Move to shield ex-Met chiefs at Leveson probe

Scotland Yard today fought to prevent “very serious” allegations against former Met commissioners Lord Blair and Sir Paul Stephenson being disclosed at the Leveson inquiry, saying the press ethics hearing is being used to “settle scores”.

It follows allegations over recent days from a serving officer in charge of the Stephen Lawrence murder investigation and a former senior official from the Met’s police watchdog.

Detective Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll, who led the recent successful probe into the racist murder of the black teenager in 1993, and Peter Tickner, former head of internal audit at the Metropolitan Police Authority, have submitted witness statements to the inquiry regarding police corruption.

However, Scotland Yard’s QC Neil Garnham today asked Lord Justice Leveson to suppress the claims as they were “very serious” and concerned senior police officers who had previously appeared before the inquiry and are unable to respond.

Mr Garnham spoke of “a real unfairness” and said the allegations were “unsupported by independent evidence”. He added: “They have, we would say, the flavour of attempts to settle old scores, and those criticised have had no chance to deal with the issues when they gave evidence.”

It is understood that Mr Driscoll was motivated to come forward by his son’s involvement in the Afghanistan war and believes he should “do the right thing”. An inquiry source said his evidence relates to “potentially damaging leaks from the reinvestigation of Stephen Lawrence”.

Mr Tickner used to be in charge of internal probes at the MPA, a civilian body with oversight of Scotland Yard.

Lord Justice Leveson said he understood the Met’s concerns about the timing of the evidence. He added: “If it is necessary to put the evidence back, then I would be prepared to contemplate doing that, to achieve an orderly understanding of what is going on.”

Mr Tickner could not immediately be contacted for comment. His website says he investigated the use of corporate cards and expenses of senior police officers while he was the Met’s director of internal audit from 1995 until he took early retirement in 2009.

He also set up a unit to investigate contractor and staff fraud and corruption at Scotland Yard, according to his website.