Mail 'receives 300 to 400 Pippa Middleton pictures a day'

The Daily Mail's picture editor Paul Silva told the Leveson inquiry today that the newspaper receives 300 to 400 pictures of Pippa Middleton a day, out of around 30,000 in total.

Silva said that it had been the Mail's policy since the Royal Wedding not to use paparazzi pictures of Kate Middleton's sister going about her ordinary business, but denied that there were any special rules in place concerning her.

He told the inquiry that there was simply "no justification" to use them.

"There's no reason to use pictures of her just coming out of her door every day."

Inquiry counsel Robert Jay QC pressed Silva on whether the Mail was more inclined to accept paparazzi pictures of other celebrities, but he denied that that was the case.

Silva is the picture editor for the print edition of the Daily Mail, where he has worked for 23 years, but not the Mail's website Mail Online, the world's second highest-traffic news website, which has it's own picture team and editorial staff.

He told the inquiry that he has applied strict rules to sourcing images for the past three or four years in order to be "satisfied that the pictures were taken in the proper way", although he could not be drawn by Jay on what had brought about the change in policy.

Silva also outlined the Mail's practice of not using images of celebrities on private property. He would accept a picture of a celebrity on the pavement outside their house, he told Leveson, but not on their driveway, a distinction the judge called "arbitrary" and said he was "concerned" about.

Silva also said that it was the Mail's policy not to print images of celebrities' children, or to pixelate their faces. He was however shown pictures by Jay, printed by the Mail, showing the children of the Beckhams and McCanns.

He said that the photographer had been given permission to photograph the McCann children, but acknowledged that publishing images of their faces still breached the PCC code.

He defended the Mail's record, telling the inquiry that he had only received "a handful of complaints in the last few years".

Prior to Silva's evidence this morning, Leveson warned news organisations against reporting his comments in court as "emerging findings" of the inquiry.

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