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Leveson warns inquiry participants of Operation Motorman leaks to journalists

29/03/2012

Participants in the Leveson Inquiry have been warned not to leak information to journalists, after a controversial programme on alleged data breaches by newspaper groups was broadcast last night.During the morning hearing, Lord Justice Leveson responded to the ITN programme, which made several allegations about the Operation Motorman files, detailing the use of private investigator Steve Whittamore by journalists from a range of newspapers and broadcasters.The judge declined to comment on the accuracy of the programme, and reiterated his earlier statements made after the Hacked Off campaign called for the files to be published.He said he would consider publishing the files if there were any submissions made to him, but that information of victims of Whittamore should remain private, as the terms of reference of the inquiry are not concerned with “who did what to whom”.Leveson said he was not interested in the possible source of the leak to ITN as several people have access to the Operation Motorman files outside of the inquiry, but reminded the core participants and their legal teams about their stringent confidentiality undertakings.He added: “This is not because it is not important but not necessary to terms of reference... Having said that for avoidance of all doubt, the orders which I have made remain in full force.”The files had been shown to the inquiry team and lawyers acting for core participants so submissions could be made over the course of the inquiry.

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