'No evidence' Milly Dowler detective leaked information
2:41pm Monday 6th February 2012 in Where I Live
Milly detective 'did not leak information'
Investigators have found no evidence that a Surrey Police detective was paid to provide Milly Dowler's mobile phone number to the News of the World.
The allegation was made in August after it emerged the murdered Walton schoolgirl's phone was hacked by the News International paper.
Independent Police Complaints Commissioner Mike Franklin said: "The allegations that a Surrey Police officer provided information to journalists during Operation Ruby, and may have been paid for doing so, can only have added to the terrible loss endured by Milly Dowler’s family.
"Surrey Police, quite rightly, came under a great deal of scrutiny over this issue - the allegations are serious and required independent examination.
"I hope our finding that there was no substantive or factual evidence to support the allegations will provide some reassurance to the Dowler family on this issue at least".
Surrey Police welcomed the conclusions.
In a statement, the force said: "The Force had already taken immediate disciplinary action in 2002 after it became apparent that the officer concerned had provided some confidential details about the investigation to a retired police officer friend – not a journalist.
"He was immediately and permanently removed from the inquiry and from the Major Crime Investigation Team.
"It is now apparent that this recent allegation originated from a disgruntled former officer who resigned from Surrey Police pending a misconduct hearing following a criminal conviction at Aldershot Magistrates Court in 2010.
"He provided an account of the 2002 events in a phone call to an MP’s office in which he made a number of false allegations including that the officer in question had met a News of the World reporter at a social function and passed on confidential information around the Milly Dowler case.
"The MP then passed that claim on to journalists.
"The former officer did not provide the IPCC investigation with any specific details or evidence to support his allegations and the Commissioner’s report has described the information as ‘supposition and rumour’ at best."
