16:35 Inquiry hears Daily Star has found "plenty" of examples of positive coverage of Muslim stories, including about patriotic Muslim children. 16:34 That's the end of Richard Desmond's evidence. 16:34 Desmond says he "definitely" doesn't want to extend his newspaper holdings because it is a "tough, tough business." 16:30 To summarise, Desmond has just claimed that the McCanns must have been happy about coverage in the Daily Express because they did not complain for weeks, then only decided to sue when they got a new team of lawyers. 16:28 He says the McCanns were happy to have the articles printed about Maddie but says that it was only when "new lawyers" came along that the situation changed, "that's a fact." Jay is angrier than I've seen him appear in saying his claims are outrageous that the McCanns weren't upset by the coverage. 16:26 Desmond asks if over-legislation is trying to kill business in Britain and discloses he opened OK! magazine offices in Hamburg and was given 500,000 Euros by the city's mayor as a "Welcome to Hamburg" gift. He says: If you think that newspapers are important we've got to be in a situation where people have opinions and ideas. 16:25 We're now on Diana, Princess of Wales, of whose death Desmond reports there were theories that she was killed by a member of the Royal family. 16:22 Desmond gets into a tangle with his sums, wrongly totting up the numbers of weeks in four months, and has to be helped by Jay. The paper owner then says - while accepting they did wrong - that there were about 70 articles which were good. 16:21 Inquiry hears the McCann litigation comprised of 38 defamatory articles over four months and that Express newspapers were guilty of the worst examples. 16:19 Desmond apologises after making a joke which Leveson didn't get and had to ask the meaning of. It was that the proprietor said media oversight should be with an "RCD" board in charge. That's "Richard Clive Desmond." 16:16 He adds: Unfortunately, we are in a non-growth business... this inquiry is probably the worst thing that's happened to newspapers in my lifetime... the banks are very hard on business, it's very hard to get money... and therefore people are looking at every penny they're spending and if they believe that newspapers are basically hacking low-lifes then they are not going to buy papers and in the last few months sales have never been so bad. I'm not blaming the inquiry I'm blaming the hacking thing. He goes on to urge prosecution for those companies and individuals guilty of phone hacking who are still "walking the streets." 16:24 Desmond on sales and good journalism: Editors have to believe that by putting a good story in they sell more papers, they have to. They day they don't is the day they go and play golf, or whatever it is ex-editors do. 16:12 He says Peter Hill, then his editor at the Express, was vilified for "printing the facts" about the McCann case. 16:10 He says the PCC was completely ineffective and run by people who were trying to put Express Newspapers out of business and yet "smiled at us." 16:09 Desmond now calls his competitors "idiots" for supporting the Newspaper Marketing Agency. 16:01 He adds that the ranks of Fleet Street were almost united in opposition against him and agrees with Jay that there is no such thing as a "non-aggression pact" as far as he is concerned. He adds: I think it's Britain's worst enemy, the Daily Mail. Leveson interjects to stop him continuing. Jay then makes a mistake and calls him Paul Dacre (the Mail's editor) by accident. Desmond replies that: "Dacre's the fat butcher." Michael Greenfield (Sky) - Just after Lord Leveson stops Desmond mud-slinging against Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre, the QC mistakenly calls Desmond Mr Dacre! Hilarious 15:58 Desmond says that, "no disrespect to journalists and editors," that the only way to make any meaningful difference to circulation is to "stick a £5 note on the cover... or a £50 note is better." 15:57 Express owner says: "The circulation figures of newspapers are pretty static. They're only going one way. 15:53 Desmond says he didn't buy a paper as anything other than a commercial venture but that he met Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister, and decided he would be "a socialist." Describing the decision to switch to the Tories, he said: I felt that I betrayed Tony as a mate, as a bloke, I felt that he was doing a good job. He came to my house, I went to his house but at the end of the day Peter Hill runs the paper and it's a decision that he made. 15:50 Asked why he bought a newspaper group and sticking with it, he says they had been so successful with magazines that: We were a bit stuck as to what to do... we thought the management was useless and we could do a better job. 15:48 Asked about ethics, Desmond says: Ethics. I don't know what the word means. He said we do not talk about morals or ethics because there is a very fine line. Presumably, he means between what is and what is not acceptable. 