a "valuable" lunch about establishing a good working relationship between Scotland Yard and the Sunday Express.
1.03pm: The inquiry has broken for lunch and will return at 2pm
12.51pm: The Sunday Express has an expenses limit of £80 for two which could cover a starter, main course and a bottle of wine or a couple of beers, says Murray.
12.48pm: Murray says the Guardian's revelations that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked had damaged relations with the press.
All that trust was "blown out the water" by the allegations in the article which could "potentially damage relationships between journalists and the police because we do have a relationship of trust".
He was the news editor at the time of the Milly Dowler case.
"We spent an enormous amount of time building up relations with Surrey police, meeting them for briefings, having coffee, gaining their trust," he says.
12.43pm: Murray says he is not a member of the Crime Reporters' Association because his job brief is not exclusively crime.
12.40pm: Murray says Scotland Yard holds far fewer press conferences and "often releases precious little information".
Sometimes it is "very hard to get information out of them; like pulling teeth", he adds.
12.27pm: Murray says the police are "always very pleased" to have newspapers take up their point of view, but journalists always work to see whether that "merits attention".
12.24pm: James Murray of the Sunday Express is the next witness.
12.22pm: Former crime investigator David Harrison's witness statement has now been published.12.22pm: Former crime investigator David Harrison's witness statement has now been published.
He says the News of the World "jeopardised" the hunt for the Suffolk serial murderer Steve Wright in 2006.He says the News of the World "jeopardised" the hunt for the Suffolk serial murderer Steve Wright in 2006.
This morning he told the inquiry the News of the World had a surveillance team following the police during the hunt for the Ipswich murderers.This morning he told the inquiry the News of the World had a surveillance team following the police during the hunt for the Ipswich murderers.
I believe that by its actions, NoW jeopardised the murder inquiry. I believe they did this in two ways.I believe that by its actions, NoW jeopardised the murder inquiry. I believe they did this in two ways.
Firstly, many murderers revisit the scence of the crime. If that act is evidenced by a covert surveillance team, its value to the prosecution is extremely important. In this case, if the suspect had decided to re-visit the scene, to dispose of additional evidence, or to move a body that had not yet been found and he realised he was being followed, he may have cancelled or postponed his trip.Firstly, many murderers revisit the scence of the crime. If that act is evidenced by a covert surveillance team, its value to the prosecution is extremely important. In this case, if the suspect had decided to re-visit the scene, to dispose of additional evidence, or to move a body that had not yet been found and he realised he was being followed, he may have cancelled or postponed his trip.
He would not care whether he was being followed by a 'legitimate' surveillance team or one employed by a newspaper. The evidence would be lost and the prosecution case weakened.He would not care whether he was being followed by a 'legitimate' surveillance team or one employed by a newspaper. The evidence would be lost and the prosecution case weakened.
Secondly, our other objective was to ensure that by carrying out 24 hour a day surveillance on the suspect, he would not be able to commit further murders. Our surveillance of the suspect could have been seriously hindered, if at the same time we were trying to keep him under tight control, whilst also having to deal with a 'private' surveillance team getting in the way. If we had lost the suspect because of their actions there could have been tragic consequences.Secondly, our other objective was to ensure that by carrying out 24 hour a day surveillance on the suspect, he would not be able to commit further murders. Our surveillance of the suspect could have been seriously hindered, if at the same time we were trying to keep him under tight control, whilst also having to deal with a 'private' surveillance team getting in the way. If we had lost the suspect because of their actions there could have been tragic consequences.
12.08pm: Twomey says he found the Filkin report into police and press relations "condescending" in parts towards crime reporters, particularly the recommendations that police officers be wary of flirty journalists. 12.24pm: James Murray of the Sunday Express is the next witness.
12.01pm: Press appeals are vital for police hunting criminals says Twomey, who recalls a high-profile double murder in south London in which the victims were knifed and burned. 12.27pm: Murray says the police are "always very pleased" to have newspapers take up their point of view, but journalists always work to see whether that "merits attention".
