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I recall the arrest of Mr Bruce Grobbelaar 30+ years ago for alleged match fixing and I recall the most disconcerting aspect of the story (from a lawyer’s point of view) being that the dawn raid on his home was witnessed by a scrum of local tv and radio reporters pre-positioned outside the house when the raid began. So far as I am aware there was no enquiry as to how the operational plans of the inquiry team came to be circulated amongst the local media and no doubt Hampshire police enjoyed their moment in the limelight, but I thought then and think now that such obvious breaches of confidence that should attach to police enquiries are not sufficiently condemned.

There is scope where operational reasons demand, to share details of an ongoing investigation pre-charge, but the general rule should be that such matters remain confidential and that any breach of that confidence should attract the most severe sanctions.

At least in the Richards case the police were prepared to acknowledge that they should not have shared he information about the proposed search of his house although to present themselves as the ‘victims’ bullied by Auntie Beeb to make disclosures they would not otherwise have done seems a bit far-fetched.

Both police and press get far too much out of a close relationship for any such contacts to be viewed otherwise than with the utmost suspicion.