Crime chief slams ‘nonsense media witch-hunt’ by Met

‘Let’s have some wisdom’

‘ What are we doing spending this much money investigating journalists? We need to be tackling terrorism, murderers and rapists ... this has gone far enough ’ Kevin Hurley

Scotland Yard’s four-year, £33million probe into journalists has descended into a nonsensical witch- hunt, according to a police and crime commissioner.

Kevin Hurley said officers should focus on terrorism, violent crime and serious fraud – rather than on pursuing reporters suspected of paying officials for information, intercepting voicemail messages or hacking into computers.

the former Met superintendent, who became commissioner for Surrey in november 2012, also called for greater protection for whistle-blowers and new laws to make it more difficult for police to seize details of phone calls made by journalists.

‘there are many murders, serial rapes and serious assaults that remain unsolved in this country to say nothing of the fact that police forces around the country don’t have sufficient resources to tackle terrorism,’ he added.

describing the scale of the media investigations as ‘utter nonsense’, he insisted: ‘Some journalists did step over the mark.

‘But nobody’s died, let’s get a sense of proportionality. let’s have some wisdom in decision-making.’

Mr Hurley said that £33million would put 600 extra officers on the streets for a year or pay for 20 murder investigations.

‘I know of a london Borough’s Cid office which has been cut by two thirds. What are we doing spending this much money investigating journalists?

‘Where is the public safety issue in that?’ he added. ‘We need to be spending our money on tackling terrorism, murderers, rapists and people who defraud our businesses, putting people out of work.

‘this has gone far enough, it is time to focus on keeping the public safe.’ In an interview with Press Gazette, he said: ‘the point has been proven. What are we now going to achieve?

‘What does it prove, how does it make us safer? We can’t afford to put enough armed officers on to the streets to take on terrorists.’ Figures released under the Freedom of Information act have revealed that the Met had spent £33.5million up to the end of September 2014 investigating allegations against journalists.

last week a row broke out in court over a ‘secret’ decision to appoint a new judge to preside over the retrial of four Sun executives accused of bribing public officials for information.

Judge Richard Marks Qc, who oversaw the first trial of the men, had been expected to officiate when the case is heard again later this year.

But at an old Bailey hearing on Friday, it emerged that he had been mysteriously substituted by Judge charles Wide.

In a hearing lasting more than an hour, it was claimed that several more senior judges had intervened to put Judge Wide in charge.

He is the only judge so far to have presided over a case that has seen a conviction of a journalist in relation to allegations of unlawful payments to public officials for stories.