The investigating officer was young and didn't feel comfortable giving details of the postmortem on the record or on camera, so it was communicated non-attributably by a senior press officer and "resulted in a great deal of publicity" and the ultimate capture of the attackers. 12.40pm: Murray says Scotland Yard holds far fewer press conferences and "often releases precious little information".
11.51am: Twomey says reporters are not carrying out "a complementary detective role". Sometimes it is "very hard to get information out of them; like pulling teeth", he adds.
He tells Leveson he is "shocked" to hear evidence this morning that News of the World had a surveillance operation in Ipswich during the hunt for the "Suffolk Strangler" in 2006. 12.43pm: Murray says he is not a member of the Crime Reporters' Association because his job brief is not exclusively crime.
If that did happen, that's quite shocking, I'm dismayed if it's the case … quite unbelievable really that a newspaper should go to those lengths. 12.48pm: Murray says the Guardian's revelations that Milly Dowler's phone had been hacked had damaged relations with the press.
It would have taken most crime reporters, almost all crime reporters by surprise. All that trust was "blown out the water" by the allegations in the article which could "potentially damage relationships between journalists and the police because we do have a relationship of trust".
11.42am: The inquiry is now taking a short break. He was the news editor at the time of the Milly Dowler case.
11.37am: Twomey says he is concerned about proposals that police record or at least log every meeting with a journalist, as recommended in the Filkin report. "We spent an enormous amount of time building up relations with Surrey police, meeting them for briefings, having coffee, gaining their trust," he says.
"That would have a kind of freezing effect. Officers would be less likely to talk to you," he says. 12.51pm: The Sunday Express has an expenses limit of £80 for two which could cover a starter, main course and a bottle of wine or a couple of beers, says Murray.
He adds a detective chief inspector seeking promotion "will probably cease all contact" because the record of meetings would come up at an interview. 1.03pm: The inquiry has broken for lunch and will return at 2pm
Leveson protests that this might be looked upon as an officer "doing their job properly" and wonders why Twomey is concerned. 2.06pm: The inquiry has resumed with the Sunday Express's James Murray contunuing his evidence.
Twomey says the fear in the officer's mind over their career would be real. He is discussing a lunch seven years ago with Dick Fedorcio, the Met's director of public affairs.
11.27am: Andy Hayman, the former assistant commissioner in charge of counter-terrorism, was one of those at the CRA meetings. David Barr, counsel for the inquiry, asks if the lunch involved alcohol. Perhaps a glass or two, says Murray, who adds it was a "valuable" lunch about establishing a good working relationship between Scotland Yard and the Sunday Express.
"Was he freer in the way he expressed himself, gave away secrets? No, I don't think he did, certainly not in my presence," says Twomey. 2.18pm: Murray says Sir Ian Blair's "honeymoon period" was over fairly quickly following the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes and the London terrorist attacks in 2005. The suggestion that de Menezes had jumped over the barrier had come from the Yard, which later turned out to be false.
11.24am: Twomey says police officers don't want to be stuck in Scotland Yard all the time, and they are more likely to be off their guard over a nice lunch. Another example was the Rachel Nickell murder inquiry. When Colin Stagg was arrested, the police seemed "confident" that they had their man, but there was some suggestion in the press that the evidence didn't stack up against him.
It doesn't mean to say they are knocking back £400 bottles of champagne; [it's] over a couple of glasses of wine and a decent meal, there's a tradition there and I think they would expect it. They don't want to be in Scotland Yard when they could be out in a comfortable place with people they know and they can trust. Murray says he covered some of the remand hearings and there was no forensics and there was "entrapment to my mind". He openly questioned officers, saying: "Are you sure you have the right guy here?"