15:47 He says that seven years ago they were selling 400,000 copies a day and now it's more like 700,000 because "the readers have decided... they can't get enough of it." Richard Desmond, owner of Northern & Shell 15:45 Desmond says he was told after he bought the Daily Express that he was not allowed to know who a group of shady-looking members of staff were and learned that they were the investigations team. The editor, in his first week, asked for £5,000 in cash "to pay these geezers, as they called them, to do their work." He said he thought the last thing he was going to do was to pay cash to people so he decided: "Let's cut the whole area." The approach won him lots of friends in the building, he said. 15:43 Desmond says when he bought Channel Five from the German broadcaster RTL he turned a £15m loss into a profit within a month because he knew the country so well, adding, opaquely: There's more to life than the chess correspondent based in Latin America. 15:40 Desmond adds that the key to his aim to transform the Express papers was to use better photographs and better relationships with advertisers. 15:37 He says he bought the newspapers when the only other people "that were going to buy it were the Daily Malicious, sorry, Daily Mail... and the only other person was the disgraced Conrad Black." He said we had to get rid of people who "as Jethro Tull would put it, were living in the past." Gordon Rayner - Richard Desmond refers to Daily Mail as 'Daily Malicious'. Fasten your seatbelts... #Leveson 15:36 He says the point of his publications is to "provide a great product that you want to buy every week." 15:34 Richard Desmond, founder and owner of Northern & Shell - owners of the Daily Express, Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday - is giving evidence. 15:24 And we're on another break. That's Ashford done. Richard Desmond's next. 15:21 The question is whether the PCC was ever a regulator or whether it was just a complaints and mediation procedure, Leveson asks. 15:18 Ashford says if a member is not allowed to leave a press watchdog then you will end up with "draconian fines." Instead, he recommends setting up something which people don't want to leave. 15:12 Ashford says N&S would not sign up to the PCC again as it is currently composed. 15:02 "The behaviour of the PCC was wholly hypocritical and unhelpful," says Ashford, justifying the departure of the papers from the committee. He adds that it was not right that Sir Christopher Meyer, then the PCC's head, criticised them. Gordon Rayner - Express left PCC after its chairman 'took it upon himself to personally denigrate our editor' #Leveson 14:57 Ashford says that Northern & Shell were looked down on by the Fleet Street newspapers for originally being magazine publishers. Paul Ashford, group editorial director, Northern & Shell 14:54 The executive says he did see the bills for searches but there was no way of saying whether the cost was for one or many, therefore it did not raise any alarms. 14:52 Ashford says he was not aware of the ICO reports until recently. 14:51 Ashford says he has some "influence" on the paper but does not make decisions on editorial content. 14:48 He says the board did not criticise him for the payout of over half a million pounds to the McCanns. And that's it for him. Next witness is Paul Ashford, group editorial director, Northern & Shell. 14:46 Hill asked if he was "troubled" by the direction of coverage on the McCann story. He says no, adding: There was an enormous clamour for information and I felt this story was something which should keep running. 14:43 The former editor, whose last day in charge was in February last year, says he does not remember seeing stories routinely marked "legal please" for the attention of the lawyers. 14:42 First mention of Princess Diana, one of several stories the Daily Express was keen on. Jay says it is not the same thing to risk inaccuracies about Big Brother as it is about the McCanns. 14:37 Hill, in response to probing questioning from Jay, says: "I do not think I am on trial here." Peter Hunt (BBC) - Hill on negative McCann stories: felt reason to believe they might possibly be true. #Leveson #hacking 14:35 Asked if he accused the McCanns of killing Maddie, he said it was not his story but reporting of what the Portugese police were saying. He said he ran them because he believed they might possibly be true. I did not accuse them of killing their child. 