Lord Stevens: Police 'terrified' of speaking to press

The former Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Lord Stevens, has told the Leveson Inquiry that failing to explain officers' actions to the public via the media in a high-profile incident like a fatal police shooting, could lead to "massive public disorder".

He said Scotland Yard officers had become frightened of speaking to the press following the outcry last summer over the force's failure to investigate the full extent of phone-hacking at the News of the World.

The former Metropolitan Police commissioner told the press standards inquiry this was "extremely damaging" for British policing.