Phone hacking: Mail lawyer criticises timing of Leveson inquiry

The Daily Mail's chief lawyer has complained that the Leveson inquiry was putting "the cart before the horse" by starting work before the police investigation into newsroom criminality had come to an end. Liz Hartley, head of editorial legal services at Daily Mail publisher Associated Newspapers, told the Society of Editors conference on Monday that she could not think of "any other inquiry trying to tackle a problem that you can't define". That was because it was not possible to "get to the bottom of News International's actions" because the criminal inquiries into hacking and payments to police officers had not completed, she added. Lord Justice Leveson's inquiry , which began on Monday, is running in two parts – the first inquiring broadly into the conduct of the press and to make recommendations for regulatory reform. The second, which will begin only after any criminal trial concludes, will examine specifically what happened as regards hacking and other allegations levelled at the News of the World. Hartley complained that the sequencing meant Leveson had "to find a narrative to what are perceived to be problems in the media" and that when it came to allegations of hacking that "so far it seems to be a one-horse race" – referring to the News of the World. The Mail's lawyer was speaking before it emerged at the Leveson inquiry that notebooks kept by Glenn Mulcaire – the private investigator who carried out phone hacking – included a reference to "Daily Mirror" in a way that suggested he may have carried out some work for the newspaper . Hartley said the Leveson "inquiry has only been triggered because of phone hacking" and not by a failure of the Press Complaints Commission but because of "the failures of the three police investigations". She added that the structure of the inquiry means that it was "a terrible pity that we are putting the cart before the horse in this way". She also expressed unhappiness that none of Leveson's six assessors had any tabloid, regional nor mid-market experience – and that a visit by the high court judge to the Mail's newsroom last week could not be a substitute for having worked in the industry. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email [email protected] or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication". • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook .