§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 28 January 1998,Official Report, column 278, if the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis has completed his investigation of the leak to a journalist of targets of police raids on 21 November 1997; what were his conclusions; and if he will make a statement. [36046]
§ Mr. MichaelThis is an operational matter for the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. However, he tells me that one of the Metropolitan Police's Complaints Units has carried out an investigation. This included questioning a journalist who had knowledge of the source of the leak. The journalist, whilst not revealing the identity of the source, has categorically assured the investigators that the leak did not come from the Metropolitan Police.
The Metropolitan Police's role in the raids was to act as a facilitator in the co-ordination of intelligence in the raids. The Commissioner tells me that there are several prosecutions pending as a result of the police raids.