14:34 Asked if he often repeated the same front page story on consecutive days, he said: "Of course." Madeleine McCann, who disappeared in 2007 14:33 Hill says the McCann story was the biggest he had seen in 50 years. It was not a story that you could ignore and you simply had to cover it as best as possible. 14:31 He says the senior politicians wanted to meet him, as editor, to find out what the readers thought and formulate their policies accordingly, adding: Clearly a politician would rather you were a friend than an enemy. 14:28 Hill tells the inquiry he chose to move the paper's support to its "traditional constituency" of the Conservative party because it had always been right of centre, that lots of its readers shared a right-leaning view and that it had been a "great mistake" to decide to the support the Labour party. 14:26 He says he has "no idea" whether private investigators were ever used. 14:25 Mr Hill says he has not read two reports from the Information Commissioner which dealt with the behaviour of the press. Hill says he brought in changes to the way the paper was run, saying he would've expected the newsdesk to tell him if it was going on. Ross Hawkins - Hill (fmr Express ed) at #leveson: says he's not aware of info commissioner's reports - (pretty central to the Inquiry) 14:18 He says he believes in self-regulation but was comfortable with the decision to leave the PCC because, among other things, it was "not doing the job it needed to." He adds that instead of preventing people from taking matters to court, it ended up giving judgements which were used as evidence in court cases. Peter Hill, former editor of the Daily Express 14:17 Mr Hill says reality television, in particular Big Brother, which he "splashed" 28 days in a row, was of huge interest to readers and it boosted the Daily Star, which he was working for at the time. 14:16 He says all the national newspapers that he has worked for are "very different" in their world view and all form part of the "marvellous variety" of the "great" British press. However, he says, in organisational terms, they have much in common. 14:13 His evidence is over. The next witness is Peter Hill, former editor of the Daily Express, who was in charge during the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. 14:11 Whittow says he doesn't want state or government intervention in whatever body succeeds the PCC. Everything works well. There have been some rogue incidents that have brought us to this stage. Gordon Rayner (Daily Telegraph's chief reporter) - Whittow: more powerful watchdog needed, with lay people and journalists #Leveson He says he can tell from some of the questions and answers that the inquiry is not clear about how journalism works. He says the internet "is not part of my life" but says it is his main concern and worry for the future. 14:08 Leveson speaks out to be clear that his thinking is not fixed on what he will recommend. He has "not made any decision at all but I am very concerned that the system works, not only for the industry, the journalists, but for the public." 14:07 Here we go again: the future of regulation on the industry. 13:08 Another session in which the questioning was tougher than on occasion. Mr Jay appears to be keener to drill down on a particular subject than he has been earlier in the process. The highlights from this morning's evidence: An internal investigation at Express Newspapers found no evidence of phone hacking • The firm used the private investigator Steve Whittamore for 63 searches and spent £9m on photos in a year • The editor of the Star's defence of controversial splash headlines • Her statement that the paper is balanced and not anti-Islamic • Her treatment of Lord Justice Leveson, in particular the light-heartedness • The editors' saying they knew nothing of any use of private investigators 13:01 That's lunch. After lunch it'll be on the regulation of the press. They will be back live at 2pm. 13:00 Asked what he sees as the future of the paper, Whittow says: I've got a very, very good working relationship with the staff. They are very loyal to me and I am very loyal to them and, as a result of that, I think we've got a very good organisation going forward. 12:56 They're now talking about salt being banned in chip shops. Jay says there wasn't a ban and asks if it's an example of a splash which is designed to catch the eye even if it's misleading. Whittow says it's something that got people talking. 12:53 Cash payments to sources have been ruled out at the Daily Express for a long time, the inquiry hears. 