Britain's biggest police force made a mistake when it cited the Official Secrets Act as it tried to force the Guardian to reveal information about the source of its phone hacking stories, the new head of Scotland Yard told MPs yesterday.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said he thought it had been a mistake, but the well-intentioned aim was to stop suspected leaks from a sensitive inquiry.

Officers were "honestly trying to carry out a very difficult investigation and they were trying to do it thoroughly", he said.

Read more at Press Gazette.