If you can only meet them in police stations or Scotland Yard, they are probably more likely to be toeing the party line. 2.27pm: Journalists are not detectives, says Murray, in response to revelations that the News of the World had a surveillance team spying on the police hunting the Ipswich serial killer in 2006.
11.20am: Leveson returns to one of his favourite themes in this module: why lunches? why alcohol? "I don't think journalists should play the role of detective. Playing an amateur detective can get you into all sorts of trouble and that's not what we're about," says Murray.
He ays he is not "puritanical" about eating or drinking, "but is it really the case, that the way of attracting the attention of the most senior officers was … inviting them to a very nice lunch?" Murray believes the News of the World operated as a "lone wolf" in this regard.
"Help me, if it doesn't create a bit of a problem which requires this sort of inducement?" asks Leveson.
/>There have been stories in the past about the NoW having the resources to employ former detectives, having the resource to employ former special services, and having camper vans with blacked-out windows looking at properties, sometimes in showbusiness, to see if two stars are having a relationship...
Twomey denies it is an "inducement" and says it's just "a more convivial, comfortable" way of meeting. But he agrees that Leveson is not being "too straight laced" to voice a level of concern. NoW pretty much a lone wolf was carrying out that sort of activity. In terms of mainstream newspapers, I can't think of anything [any other newspaper] which has such a well organised enterprise.
He says it goes on everywhere – defence correspondents meet army officers in their clubs. 2.49pm: Murray says he thinks it would be better if there were more police officers in the press office. In the early days it would have been 50:50 between police and civilians.
11.16am: Twomey says the benefit of the lunches with the CRA was "to keep the access open". He says the police have "a higher authority" about giving information and they are perhaps more "relaxed" about giving out information than civilians.
"If we did have a terrorist emergency to 2005, we wanted similar access that we could then, but we wanted it to be improved, to be quicker," he adds. "A lot of the civilians aren't fully briefed – they have to go back to the officer before coming back and perhaps haven't asked the supplementary question," he adds.
11.15am: Twomey says the standard of the restaurant used for informal contact with the police was directly proportionate to the seniority of the officer involved. 2.54pm: Murray tells Leveson: "There is a need for a recalibration [of the press/police relations] … but it all seems to relate to one newspaper, or one newspaper group. You have to be careful not to draw in the innocent parties, when you are doing the recalibration."
Some £60 to £80 a head would be spent with senior officers. The judge reminds him the issues that he is investigating – press ethics – relate to more than one newspaper or group.
"These must be lunches with alcohol, it goes without saying," says Jay. 2.55pm: Murray agrees with Leveson that he has to find a framework that will work for everyone and will minimise the risk that some people within the trade will always break the rules.
11.06am: Lunches between senior officers and the CRA have now ceased, which is a bad thing, says Twomey as reporters are not getting the briefings they used to get about issues such as counter-terrorism. "There will be some rotten apples in the journalistic barrel and they will let us down … they are damaging to us in our relationship with the police and our reputation as journalists," he says.
11.04am: Twomey met Dick Fedorcio, the Met's director of public affairs, about "twice a year", sometimes on his own, but sometimes with one or two other members of the Crime Reporters' Association. 2.58pm: Murray says "you can forget any lunches or meals in the evening" if a new system requiring officers to record their meetings with journalists is introduced.
"I always found him very proper, very professional, and very loyal to the organisation and to those in command," says Twomey. He questions why any officer would "bother spending 10 minutes filling out a form" specifying he is going for an Italian with Murray from the Sunday Express.
11.02am: Twomey has been a crime reporter for 24 years. He says the "bread and butter" crime stories come from the lower ranks of the police force – inspector, chief inspector and superintendent level. "They are very busy people," he says.
10.55am: Leveson puts it to Twomey that if vital information is passed on to a journalist, the police "have lost control" because the journalist may then decide to publish on public interest grounds. 3.04pm: We're now back to the "A word": alcohol.
Twomey says there would be a "careful reflection", there would not be a "rushing into print". Barr suggests that it might "lubricate" conversations for journalist, but a police officer may say something they might "later regret".
