'Mischievous' media distracted Milly Dowler investigators

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Police 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.