From 2006, meetings took place between senior Met police officers and NoW editors despite the on-going phone-hacking investigation

Nick Davies
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 February 2011 16.55 GMT


2006 September: the then Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson – dinner with NoW deputy editor, and Dick Fedorcio, Metropolitan police director of public affairs

2007 November: Stephenson – dinner with deputy editor, and Fedorcio

2008 February: Stephenson – dinner with deputy editor

October: Stephenson – meeting with deputy editor and Fedorcio; Stephenson – dinner with editor, and Fedorcio

2009 February: Stephenson (now commissioner) – dinner with deputy editor and Fedorcio

May: Stephenson – dinner with editor and Fedorcio

June: Deputy Commissioner Tim Godwin – participation in NoW Save our Streets Roadshow alongside Jack Straw MP; Stephenson – attended News Corporation reception; Stephenson – dinner with deputy editor and Fedorcio

November: assistant commissioner John Yates – dinner with editor and crime editor

2010

August: Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick – at request of Stephenson met with deputy editor and chief lawyer of the NoW, together with two detective superintendents, where they were handed material alleging spot-fixing by Pakistan cricketers. This resulted in arrest and searches later that day

June: Stephenson – attended News Corp reception

Criteria

• Must be meetings whose purpose was for Met officers to meet specifically with NoW.

• The Metropolitan Police Authority holds regular briefings and presentations with the Crime Reporters Association, which are events attended by representatives from all national media, including NoW journalists – these are not included in the information provided.

• Social events at which NoW journalists or executives may have been present are not included as they are not hosted by NoW.

• Timeframe is a five–year period, January 2006 to present

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/fe ... e-meetings

Oh, that's just cosy

Wheres the information about other newspapers and meetings with the Met. Just to add a bit of balance, rather than go off on how its look so so suspicious. Plus 9 meetings in five years, is this unusual for the met to have that many or few meetings with newspapers?

To my mind, best practice alone shouldn't see top officers meeting with any newspaper (group), and especially not during investigations of said newspaper...

Are we to believe that the investigation didn't crop up doing these conversations, and why were they even held in the first place?

Why would it be best practice not to engage in meetings with stakeholders?

All the major newspapers have done/still doing/will do investagive journalism and will have pertinent information to share with the police, sometimes they might have to be confidential because of the legal implications.

What's a deputy commissioner and the like doing getting involved in that though, and with potential interviewees/suspects in an ongoing investigation? They should know better than anyone they could balls up a potential court case later on.

I'd have thought a liaison officer would have been a much better option all round at the very least.