http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/aug/25/met-yates-legal-bills
guardian.co.uk
Scotland Yard paid John Yates's legal bills
Met paid for assistant commissioner to hire top legal firm to file complaints against Guardian and others, FOI request reveals
Sandra Laville
The Guardian, Thursday 25 August 2011
The Metropolitan Police authority agreed that Scotland Yard should pay the bill for former assistant commissioner John Yates to hire the high-profile libel firm Carter Ruck to threaten legal action against various media outlets including the Guardian, an FOI request has shown.
Yates, who resigned over the phone-hacking scandal last month, used the legal firm to send letters of complaint to the Guardian and other outlets over allegations made about his role in the affair. At the home affairs select committee he declined to say whether Scotland Yard had been paying for him to use the firm.
He said to the committee: "Contrary to what they may think, I have huge admiration for what the Guardian have done. It was a huge story."
In response to an FOI on the issue, the Metropolitan Police Service said on Wednesday: "We can confirm that the Metropolitan Police Authority authorised funding in order that the MPS could seek legal advice from Carter Ruck following an article in the Guardian newspaper concerning assistant commissioner John Yates.
"The MPA can approve expenditure on legal advice under strict criteria, subject to limits on the amount to be disbursed, for cases which have potential to bring the organisation as a whole into disrepute."
