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| Leveson told press 'jeopardised' Ipswich murders probe | Leveson told press 'jeopardised' Ipswich murders probe |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A retired police officer has told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics the press "jeopardised" the Ipswich serial murder probe in 2006. | A retired police officer has told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics the press "jeopardised" the Ipswich serial murder probe in 2006. |
| David Harrison, who carried out surveillance of a suspect for Suffolk Police, said the News of the World hired ex-special forces soldiers. | David Harrison, who carried out surveillance of a suspect for Suffolk Police, said the News of the World hired ex-special forces soldiers. |
| He said they carried out their own surveillance and that could have resulted in police losing track of him. | He said they carried out their own surveillance and that could have resulted in police losing track of him. |
| The inquiry is currently examining the press's relationship with the police. | |
| Mr Harrison, a retired Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) investigator, said he was deployed to help Suffolk police keep a suspect - who was later cleared of involvement - under surveillance in December 2006. | Mr Harrison, a retired Serious and Organised Crime Agency (Soca) investigator, said he was deployed to help Suffolk police keep a suspect - who was later cleared of involvement - under surveillance in December 2006. |
| But he said the News of the World (NoW) employed their own investigators to follow the police team. | But he said the News of the World (NoW) employed their own investigators to follow the police team. |
| He said the Sunday Mirror also picked up the suspect and tried to lose their police trail. | He said the Sunday Mirror also picked up the suspect and tried to lose their police trail. |
| 'Out of control' | |
| Lord Leveson said: "In a free society journalists are entitled to go where they want. But how difficult does it make it for the inquiry if a journalist takes a suspect off to interview?" | Lord Leveson said: "In a free society journalists are entitled to go where they want. But how difficult does it make it for the inquiry if a journalist takes a suspect off to interview?" |
| Mr Harrison said if the suspect had been the real killer, and the press had enabled him to lose his police surveillance team, the investigation could have been hampered if he had disposed of evidence or committed further offences while "out of control". | Mr Harrison said if the suspect had been the real killer, and the press had enabled him to lose his police surveillance team, the investigation could have been hampered if he had disposed of evidence or committed further offences while "out of control". |
| "If our surveillance had been weakened by having to try and avoid other surveillance teams looking for us, if we had lost the subject, he may have gone and committed further murders because we were dealing with something else," he added. | "If our surveillance had been weakened by having to try and avoid other surveillance teams looking for us, if we had lost the subject, he may have gone and committed further murders because we were dealing with something else," he added. |
| Steve Wright, 53, was jailed for life in 2008, for the murders of five women who worked as prostitutes. | Steve Wright, 53, was jailed for life in 2008, for the murders of five women who worked as prostitutes. |
| John Twomey, chairman of the Crime Reporters Association (CRA), denied there was any "inducement" involved in taking out police officers for lunch in expensive restaurants. | |
| Lord Leveson said he was not being "puritanical" but he asked if there was not a "perception" that such lunches could be perceived as an "inducement". | |
| Mr Twomey, who has been the Daily Express's crime reporter since 1987, said: "Police stations are usually grim and inhospitable places and, like most people, detectives want to get out of the office and a pub or restaurant is just more convivial and more convenient." | |
| He said more expensive restaurants tended to be "less public" and he added: "They tended to be less crowded and the chances of being overheard were minimised." | |
| Mr Twomey said taking contacts out for lunch was common among business, political and defence correspondents and he added: "It doesn't mean you're knocking back £400 bottles of champagne." | |
| He said he always checked out stories to make sure they were true before mentioning them to his newsdesk. | |
| He told the inquiry some police contacts had stopped talking to the press after the negative publicity Scotland Yard received after the first investigation of Stephen Lawrence. | |
| 'Tensions' | |
| He said there could be "tensions" with the newsdesk and he said: "You just have to trust your own judgements. | |
| "You would never go ahead with any story that would possibly jeopardise apprehending a criminal… or a prosecution," said Mr Twomey. | |
| Mr Twomey said his paper had a much "tighter budget" than other Fleet Street titles. | |
| He said the "bread and butter" for a crime reporter usually came from information from officers at sergeant, inspector and superintendent level, rather than more senior figures. | |
| Mr Twomey said he had lunch with Scotland Yard's chief press officer, Dick Fedorcio, once or twice a year to discuss various issues. | |
| He said usually whatever was discussed was on a non-reportable basis. | |
| Mr Twomey said: "I always found Dick Fedorcio very proper and very professional and very loyal" to the Met Police. |