12:51 He says he understands the paper's used search agencies but not private investigators. 12:48 Asked about the use of private investigators, Whittow says he "had no knowledge of it at all until it started appearing in the newspapers and on the television, and that surprised me." 12:40 He says he would be very surprised if any of his journalists did not tell him what they were doing. Nick Higham - Leveson: Premier League player has an affair: is that in public interest? Whittow: That wouldn't interest the Daily Express 12:35 Whittow, who took over as editor in February last year, says that one of the reasons the paper left the PCC was that it did not interject to stop them writing stories which meant they had to pay £550,000 to the McCanns. He is asked if that he was he really means. He confirms it. Dan Sabbagh - Amazing. So Whittow is basically saying the PCC should have saved Express from itself by banning McCann stories. 12:27 Whittow says a good journalist is "very talented, very bright and very thorough." While a good editor "knows almost everything that is going on in a paper." 12:26 Asked about representing both sides of the story, Mr Whittow says: When in doubt check it out and if you're still in doubt leave it out. 12:19 He says journalists now work two or three times as hard as when he was a reporter. Hugh Whittow, editor of the Daily Express 12:18 Hugh Whittow, editor of the Daily Express, is next up. He says most newspapers are the same to him. 12:15 Ms Neesom's final comment to the inquiry is, again, kind to the judge. You're far more intelligent than I am so I know you're going to come up with something very good. 11:53 She says there was a lot of anger against poppies being burned on Armistice Day, whoever was responsible for it. Ross Hawkins - Jay suggests Daily Star policy is to single out stories or interpretations of story which are anti Islamic #leveson 11:51 She says the paper has "a balanced agenda" which the readers appreciate. She said the readers contact them more about television and "who fancies who" rather than with reaction to stories about Muslims. 11:49 Jay asks Ms Neesom to come back with written evidence of how many pro-Islamic stories they have run in the last year. She says she would be "delighted" to do so. 11:46 Ms Neesom is clear in her statement: We are not biased against Muslims. 11:42 Daily Star/Daily Star on Sunday front pages splashes for one month alone included 12 on "X Factor," six on "Katie Price" and three on "Muslims," Tabloid Watch found. 11:39 She's being asked if stories are written to a pre-set agenda. She says no because: We write stories to be as accurate as possible. They are written in the Daily Star style. She denies that there is an anti-Islamic tendency at the paper. T Portilho-Shrimpton - Neesom: we are in the business of selling newspapers so we do try to make the product as suitable to our readers as possible #leveson 11:36 She tells the inquiry she's surprised she did not learn about the use of Whittamore until today and says the system can always be improved and "will discuss it.. immediately." 11:34 Back in the room. Continuing with Ms Neesom and returning to topic of search agencies. 11:26 Another "seven-minute break" for the inquiry. 11:25 Asked if this shows support for a fascist group, she clearly denies it, saying as a "Jewish-owned company we were worried about this development." Roy Greenslade - Dawn Neesom #Leveson Not only paper to run EDL story at time. She denies splashing on it because readers expressed sympathy with its agenda 11:23 Ms Neesom insists that a front page headline "English defence league to become a political party" was based "on fact." 11:22 Mr Jay accuses the Star of "overstepping the line... sometimes by a millimetre and sometimes by a kilometre." 11:20 Asked about a front page showing a plane going through an ash cloud referring to it as "ash cloud terror" which was not an actual event but a dramatisation from a television programme, she says she was not aware of the Star being withdrawn from airports because people thought it was true. She adds: It maybe overegged the pudding and maybe it did go too far. 11:17 She is shown a front page with the headline saying that "Telly king Cowell is dead." She explains that is is about his him leaving the show, X Factor. She says it was intended to create impact. Mr Jay asks: "Even though if one was going to be pernickety about it, not to say pompous, about it, it's wrong, isn't it?" She replies: "It's eye-catching." 11:16 Ms Neesom serves up another soundbite, this time on privacy: We take a serious note of privacy. It gets expensive if you don't. 11:12 On reader relations, she says: "We love our readers. It's what pays our wages really. 