Ex-detectives ‘were not acting in public interest’

THE former police officers accused of smearing Damian Green cannot claim they were acting in the public interest, a watchdog said yesterday.

Tom Winsor, who is Chief Inspector of Constabulary, said there was an overwhelming need for the public to know investigators would keep their private information confidential.

Otherwise, he warned, witnesses and suspects could refuse to cooperate. Sir Tom has written to the Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, to voice his concerns.

She is considering whether ex-counter-terrorism police chief Bob Quick, 58, and his junior detective colleague Neil Lewis, 48, breached the Data Protection Act. Sir Tom said: ‘If people don’t have confidence police will respect their privacy in those circumstances that may have a chilling effect on the willingness of people to give information to the police or co-operate with police.

‘Yes, the police acquire information about us about our lives about our circumstances which in many cases is very intimate and if that information is irrelevant to the work it should not be disclosed.’

The officers are likely to claim they were whistle-blowers.