Report: Met stopped Leveson Inquiry from revealing claim senior cop sold secrets to News of the World in 2006

The Evening Standard reports today that an un-named senior police officer may have sold information about top-level goings-on at the Met Police to the News of the World in 2006.

The Standard says that an intelligence report about the matter was made available to the Leveson Inquiry on a confidential basis and that a “public interest immunity certificate” was obtained "gagging" the inquiry from making the matter public.

A Met spokesman told the Standard: “The intelligence report referred to dates from 2006. It did not identify an individual as the source of information allegedly being disclosed from the Met management board and it was not considered that it warranted further action.

“Intelligence reports may contain sensitive information and this document was therefore shared with the inquiry on a confidential basis.”

Lord Justice Leveson did not subject the police to any negative criticism in his report. This surprised some, considering the many police officers who have been arrested over the last two years on suspicion of taking bribes from journalists and of handing over confidential information in circumstances where no money exchanged hands.

The Standard named the individual concerned only as Zed and published a statement from a spokesman for them saying: “These claims are utter nonsense and the implications are possibly defamatory.”