11:10 She says that most of the time when the paper pays a source for a story, the source is the subject of that story. She wants to point out that "kiss and tell" stories have dwindled in the paper. She says that's now something more for the Sundays and is decreasingly popular with readers, thanks in part to the internet. She says: Celebrities do their own kiss and tells on their Twitter site... we can't compete with that. 11:07 Ms Neesom tells the inquiry she was not aware of searches being done until her lawyers told her "because I hadn't been on the road as a journalist for some time and in my day we didn't do that sort of thing... I wish I had known. 11:05 Asked if stories such those on Katie Price - the model known as Jordan - were simply "embroidered and repeated," she says: I've known Katie since she was 17. She doesn't need any help in embroidering her life. She does that herself. Ian Woods - Neesom denies spinning and weaving around edges of story but admits they have a style which "works for our readers" #Leveson 11:00 We've just had an interesting - and perhaps slightly coquettish - exchange between Ms Neesom and Lord Justice Leveson. Asked if she tells the newsdesk if something is not to her taste, she says: I have been known to pass comment if I'm not happy with something. Leveson looks at her and she adds: "My husband looks at me like that as well." After brief laughter dies down, the judge says: "I'm usually responsible for the jokes." She smiles and adds: "Your jokes are much funnier." 10:58 Mr Jay has brought up the PCC issue again and asks whether it affects the paper. Ms Neesom says: The fact that we are not in the PCC has not really affected the way we operate because we adhere to the code. 10:56 She says "most" of the stories in the paper come from their staff journalists. [Dawn Neesom, editor of the Daily Star 10:53 Asked about the effects of having the smallest staff on Fleet Street and whether that means accuracy is sacrificed, she says they employ people who are accurate, explaining that a small staff means employees are more focussed but do have to work harder. 10:52 Asked if it is a "right-wing tabloid," she says: We are a tabloid and we're not The Guardian, that's for sure. 10:51 She says The Sun was much more "full on" and "quite a scary place to work." Adds she's tried to make the Star more female without being "girly" but not alienate the core readership. Joel Gunter - Neesom says she has tried to "tone down" the laddish elements of the paper, increase feminine aspects. #Leveson 10:49 Dawn Neesom is taking the stand. She used to work at The Sun. 10:49 Miss Patterson says she is "absolutely" bound by the code of practice of the PCC. Asked by Leveson if this is irrespective of their non-membership, she says yes. 10:48 Nothing of substance disclosed. Only that she would have advised on any of the Madeleine McCann stories when she was on duty. 10:46 We're moving onto the McCanns, who took legal action against the newspaper. 10:43 Robert Jay QC dangles a question in front of Miss Patterson. She doesn't bite. It's not the policy of any of the Express titles to print stories on the private lives of celebrities....? 10:33 Express Newspapers spent £9 million on photographs in 2008, inquiry hears, and over £100k on searches in 10 years. lisa o'carroll - #leveson. Inquiry hears express group used whittamore up to July 2010. Spent total if £115k on 'search' in 10 years. Compares to £9m on pix 10:25 The list of witnesses today: 1 - Nicole Patterson, head of legal for Express Newspapers 2 - Dawn Neesom, editor of the Daily Star 3 - Hugh Whittow, editor of the Daily Express 4 - Peter Hill, former editor of the Daily Express 5 - Paul Ashford, group editorial director, Northern & Shell 6 - Richard Desmond, owner of Northern & Shell 10:38 On privacy she says she asks several questions of the provenance of photographs, including where and how they came to be taken - including ones taken of people on yachts - but acknowledges that is a "very fine balancing act." The Telegraph's chief reporter, Gordon Rayner, adds some background to Express Newspapers' use of Steve Whittamore, the investigator: Gordon Rayner - Whittamore was convicted of Data Protection offences in 2005, last payment to him by Northern & Shell was July 31, 2010 #Leveson 10:37 Miss Patterson tells inquiry she doesn't fact check because that is for journalists to do but if she has concerns she asks them if they can be sure, how they got the information and expects answers before she clears the story. 