Former Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service, Akers joined the force in 1976 and retired at the end of 2012, having led Operation Weeting, investigating the News International phone-hacking scandal, and the related Operations Elveden and Tuleta, respectively investigating inappropriate payments to police officers and other public officials and computer hacking. Akers was awarded the Queen's Police Medal in 2007 and appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to policing.
Detective Chief Inspector, Specialist Crime Department at the Metropolitan Police Service. Following promotion to Detective Chief Inspector in 2003 he became Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) on the Racial and Violent Crime Task Force. Gave evidence to the Inquiry of press “intrusion” when working on Operation Fishpool in the case of the Stephen Lawrence murder.
Sports writer and broadcaster, formerly of the News of the World and Express Newspapers. Gave evidence of his work at the News of the World, and of being unfairly dismissed and awarded just under £800,000 for unfair dismissal after a lengthy period of bullying at that paper. The paper's editor, Andy Coulson, went on to work as communications chief for David Cameron shortly after.
British former senior police officer. From 2008 to 2009, Assistant Commissioner (Specialist Operations) of London's Metropolitan Police Service at New Scotland Yard, a key national security post with responsibility for counter-terrorism within the UK, protection of the Queen and senior members of the British Royal Family, and protection of the UK Prime Minister and Cabinet Ministers. Quick also oversaw the protection of visiting heads of state to the UK and the diplomatic community in London. Quick told the Inquiry of his belief from 2000 that some tabloid journalists were making corrupt payments to police officers.
A former journalist, Stearns was Head of Media at the Metropolitan Police at the time of the Inquiry. His evidence was volunteered rather than formally sought and he attempted to put in context the work of the press office which dealt with 200-300 journalistic calls a day from the media. Following major incidents, this number could rise to 1,000 or more calls, all requiring individual responses, he told the Inquiry.
Detective Sergeant for the Metropolitan Police force, Williams had been involved in many operations within Organised Crime Group, Specialist Operations and Anti-Terrorism branches. He led the police inquiry into hacking allegations in 2006 and gave evidence to the Inquiry about the early investigations of Operation Caryatid and his interviews with Glenn Mulcaire, then of the News of the World.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), commonly known as the Metropolitan Police and informally as the Met, is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement in Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London, which is the responsibility of the City of London Police. Since January 2012, the Mayor of London is responsible for the governance of the Metropolitan Police through the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). This functional body of the Greater London Authority came into being in 2012 and replaced the Metropolitan Police Authority.