"You would never go ahead with any story that would possibly jeopardise apprehending a criminal … or a prosecution," says Twomey. Murray protests and says that quite often alcohol gets in the way and officers and journalists will end up talking about " how Chelsea played, what's going on, politics" and not about work.
10.51am: The inquiry is returning to one of its most frequent themes - police and journalists in the pub. "Some of the best information I've got is over a cup of tea, when everyone is very sober," he says.
Twomey explains it is "very unlikely" for informal information to be passed on over the phone – it would normally through a face-to-face meeting, perhaps in a pub. 3.08pm: Murray was involved in the Sunday Express's coverage of the arrest of Christopher Jefferies during the Joanna Yeates murder inquiry.
10.47am: Twomey says a "tighter budget at the Express" means it can't pitch for exclusive pictures and stories as often as other papers. Jefferies, who had no involvement with the killing, won "substantial damages" from eight newspapers over libellous coverage of the arrest.
Relations between police and the media changed over time but noticeably so around the time of the Stephen Lawrence murder when newspapers became more critical of the Met. "We didn't take the view he was in any way guilty or anything like that," says Murray.
10.41am: John Twomey of the Daily Express has the stand. 3.19pm: Murray has suggested the inquiry looks to the Press Council of Ireland.
Since 2009, he has been chairman of the Crime Reporters' Association. He says clause 14 in the PCC code of practice states that journalist have a "moral obligation" to protect sources. The Irish version of the code is stronger and says journalists should "protect confidential sources of information."
10.33am: Jay has now finished his questioning of Harrison. Leveson asks Murray if he is legally bound by the Irish rules which have a statutory framework in a way that the journalists in the UK are "not bound" by the PCC.
At around 15 minutes, that was one of the shortest testimonies of the Leveson inquiry which is expected to come back to the subject of the hunt for the "Suffolk Strangler", Steve Wright. Leveson is trying to get at the legal differences, but Murray is not briefed fully on the topic.
10.31am: Harrison says police investigations can be hampered by newspapers that deploy professional surveillance operations. 3.20pm: Murray has now finished giving evidence and the inquiry is taking a short break.
The inquiry hears how murder suspects often return to the scene of the crime, or may commit further offences, but if the suspect knows they are being followed they would behave differently and elude the police. 3.31pm: Jeremy Lawton of the Daily Star takes the stand.
10.30am: Harrison says the Sunday Mirror had also engaged a team that mounted surveillance. 3.35pm: Lawton says most of his stories come from outside London. He doesn't have the level of contacts of John Twomey of the Daily Express or Sandra Laville of the Guardian, he says.
Its picked the first suspect up and took him to a place where he could be "debriefed". In his current role, he does not have day-to-day contact with Met officers.
However, that suspect was not the murderer. However he says Scotland Yard's press office has been very helpful, given his limited contact with it.
10.17am: During the hunt for the killer, a News of the World surveillance team was deployed to identify who the Soca team were. 3.41pm: Lawton says he doesn't have difficulty in getting access to officers when he requests a conversation with them through the press office.
The surveillance team followed police vehicles, and parked on the outskirts of Ipswich in the same spot the officers would normally be. He has never provided hospitality for officers in the Met.
Harrison says it was clear that they were professionals, possibly ex-special forces. Lawton is more interested in meeting detectives who have "hands on" knowledge of crimes rather than senior police chiefs.
10.15am: In December 2006 Harrison was part of a Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) team working on the hunt for the Ipswich serial killer who murdered five prostitutes. 3.45pm: "Have I have been tipped off about celebrity arrests? No," says Lawton.
10.08am: The inquiry has begun and the first witness is retired criminal investigator Dave Harrison. 3.51pm: Lawton says live TV briefings are a problem. They have "robbed reporters" of the opportunity to "have an open conversation" with police officers.
