Surrey police: Journalists provided 'a degree of distraction'
Credit: Johnny Green/PAPolice officers investigating the abduction and
subsequent murder of schoolgirl Milly Dowler were distracted and
diverted by "mischievous" requests from the media, the Leveson inquiry heard today.
Surrey Police assistant chief constable Jerry Kirkby said
journalists covering the girl's disappearance in 2002 were "seeking
to draw police officers in to comment on hypotheses" and that this
provided "a degree of distraction" from the core investigation.
Comments from other police colleagues, included in Kirkby's
written evidence to the inquiry, described "complete chaos"
and an "unprecedented and immense" level of interest from
journalists, who were often "extremely demanding" and
"mischievous".
One colleague said there was "huge pressure that diverted
considerable amounts of our time". Another added: "I think the
inquiry was too consumed by the press and the media."
Kirkby told the inquiry today: "The media were at times exploring
hypotheses and seeking to develop them and test them in a public
environment when in fact there was very little evidence.
"At times a demand was placed on us when we wanted to be responding
to lines of inquiry and putting resources into that. Because of
media deadlines you had very restricted time to comment, which
meant diverting resources."
Kirkby also questioned the Sun and the News of the World's reward
for information relating to the Dowler case. He said: "The senior
investigating officer at the time expressed his concern about the
need for a reward
"Rewards can be really useful in investigations in generating
interest. In this case I'm not sure that a reward was
necessary.
"We weren't trying to generate more public interest - it had a lot
of it anyway."
Kirkby is heading the investigation into alleged hacking of the
Milly Dowler's voicemail by the News of the World. The hacking
investigation is due to be completed by the end of May and the
findings will be made public and submitted to the Leveson
inquiry.
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