Ex-police chief ‘knew about Damian Green porn probe’
3 min read
Former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has said he knew pornography had been found on Damian Green’s work computer during a 2008 investigation.
The First Secretary of State denied that the material had been discovered when the allegations were first made against him by former Met assistant commissioner Bob Quick.
Mr Green, who is one of Theresa May’s closest allies, insisted the claims - made by Mr Quick in last week’s Sunday Times - were false.
But speaking to the BBC, Sir Paul backed his former colleague by confirming that pornography had been found during a 2008-9 police probe into Home Office leaks, although he said it "wasn't relevant to the criminal inquiry".
He added: "There was no criminality involved, there were no victims, there was no vulnerability and it was not a matter of extraordinary public interest."
However, Mr Green hit back saying in a statement: “I reiterate that no allegations about the presence of improper material on my parliamentary computers have ever been put to me or to the parliamentary authorities by the police.
“I can only assume that they are being made now, nine years later, for ulterior motives.”
Both Sir Paul and Mr Quick gave evidence to a Cabinet Office inquiry into Mr Green's conduct last week, which is being led by senior Cabinet Office official Sue Gray.
The inquiry is also looking at separate accusations made by a female journalist that the senior Tory behaved inappropriately towards her - claims he strenuously denies.
Mr Green's parliamentary office was raided and his computer seized in November, 2008, over a series of leaks from the Home Office which proved damaging to the then Labour government.
In a statement released last weekend, Mr Green said of the Sunday Times article:
"This story is completely untrue and comes from a tainted and untrustworthy source.
"I've been aware for some years that the discredited former Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick has tried to cause me political damage by leaking false information about the raid on my parliamentary office. No newspaper has printed this information due to the complete lack of any evidence.
"It is well-known that Quick, who was forced to apologise for alleging that the Conservative Party was trying to undermine him, harbours deep resentment about his press treatment during the time of my investigation. More importantly, the police have never suggested that improper material was found on my parliamentary computer, nor did I have a 'private' computer as has been claimed.
"The allegations about the material and computer, now 9 years old, are false, disreputable political smears from a discredited police officer acting in flagrant breach of his duty to keep the details of police investigations confidential and amount to little more than an unscrupulous character assassination."
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