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Police asked the CPS for advice on whether David Leigh should potentially be prosecuted in relation to a 2006 Guardian article, and evidence he gave to the Leveson inquiry. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Police asked the CPS for advice on whether David Leigh should potentially be prosecuted in relation to a 2006 Guardian article, and evidence he gave to the Leveson inquiry. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Police advised not to pursue prosecution of Guardian journalist

This article is more than 11 years old
Scotland Yard to drop investigation of possible prosecution of David Leigh for hacking voicemail in corrupt arms deals story

The Crown Prosecution Service has advised Scotland Yard that it is not in the public interest to pursue a prosecution against the Guardian journalist David Leigh for hacking a voicemail as part of an investigation into corrupt arms deals.

Police officers working on Operating Weeting, the Metropolitan police investigation into phone hacking by journalists, passed a file to the CPS on 18 April. They asked for advice on whether Leigh should potentially be prosecuted in relation to an article published on 4 December 2006 in the Guardian, and evidence given to the Leveson inquiry on press standards and ethics in late 2011.

Leigh admitted that he personally accessed a voicemail while investigating the story into corrupt arms deals and discussed the public interest defence of the action under oath at the Leveson inquiry in December.

A CPS spokesperson said: "We have now considered this file and, although the investigation is not complete, the view has been taken that this is one of those rare cases in which it is clear that, prior to the collection and consideration of all the evidence, the public interest does not require a prosecution. The police have been advised accordingly."

The CPS said the Met did not now intend to continue to investigate grounds for a possible prosecution of Leigh.

"This is not a charging decision based on a review of a full file of evidence, but is advice to the police before their investigation is complete," the CPS spokesperson said. "Whilst it is a matter for the police whether to continue any investigation, regardless of advice received, we understand the decision has been taken that no further action will be taken."

The CPS came to its decision after applying the code for crown prosecutors and the director of public prosecution's recently published interim guidelines for assessing the public interest in cases affecting the media.

"In summary, the guidelines say that prosecutors should consider whether the public interest served by the conduct in question outweighs the overall criminality," the CPS said. "If the answer is yes, it is less likely that a prosecution is required in the public interest. Prosecutors are only able to take such a decision when they are satisfied that the broad extent of the alleged criminality has been determined and that they are able to make a fully informed assessment of the public interest."

Leigh said: "This shows that the DPP's new guidelines, designed to protect journalists acting in the public interest, have worked well in this case. I deliberately publicised, in a 2006 Guardian article, the incident involving me. This was in order to stimulate debate about the difference between legitimate investigative journalism, and the wholesale criminal industry apparently taking place at News International."

Leigh said the move by the police to seek advice on whether there might be grounds to prosecute had been prompted by News International.

"I understand it was News International who laid a complaint to the police, despite Lord Justice Leveson making clear there were no grounds to prosecute me," he said.

A spokeswoman for News International declined to respond to the claim.

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