Met police press chief resigns over hiring of NoW executive

A Metropolitan police communications chief facing gross misconduct proceedings over his links to a former News of the World executive has resigned, it was announced today.

Director of public affairs Dick Fedorcio was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission last summer after reports emerged that he had hired former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis as a consultant.

Wallis was paid £24,000 by the Met for communications advice between October 2009 and September 2010. He was arrested on suspicion of phone hacking last July. Fedorcio was criticised by MPs last July for apparently demonstrating "no due diligence" in conducting proper checks on Wallis before he was given the job by Scotland Yard.

IPCC deputy chair, Deborah Glass, said in a statement this morning: "We decided to independently investigate the relationship between Mr Fedorcio and Neil Wallis, a former deputy editor at the News of the World, focusing on the circumstances under which a contract for senior level media advice and support was awarded to Mr Wallis' company, Chamy Media.

"That investigation concluded and a report was sent to the MPS directorate of professional standards on 10 January 2012.

"Our investigation found that Mr Fedorcio has a case to answer in relation to his procurement of the contract for Chamy Media. Last week the Metropolitan Police Service proposed to initiate proceedings for gross misconduct and I agreed with that proposal.

"In light of Mr Fedorcio’s resignation today, those proceedings cannot now take place and I propose to publish our investigation report detailing our findings, in the next few days."

Giving evidence to the Leveson inquiry earlier this month, Fedorcio, who is in charge of the Metropolitan police's media strategy, said there was "no indication" that Wallis was not a suitable candidate for a contract at the police force.

In written evidence he stated: "On a professional basis, Neil Wallis fully met my requirements; we knew nothing about Neil Wallis that would be to his detriment; there was no indication that he was suspected of involvement in criminality - he had never been named, implicated or questioned regarding phone hacking; he had never been required to resign over the issue at the paper; the phone-hacking investigation was closed; and, Nell Wallis was no longer employed by the News of the World and was now setting up his own media business.

"I did not believe that personal vetting was necessary, and it was never raised with me by anyone else."

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