Former ICO deputy head denies blocking press probe The ICO’s deputy commissioner has denied ever saying that the press was “too big” for the commission to take on. A former senior investigator for the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) told the Leveson Inquiry last Friday that he was asked not to pursue a case that pointed to private investigators getting confidential …
Well, if Francis Aldhouse has "'no recollection' of the meeting between with Owens and the former commissioner Richard Thomas where they discussed the investigation" then Mr Aldhouse would by default also not recall telling Mr Owens that "the press was too big to take on".
So extrapolating that we could assume that Mr Aldhouse probably did say that (as recalled by Mr Owen) but simply forgot the meeting and its contents happened. If the whole fact of the meeting is forgotten then the detail within the meeting by default must also be forgotten.
there is a reason to keep contemporaneous notes when potentialy controversial decision are being taken. (any line of business, but especially when it may become a legal matter later)
it helps remind your boss (or ex-boss) of what he said when judge or solicitor asks a couple of years later.
Interesting that there does not appear to be any official minutes of a meeting between the head and deputy head of a government regulatory body!
...the whole fact of the meeting is forgotten ...
and it seems a bit odd that one of the deputies was not included in discussions relating to the biggest ever case to go through the ICO. Surely something that big would be top of the agenda with the IC and all his deputy staff.
And something that Leveson pointed out, it also seems odd that Aldhouse wasn't included because he had prior experience with attempting to reign the newspapers in.
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