10:21 Inquiry told Express Newspapers used the private investigator Steve Whittamore for 63 searches, according to their records. She adds: "I have no knowledge of how the fees were negotiated." 10:18 Ms Patterson says some of the agencies their journalists used were ones which organisations such as law firms also use in normal practice and they she would "expect" that to be done legally and properly. Asked by Mr Jay if that was a "hope," she responded: If I employ a company to do something for me then I expect that they will do it professionally and within the law. Nicole Patterson, the top lawyer for Express Newspapers 10:12 Nicole Patterson, the head of legal for Express Newspapers, tells the inquiry that an internal investigation going back to 2000 to check for potentially illegal behaviour found nothing wrong: We haven't found any evidence to suggest that anybody was doing any phone hacking or anything of that nature. 09:45 One of the reasons Richard Desmond's evidence is likely to prove interesting is that his papers are the main group which are not part of the Press Complaints Commission. The businessman also has a reputation of being a prickly individual. Previous evidence given to the inquiry suggested that the Express's senior executives were "obsessed" about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, so the issue might be raised today. 09:42 This is what The Times chose to focus on: The newspaper industry failed to take up an offer to view evidence that more than 300 journalists had been involved in illegally accessing information, according to the Information Commissioner's Office. Christopher Graham, the Commissioner, invited editors to visit his offices in September 2009 to see information about possible criminal acts by their staff, contained in confidential files from an investigation known as "Operation Motorman." No newspaper took up the invitation until early last year, when one unnamed publication got in touch with the ICO. Several more newspapers asked to see the files last summer after the Government had announced a public inquiry into malpractice by the press. 09:39 Others expected to be heard today are: the editor of the Daily Express, Hugh Whittow, and Dawn Neesom, the editor of the Daily Star. 09:31 The Daily Mail, whose representatives were subjected to detailed questioning yesterday, wrote: Hugh Grant made damaging and inaccurate allegations against Mail newspapers with no justification, the Leveson Inquiry was told yesterday. While giving evidence to the inquiry, the actor had accused the Daily Mail of obtaining information about the recent birth of his baby with Chinese ex-girlfriend Tinglan Hong from a source at a London hospital. He also claimed that the Mail on Sunday might have hacked his phone to obtain a story about his relationship with Jemima Khan. Mr Grant claimed that an article suggesting he had 'late-night phone calls with a plummy-voiced studio executive' could only have come from listening to his voicemails. But Liz Hartley, head of editorial legal services at Associated Newspapers, which publishes the two titles, rejected the actor's claims. 09:30 The Daily Telegraph wrote about a development outside the High Court: A former Scotland Yard detective arrested for allegedly making unauthorised leaks to a journalist has asked to appear as a key witness before the judicial inquiry into press standards. Dave Cook, a former chief superintendent, yesterday requested core participant status, which would enable him to cross-examine witnesses who appear before the Leveson inquiry. Mr Cook, 52, who now works for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, is understood to claim he encountered "obscene corruption" while working for the Metropolitan Police. He was questioned earlier this week by the Independent Police Complaints Commission over allegations that he leaked sensitive material to a journalist. Last year, it emerged that he had complained about being followed by the News of the World in 2003. 09:27 Much of the reporting in today's papers of yesterday's evidence focussed on that of Peter Wright, the editor of the Mail on Sunday, for his disclosure that the paper had continued to pay the private investigator Steve Whittamore after he had been charged with illegally obtaining and distributing information. The evidence also gained wide circulation on Twitter. Journalism.co.uk - Private investigator Steve Whittamore used by MoS after arrest http://t.co/IMYcFQUS #journalism 09:16 Good morning. We'll be following the Leveson Inquiry again closely today, as it comes to the turn of the Daily Express and Daily Star, which are owned by Richard Desmond as part of his firm Northern & Shell. 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