Editor of 'The Sun' admits to paying the police for stories

The editor of The Sun told a parliamentary committee yesterday the newspaper had paid police officers for providing reporters with information.

The admission to MPs led to calls for an inquiry by the Press Complaints Commission (PCC) into financial arrangements between journalists and the police. Rebekah Wade told the Culture, Media and Sport Committee: "We have paid the police for information in the past."

Committee member Chris Bryant MP said after the hearing: "I think it's bad news if national newspapers are publicly saying they will suborn the police." He said: "It has always seemed odd to me that West End Central [police station] seems to leak as much as a colander. Now we know that newspapers pay for the leaks."

Last night, News International issued a statement on behalf of The Sun and the News of the World to say that the newspapers no longer paid money to the police.

A spokesperson for the two papers said: "It is not our practice to pay police for information. Rebekah said 'in the past'." Andy Coulson, who succeeded Ms Wade as editor of the News of the World when she moved to The Sun earlier this year, told MPs that any arrangements between his journalists and police officers fell "within the [PCC] code and the law".

Mr Coulson also told the committee that a special agreement between the Royal Family and the media to protect Princes William and Harry from intrusion had failed.

He said that St James's Palace had made a "nonsense" of the deal by failing to provide material about the princes and he noted that Prince William's 21st birthday was approaching. "It appears at this stage that nothing is planned [by the Palace]", he said. "I think that's unrealistic to say the least."

During the latest round of evidence given to the committee's inquiry into media intrusion, Gerald Kaufman, the chairman of the committee, asked Alan Rusbridger, the editor of The Guardian, about Ms Wade's earlier comments.

Mr Kaufman said it was "clearly deplorable" that the police should take money from the press and asked whether the practice should be examined by chief constables, the Police Complaints Authority or the PCC, the newspaper industry's self-regulating watchdog.

Mr Rusbridger said: "I would say all. It seems to me the PCC sometimes displays a lack of curiosity in these cases."

The Home Office said police officers who leaked confidential information were in breach of the Official Secrets Act.