Sunday Mirror journalists picked up a suspect to be interviewed at a hotel during the Ipswich murders investigation, the chief constable of Suffolk Constabulary has told the Leveson Inquiry.Simon Ash contradicted Desmond Browne QC, representing Trinity Mirror, who told the inquiry last week journalists had picked up Tom Stephens, later cleared of the murders in 2006, but had driven to a car park to interview him.Stephens was later cleared of the murders, in 2006.Ash said: “I’ve not been able to find any information to support the first assertion, namely that the News of the World were deploying surveillance teams against police surveillance teams that were following suspects.“On the second assertion, that a newspaper picked up a suspect and took them to a hotel and interviewed them whilst they were under police surveillance, I have been able to find information to support that.”The chief constable said he could not confirm the Sunday Mirror team had evaded a police team by using anti-surveillance techniques. The allegations came from Dave Harrison, a former Serious Organised Crime Agency officer, who gave evidence to the inquiry two weeks ago.Ash went on to say he had a good working relationship with the local media in Suffolk, and said hospitality between parties was usually restricted to “light refreshments”.He said a new system for recording police contact with the press, called Spotlight, archived the date, time, place and purpose of meetings between officers and journalists.He added: “I think there’s an acceptance that the mere fact of this inquiry that maybe things need to change. Our officers seem to be working with it and following the spirit of what is intended.”Ash told the inquiry Suffolk police policy states staff and officers should give their name and rank to media and the attribution "police spokesperson" should not be used.Anne Campbell, head of corporate communications for Norfolk and Suffolk police, also gave evidence today. She said leaks from the police were damaging to the force in the “eyes of the public”.She said: “I actually don’t think the public interest is being best served there if [people] don’t have the opportunity to understand the wider context.”“It’s not about controlling information, there’s just far too much information swimming about the system, so we do have to exercise some judgments as to what is most appropriate... There has to be caution but I think a lot of it falls into that area of common sense.”Campbell called the “drip of information” from the police press office to the press during the Ipswich murder investigation a “benchmark” for efficient contact with the media.She added: “I don’t actually believe it’s acceptable to purchase alcohol [when meeting journalists] but I think for low-level refreshments, then those expenses are justifiable.”The inquiry also heard from both the editor and crime reporter of the East Anglian Daily Times, which covers an area under the jurisdiction of the Suffolk force.Reporter Colin Adwent said he generally had a good relationship with the police.He said: “Many officers may well see me around an over the years and come to understand the way I work, or the type of way we deal with things. It helps break down barriers in that regard.”He expressed concern that requiring officers to log all contact with journalists would inhibit the flow of information to the press, and said officers had seemed “slightly more nervous “ about speaking to him.Editor Terry Hunt said it was important for the public good that information is passed on from the police to the press immediately. He said a case in which three dangerous inmates escaped from a mental health unit in the early hours had resulted in the local press not being informed until lunchtime.He added: “I thought was a matter of significant public concern... I would have hoped and expected that Suffolk police would have decided to put some information on that into the public domain as quickly as possible so that when Suffolk awoke that morning, the members of the public were forewarned that there was a possibility of these three being in the local area and not to approach them, or indeed if they saw them, obviously to contact the police."I felt it very unfortunate that that information didn’t reach us until lunchtime that Sunday."Hunt said he was concerned logging contact with the press “when enshrined will be a step backwards".He criticised the national press for coverage of the Ipswich murders, saying some papers had printed misleading pictures of the town centre, describing it as unusually quiet.He said: “My recollection, or perception at the time, was not that everyone was going home and locking their doors... it wasn’t anything exceptional.”He added: “There was a great deal of concern about what was going on in a very fast moving and frankly horrifying story.”