Phone hacking: Durham police called in to review evidence

New commissioner of Metropolitan police, Bernard Hogan-Howe, calls in force to examine evidence from Operation Weeting Durham police have been called in by the new commissioner of the Metropolitan force to review the ongoing phone-hacking inquiry, Scotland Yard confirmed on Wednesday. Bernard Hogan-Howe made the decision to ask for another force to examine the evidence gathered in Operation Weeting when he was appointed acting deputy commissioner of the Met in the summer following the departure of assistant commissioner John Yates and commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson. His role on this appointment was to take charge of the Operation Weeting inquiry and it was revealed on Wednesday that he had decided as a result of the sensitive nature of the investigation that a review should be carried out. The Guardian understands the review was not commissioned as a result of the arrest of a 51-year-old officer on the inquiry on suspicion of leaking details. The officer remains on police bail on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. Talking to the Evening Standard on Wednesday Hogan-Howe said: “I have asked another force to have a look at the inquiry to reassure us we are going in the right direction and I think we are.” Scotland Yard added: “We can confirm that the Metropolitan police service has asked an outside police force to conduct a review of Operation Weeting. A review of this kind is considered best practice in a sensitive inquiry of this nature and was instigated by Bernard Hogan-Howe as acting deputy commissioner during the summer. The review team is led by Durham chief constable Jon Stoddart who will report to the Metropolitan police service in due course.” A spokesman for Durham police said: “The Metropolitan Police Service has requested that an independent review of Operation Weeting be undertaken and we can confirm that Jon Stoddart, chief constable of Durham constabulary, has agreed to undertake the review. The review team will be taken from a number of forces outside the MPS.” Operation Weeing was begun in January and is investigating claims into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. The senior detective leading the phone-hacking inquiry, deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, told the home affairs select committee in July that there were 4,000 possible victims of phone hacking listed in the pages of private eye Glenn Muclaire’s notebooks. She said these individuals were being contacted “as quickly as possible”. Akers’s investigation team consists of 45 officers, many of whom have been seconded from homicide teams. Akers is also overseeing a separate investigation into alleged bribes of police officers. This is being shared with the Met’s directorate of professional standards and overseen by the Independent Police Complaints Commission. Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers News of the World Police Sandra Laville guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 15, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.