Dando detective forced out over leaks

The inquiry was based at Kensington police station

A Metropolitan Police detective who worked on the Jill Dando murder investigation has been forced to resign for leaking information to the media.

Scotland Yard said Detective Constable Robert McKenzie was found guilty of failing to disclose contact with the media and failing to obey a lawful order.

After he was found guilty at a disciplinary tribunal last week he was "required to resign".

Jill Dando was shot on the doorstep of her home

DC McKenzie was one of 45 officers drafted in to the high-profile murder inquiry after Miss Dando, a BBC TV presenter, was shot on her London doorstep in April 1999.

They were all told not to talk to any member of the media without prior approval and without reporting what they had said.

DC McKenzie was working with the central area Organised Crime Squad when he was suspended in January 2000.

It is not known what he had told the media.

Meanwhile another Dando inquiry detective who has had charges of harassing a married woman witness dropped is set to face an internal inquiry.

Charges dropped

Superiors took DC Peter Bartlett, 40, off the Dando case when it emerged he had had an affair during the investigation with Charlotte de Rosnay, a neighbour of Miss Dando's in Fulham, west London.

The harassment charge was dropped on Monday when Mrs de Rosnay withdrew the allegation.

An internal inquiry has been launched by the Metropolitan Police's directorate of professional standards.

DC Bartlett, based at Barnes police station in south west London, has been placed on restricted duties.

Last December the man convicted of Miss Dando's murder, 41-year-old Barry George, was given leave to appeal and the case is expected to be heard this summer.