Tabloid coverage of the Ipswich murders was “unhelpful”, a senior police officer has told the Leveson Inquiry.Stewart Gull, a former assistant chief constable of Suffolk Police, said the reporting on a series of murders in the town during 2006 raised the level of fear in the local community.He told the inquiry: “I found some of the reporting headlines, particularly in the print media, what I’d describe as sensationalist.”The Attorney General issued a warning to the press at the time and the defence team of Steven Wright, convicted of the murders of five women, argued his fair trial rights had been undermined by some reporting.Gull, now with the Jersey Police, described how Tom Stephens, an initial suspect in the investigation who was later cleared, “put himself on offer” to the media. He said a BBC journalist had recorded an interview with Stephens and passed it on to the police before he was named as a suspect.He said: “I didn’t think the media were being particularly helpful. There was little that I could do about it, because I couldn’t afford to show my hand, but it was as we now understand, Tom Stephens was collected by journalists from [the Sunday Mirror] and as I understand it, taken to a hotel just outside Ipswich."They spent some time interviewing him, and then of course the following day there was a big expose... as we now know Tom Stephens had nothing to do with those murders.”He said the force found itself “in a place it never expected to be” and he spent between two and five hours a day briefing journalists on the investigation.He added: “Dealing with the media can be demanding and it can be a real time-stealer, but it is necessary and I think senior investigating officers recognise the importance of that relationship - but there is a balance to be struck."Representatives from the Association of Police Authorities (APA) also gave evidence to the inquiry. The body will be dissolved in November this year and replaced with an interim organisation, while each police authority will have an elected Police and Crime Commissioner.Mark Burns-Williamson, chairman, said the APA hospitality register was published online for transparency, but said inappropriate relationships with the media were unacceptable.He added: “I think all staff are aware that they shouldn’t enter into any such arrangements with the media or anybody else for that matter, without very good reasons, and we tend to conduct out business through formal events where we may put on refreshments and a few sandwiches, but that’s par for the course.”Head of press Nathan Oley said press interest in policing will increase with the introductions of PCCs, and said clear guidance was needed to regulate media contact.He added: “It’s absolutely crucial that the flow of information between the two is sufficient and is well managed to deliver that, and it would just be a concern if the outcome of this inquiry – I’m sure it won’t – but results in a shutdown of information. It’s all about for us identifying correct and appropriate channels of information flow.”Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, advocated national standards across a police training, including press relations. He said leaking and bribery in the Metropolitan Police is an “absolute no-no” and is “abhorrent for the vast majority of police officers full-stop”.The inquiry also heard from Neil Wallis, former deputy editor at News of the World, who was recalled to give further evidence on his relationship with senior Met officers. He will continue giving evidence into the afternoon.Lord Justice Leveson said a directions hearing for module three of the inquiry, examining the relationship between the press and politicians, would address several issues tomorrow afternoon, including the remaining issues of module one, new core participant status for the module, the approach to modules three and four and a timetable for submissions from participants.The judge said he was considering the written evidence of police officers Russell Middleton, from Devon and Cornwall Police, and Brendan Gilmour from the Met, before it is admitted formally to the record.