Met's PR chief on 'extended leave' over phone-hacking scandal
The Metropolitan Police has sent home its director of communications on 'extended leave' as a result of the phone-hacking scandal issue.
Dick Fedorcio is preparing for an independent inquiry into an allegation of gross misconduct over his relationship with former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis.
According to The Guardian today: “He faces accusations over a £24,000 two-day-a-week PR contract he handed to the phone hacking suspect.”
The move comes after Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his colleague John Yates resigned amid the fall-out from the crisis.
The Guardian points out: “It will add to fears of a power vacuum at the head of Britain’s largest force as it faces a storm of challenges including the sensitive phone-hacking inquiry itself.”