Robert Jay QC, counsel to the inquiry, explains that some witnesses are appearing out of order as they can only make certain dates. 3.54pm: Lawton says treating police officers as friends is a "risk". He says they are not friends – the relationship is a work one.
9.58am: Welcome to the Leveson inquiry live blog. 4.00pm: Lawton is firmly on the "tea and sandwiches" end of the hospitality spectrum. Entertaining doesn't apply to police officers, he says.
Today's witnesses are crime correspondents: John Twomey of the Daily Express, James Murray of the Sunday Express and Jeremy Lawton of the Daily Star. "The officers I have dealt with, even if the thought of some inappropriate [offer]… you would blow your contact and risk arrest. I can say that pretty firmly," he adds.
Twomey is also chairman of the Crime Reporters' Association. 4.01pm: Leveson is interested to know if there is any continual professional training at the Daily Star which, for instance, brings them up to speed with the new Bribery Act, for instance.
The fourth witness is Dave Harrison, a retired criminal investigator. Every update in the law is distributed by email to staff, says Lawton.
Please note that comments have been switched off for legal reasons. He adds he gets two or three emails a day from the legal department in relation to adjudications by the PCC and other relevant rulings.
4.06pm: Lawton says good press relationships "help all round", particularly for families of the victims of crime.
"In the old days we would have to go round to the family," he says, individually or en masse and then request a briefing from the police.
This has changed. He cites a recent Greater Manchester police media package sent by email which included details of the crime, an agreed statement from two members of the family, a photo the family were happy to release and CCTV footage.
4.11pm: The police hunt for killer Derrick Bird who shot his twin brother David was a prime example of the mutual trust that can exist between the police and the press, Lawton says.
Bird had made a specific threat "to execute members of the public whenever he read or heard something about his family that he didn't like", he recalls.
The press were briefed on this and were asked to observe a police blackout. Lawton said he didn't believe they had the legal right to request this, but the police knew they could trust the press.
"I came out of that and rang my newsdesk and [we] pulled a double-page spread … not one organisation, TV, radio, breached that embargo," says Lawton.
4.13pm: Lawton also covered the murder of Joanna Yeates between the release of Chris Jefferies and the arrest of Vincent Tabak, as he was on leave earlier in the case.
He says he did not get any "off the record" guidance from the police.
4.17pm: The Daily Star says the attorney general's decision to prosecute the Sun and the Mirror over Jefferies "had a real real impact".
Lawton says this had never happened before and agrees it meant "a sea change" in relation to crime reporting.
The Sun and the Mirror were both fined for contempt of court.
"The attorney general has acted and I think people have listened," says Lawton.
4.28pm: Lawton says he believes the Daily Star's coverage Madeleine McCann disappearance could have gone a different way if the Leicestershire police had briefed reporters off the record.
He remembers how the Portuguese police leaked to their journalists that "forensic test results positively showed that linked her to the hire car, that her parents didn't hire till three or four weeks after she had disappeared".
Those forensic test results became a bone of contention between the UK and Portuguese police. The Leicestershire police did not think the results had shown that but chose not to correct this.
"I don't understand why Leicestershire police on this occasion, even if it was unreportable, did not brief, 'this was not right, the leak was wrong'," he says.
4.32pm: Lawton appeals to Leveson not to recommend restricting police relations with the press.
"I am just looking at the climate we are in and the doors are shutting everywhere … if it's not endemic then you do have the old sledgehammer and nut scenario," he says.
4.40pm: Lawton has now finished giving evidence.
5.05pm: We are now wrapping up the live blog for today.
Scotland Yard commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe is expected to be first giving evidence tomorrow, at 10am.
He took charge of the Met last summer following the resignation of Sir Paul Stephenson in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
Also appearing tomorrow is the head of the West Midlands police, Chris Sims, and his head of PR.
In the meantime, you can read the latest developments on the MediaGuardian homepage and our Leveson inquiry page.