Sir Paul Stephenson said alleged discovery of pornography on computer during 2008 investigation ‘wasn’t relevant’ to inquiry

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A former Metropolitan police commissioner has said he was aware of allegations that pornography had been found on Damian Green’s office computer during a police inquiry.

Sir Paul Stephenson, Britain’s most senior police officer between 2009 and 2011, said he was briefed about the claims but regarded them as a “side issue” and regretted that they were in the public domain.

The disclosure came amid questions about the political future of Green, Theresa May’s de facto deputy, who is already facing an allegation of sexual harassment from former Conservative activist Kate Maltby.

The pornography allegations were first made public last week by the former Met assistant commissioner Bob Quick.

Green, the first secretary of state, said his accusers had “ulterior motives”.

He said: “I reiterate that no allegations about the presence of improper material on my parliamentary computers have ever been put to me or to the parliamentary authorities by the police.

“I can only assume that they are being made now, nine years later, for ulterior motives.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Cabinet Office inquiry into Damian Green’s conduct began earlier this month. Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Green has said that the allegations that he made sexual advances to Maltby – touching her knee in a pub and sending her a suggestive text message a year later – were “untrue (and) deeply hurtful”.

Quick, who led the investigation into Home Office leaks in which Green’s House of Commons office was searched, said pornography was found on a computer there.

Both Stephenson and Quick gave evidence to a Cabinet Office inquiry into Green’s conduct last week, led by senior Cabinet Office official Sue Gray.

The inquiry, which is being conducted privately, is also looking at a separate claim that Green made inappropriate advances towards a female Tory activist in 2015. He also denies that allegation.

Speaking to the BBC, Stephenson said he thought the claim about Green “wasn’t relevant to the criminal inquiry” into Home Office leaks, which began in October 2008.

Green’s home and office were searched as part of that investigation and he was briefly arrested in November that year, but the then shadow immigration minister faced no further action.

A review of the police inquiry found that “less intrusive methods” could have been used.

Referring to the pornography allegations, Stephenson said: “I regret it’s in the public domain. There was no criminality involved, there were no victims, there was no vulnerability and it was not a matter of extraordinary public interest.”

Stephenson added that it was not Scotland Yard’s role to “police the workplace”.

The Met declined to say whether it was helping the Cabinet Office investigate the claims, but said in a statement: “As this is not our inquiry the MPS does not believe it is appropriate to comment upon it.”