The News of the World ordered a journalist to get inside information from Scotland Yard's top counter-terrorism officer by "calling in all those bottles of champagne", the Leveson Inquiry heard today.
Former assistant commissioner John Yates admitted he “may well” have drunk champagne with crime reporter Lucy Panton, but denied that he did her favours in return.
Mr Yates, who resigned over the phone-hacking scandal last July, also confirmed he was a "good friend" of former News of the World executive editor Neil Wallis and went to football matches with him.
Ms Panton, the News of the World's crime editor, was asked by news editor James Mellor to find out more from Mr Yates about a bomb found in a printer cartridge on a cargo aircraft at East Midlands Airport the previous day.
Mr Mellor wrote in an email dated October 30 2010: “John Yates could be crucial here. Have you spoken to him? Really need an excl (exclusive) splash (front page) line so time to call in all those bottles of champagne...”
Ms Panton replied: “Noted. Not got hold of him yet still trying.”
Robert Jay QC, counsel to the Leveson Inquiry, said the email suggested that Ms Panton had “plied” Mr Yates with champagne and the favour was to be returned.
Mr Yates replied: “I hadn’t been plied with champagne by Lucy Panton, and I think it’s an unfortunate emphasis you’re putting on it.”
He added: “It (the email) would indicate even by October 2010 that those perceived favours had never been called in, and I hadn’t provided them with anything before, and that’s the position.
“Yes, it’s a phrase, and I think it’s slightly unfair that it’s put to me in that way.”
Asked whether he ever drank champagne with Ms Panton, Mr Yates said: “There may well have been the odd occasion, yes, when a bottle was being shared with several people, but nothing in the sense that you’re suggesting.”
Ms Panton, who is married to a Scotland Yard detective, was arrested in December on suspicion of making corrupt payments to police officers. She was later bailed and has not been charged.
Mr Yates said he has known her for about a decade.
News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in January 2007 after they admitted intercepting voicemail messages left on royal aides' phones.
Mr Yates has been criticised for deciding not to reopen the phone-hacking inquiry after the Guardian published a story in 2009 revealing that the illegal practice was far more widespread than previously believed.
The inquiry heard that the former top policeman regularly met Mr Wallis, sometimes for private meals with other friends including wealthy property developer Nick Candy, and on other occasions on official business at New Scotland Yard.
Mr Yates, a Liverpool fan, said he went to “two or three” football matches with Mr Wallis, who supports Manchester United.
The ex-Scotland Yard officer admitted that they discussed professional matters on the way to and from the games.
He said: “In the margins, yes, but seriously it was far more about domestic life, family life, football. There was life outside the Met and I’m sure there’s a life outside News International for him.”
Giving evidence via video-link from Bahrain, where he is overseeing reform of the police, Mr Yates added: “I have always been completely open that he’s a good friend. He certainly was a good friend - I haven’t seen him for nigh on a year.”
Mr Wallis was arrested on suspicion of phone hacking last July. He was later bailed.
Scotland Yard came under fire when it emerged that the force paid Mr Wallis’s PR firm, Chamy Media, £24,000 for communications advice between October 2009 and September 2010.
Mr Yates and former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Paul Stevenson both resigned after facing questions about their links to Mr Wallis.
The inquiry heard that Mr Yates had dinner with Ms Panton and former News of the World editor Colin Myler at the exclusive Ivy Club in central London on November 5 2009.
Mr Jay noted: “You don’t get out of the Ivy Club possibly for less than £100 a head. Obviously alcohol was bought as well.”
Mr Yates said: “I think it’s hugely important that senior police officers have a relationship and interact with the media, that they are not the enemy, they are occasionally critical friends and occasionally much worse.”
The hearing was told that the senior policeman met Guardian journalist Nick Davies, who revealed the scale of phone hacking at the News of the World in a series of articles, for 30 minutes on November 30 2009.
Mr Yates said: “Nick was quite a challenging individual for us to deal with in a perfectly proper respect, and we felt there would be some value in having that meeting with him.”
PA