Ex-police media director guilty of perjury

Prosecutors have dropped a number of charges against former Victoria Police media director Stephen Linnell on an undertaking that he will plead guilty to perjury.

Linnell's lawyer told the Melbourne Magistrates Court, his client would plead guilty to three charges of perjury and three summary counts of breaching confidentiality.

Thirteen related charges against him have been dropped.

The charges relate to Office of Police Integrity (OPI) hearings into whether senior police figures were part of a chain of leaks that derailed a murder investigation.

The court heard Linnell was prepared to give an undertaking to give evidence against his co-accused, former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby.

He is facing 29 charges.

He will also give evidence against and Police Association Secretary Paul Mullett, who has been charged with five offences.

Mullett and Ashby will face a committal hearing next May.

Linnell will return to court to enter his plea in February.

Related:

Nixon quits as police chief
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon has announced she is resigning from the top job.

Sacked Victorian police squad lawless
THE police corruption watchdog claims some members of the former armed offenders squad took the law into their own hands.

Lives put at risk by corrupt police
LIVES are being put at risk by "festering" cells of corrupt police leaking information on confidential investigations to criminals, a police corruption watchdog has warned.

Charge gangland police suspect: OPI
VICTORIA'S police watchdog has recommended criminal charges against Paul Dale, a former policeman linked to a double underworld murder, along with several other police.

One OPI officer sacked, another suspended
Some people may form the view that it is tit for tat between the OPI and some opposition (political or other like Police Association or affiliates?) down in Victoria (See Links). Perhaps the expense claims are a way to weaken previous statements made by the OPI in relation to allegation against police?

Police-crime links linger
A SMALL number of Victorian police are maintaining improper links with organised crime figures, the state's police corruption watchdog says.

Police watchdog 'leaks like a sieve'
The Victoria Police watchdog leaks like a sieve, according to former assistant commissioner Noel Ashby, who could face criminal charges following an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry.

Police criticised as OPI hearing wraps up
The head of an Office of Police Integrity (OPI) inquiry is expected to call for stronger ethical guidelines within Victoria Police when he tables his report in Parliament.