The Leveson Inquiry will not prejudice police investigations into phone hacking, the chairman has said.

During a hearing where directions for module 2 - relationship between the press and the police - of his inquiry were given, Lord Justice Leveson said he would examine the history of investigations into the press “with a degree of care”.

He added: “I will rigorously follow the self-denying ordinance I set for myself at the beginning of the inquiry, so as not to prejudice an investigation or any potential consequences of that investigation”.

The relationship between the police and the press is to be examined at the inquiry from February 27 to April 19. The Metropolitan Police Authority were made core participants for the module.

Leveson heard from three individuals applying for core participant status including Jonathan King, a singer and record producer convicted and jailed over child sex offences in 2001. King has maintained his innocence since his arrest.

A 7/7 bombings survivor, and Robert Henderson, a writer who claims the Mirror libelled him in 1997, also submitted applications to the judge.

Leveson said: “It is not part of my function, except in certain illustrative ways, to descend into the detail of specific incidents.

“That is not to show disrespect to those who believe they have been wrongly treated by the police or the press, or to suggest that their issues are not important. It is merely to underline the fact that were I to do so, the time I would require to examine each individual incident, many of which are exceedingly complex, would overwhelm the available time resource for this inquiry.”

Barrister David Sherborne asked that core participant victims continue to be represented, saying they had a “direct interest in a number of matters” to be covered in the second module. Tamsin Allen, of Bindmans LLP, will take over from Dominic Crossley of Collyer Bristow as the solicitor dealing with victims.

Leveson asked external submissions of questions for witnesses to be made as soon as possible.