Police and media criticised by Al Fayed case lawyer

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The police's decision to 'leak' information to the media about the recent questioning of Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed was criticised at a debate between leading journalists and lawyers last night.

Speaking at the POLIS event entitled 'Respect for Contempt: keeping speech free and trials fair' , Mark Haslam, partner at law firm BCL Burton Copeland and acting in the Al Fayed case, criticised both the media and the police's handling of the case.

"[Al Fayed] attended as a volunteer to assist the police with their enquiries at their invitation. Yet because the police leaked that information it appeared in a wholly different way on the front of the Evening Standard. "That man has not been interviewed under caution; he has not been arrested; he's certainly not been charged with any offence and yet the publicity has been generated." Joshua Rozenberg , legal affairs editor at the Daily Telegraph and fellow panellist, agreed: "The press would not have known he had attended a police station and was questioned about a suspected sexual assault if they had not been told this by the police."

The 'most dishonest thing', Rozenberg added, was that the police then only confirmed basic details of the incident, which suggested it was 'as if the press have found this out by magic'.