11 April 2012
Scotland Yard is mounting two leak inquiries a month in an effort to control the flow of information to the media, it emerged today.
The force has doubled the number of leak inquiries carried out in recent years. Figures obtained under Freedom of Information rules show there were 43 investigations into leaks to the press from July 2010 to March 2012, compared with only 26 between 2005 and 2008, when Ian Blair was Met commissioner.
Bernard Hogan–Howe, the present commissioner, told the Leveson inquiry last month that “secret conversations” between journalists and police officers should not be tolerated.
