Leveson inquiry: Sunday Mirror man denies he would buy medical records

Nick Owens says he was only discussing possible celebrity stories with Starsuckers director in an 'informal' way
Sunday Mirror journalist Nick Owens leaves the Leveson inquiry after giving evidence
Sunday Mirror journalist Nick Owens leaves the Leveson inquiry after giving evidence. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters

A Sunday Mirror journalist has denied to the Leveson inquiry that he was willing to buy celebrities' private medical records, after the person offering information revealed himself as a documentary-maker trying to hoax tabloids into running fake stories.

Nick Owens told the inquiry on Monday he discussed cosmetic surgery stories with Chris Atkins in an "informal" way and when it became apparent he was trying to profit from them he decided he was going to expose him. The Leveson inquiry heard how publishing medical records is a breach of data protection laws.

Owens had detailed face-to-face discussions with Atkins, who went on to make the movie Starsuckers.

Atkins, who was secretly recording the meeting, had phoned the Sunday Mirror claiming he could get documentation on cosmetic surgery through a friend who worked as an "administrative nurse" in a London clinic.

A transcript of the recording read out to the inquiry, and included in Atkins' earlier written witness statement, mentioned stories including "one of Girls Aloud having a boob job; Hugh Grant having a face tuck, Rhys Ifans having a tummy tuck and Guy Ritchie having a chemical peel".

According to the transcript, Owens told Atkins that the Girls Aloud story was potentially "a very, very good story" and if it concerned Cheryl Cole he could expect a big payment.

Owens was quizzed repeatedly about the enthusiasm he showed for the stories, despite admitting that he knew the issues of using private medical records for stories was very "sensitive".

The reporter said he was "just reacting to a string of stories that have just been thrown at me" and that the transcript of a conversation three years ago should not be construed as a willingness to buy private records.

He told counsel of the inquiry, David Barr, that he was "just having a general discussion about what evidence it was he could obtain" and reminded the inquiry that the paper "didn't publish anything at all".

Barr put it to Owens that evidence of a celebrity "breast enlargement" might not have been used in itself, but armed with the inside information, it could be arranged "for the paper to take before and after shots".

Owens replied: "I wasn't suggesting the paper go off and do anything at all and indeed we didn't."

He then told Barr that he "went away [from the meeting with Atkins], thinking that we may need to expose what he was doing".

The reporter said that when the Starsuckers documentary later came out, he admitted in a meeting with his editor, he had said "some unhelpful things".

Earlier, the Leveson inquiry heard from the News of the World's former showbusiness editor Dan Wootton.

Wootton said he did not like doing stories about Hugh Grant because he always seemed "pretty miserable" and he liked to write about celebrities that "like to be written about".



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