Former British army intelligence officer Ian Hurst has made strong allegations against the Metropolitan Police, claiming there is "corruption at the highest levels".
Giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry on Monday he said the MPS should provide the probe into press ethics "with all intelligence of police corruption including that at very highest level. "It is there, it is at the highest level and out there with journalists today," he said.
The remarkable claims came following a tense session at the London court, in which Hurst was unable to reveal full details of his evidence due to a "gagging" order.
Hurst previously worked in Northern Ireland where he was one of the British army's contacts for IRA spies.
Earlier this year he gave an interview to BBC's Panorama into computer hacking and he told the programme he believed one of his computers was hacked by the News of the World.
Hurst says that in April 2009 following the arrest of an unnamed man documents showed that the security of his wife had been compromised.
"There's copious amount of knowledge that the police had," Hurst claimed at the inquiry. He added that the Met "has let society down they should be making a full disclosure".
Former British army intelligence officer Ian Hurst has made strong allegations against the Metropolitan Police, claiming there is "corruption at the highest levels".
Giving evidence at the Leveson Inquiry on Monday he said the MPS should provide the probe into press ethics "with all intelligence of police corruption including that at very highest level.
"It is there, it is at the highest level and out there with journalists today," he said.
The remarkable claims came following a tense session at the London court, in which Hurst was unable to reveal full details of his evidence due to a "gagging" order.
Hurst previously worked in Northern Ireland where he was one of the British army's contacts for IRA spies.
Earlier this year he gave an interview to BBC's Panorama into computer hacking and he told the programme he believed one of his computers was hacked by the News of the World.
Hurst says that in April 2009 following the arrest of an unnamed man documents showed that the security of his wife had been compromised.
"There's copious amount of knowledge that the police had," Hurst claimed at the inquiry.
He added that the Met "has let society down they should be making a full disclosure".
He also read out a statement that was made during the filming of a Panorama programme into computer hacking.
"Andy Coulson was the editor [of the News of the World] and he is f*****g big pals with a lot of powerful people including police officers."
He then added: "That is exactly what you are dealing with here ladies and gentlemen – corruption."