Police have raided the Liverpool region home of a former detective who was inolved in an official investigation into use of inquiry agents by the media.
On Friday, Cheshire police carried-out the early morning visit at a house, in Widnes, where ex-Special Branch officer Alec Owens lives, and seized computer records.
It is understood that the police probe into Mr Owens relates to his time as an investigator working for the Office of the Information Commissioner (ICO) - a job he took after retirement from uniform.
Mr. Owens, 63, is due to give evidence later this month to the Leveson Inquiry into he media, but is now himself at the centre of inquiries into alleged leaking of information to The Independent newspaper.
In the visit to Mr Owens' home Cheshire Police took away a memory stick containing information obtained during the period he was working for the ICO.
It was expected that he will be questioned by detectives on Monday after the information watchdog asked police to investigate possible breaches of data protection laws.
Mr Owens, quit his ICO post in 2006, and has been critical of failures he perceived that meant the ICO did not properly investigate the links between journalists and inquiry agents.
He criticised an ICO decision not to probe the actions of hundreds of newspaper staff named in 17,000 transactions registered by private detective Steve Whittamore in 2003.
In 2005 Whittamore was given a two year conditional discharge after he admitted illegally obtaining confidential information.
The Information Commissioner enforces the Data Protection Act and empowered to bring prosecutions that can carry heavy fines.
Mr Owens is reported to have described the police raid as a ‘fishing expedition’ and added that he had no doubt it was the result of a complaint by the ICO.
When police visited his home, it is understood that Mr Owens agreed to surrender a copy of an Operation Motorman file from his computer but declined to provide the statement he has prepared for Lord Leveson’s inquiry.
He was closely involved in research for Operation Motorman - a 2003 investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office into allegations of offences under the Data Protection Act by the British press.
Mr Owens has notified Lord Leveson’s office about the police raid which he described to the Independent Newspaper as "a fishing expedition to find out what I’m going to say".
He has already provided a statement and a copy of the Motorman disk to Strathclyde Police, who are investigating allegations against the media in Scotland.
In a statement Cheshire Police said: "Following information received, a warrant was executed at an address in Widnes. The warrant relates to an investigation into allegations concerning breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998."
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