Neil Wallis

Wallis gained his first employment working for the Skegness Standard, leaving after six months to work for the Worksop Guardian as part of a National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) scheme, during which he also studied at Richmond College of Further Education in Sheffield. Having passed his NCTJ exams, Wallis worked for The Northern Echo (in its Durham office) before becoming a senior reporter for the Manchester Evening News. At this point in his career, Wallis became a Crime Reporter, giving talks to police officers on police-media relations, whilst also freelancing for The Sunday People, progressing from the paper's Manchester desk to its London office. Wallis later said: "During this time I travelled extensively throughout Britain and the world as both a hard news reporter and as an investigator. This included lengthy periods in the USA, the Middle East and Northern Ireland during the 'Troubles' - where I was hospitalised after being caught up in a particularly violent riot. I spent six months in Argentina during the Falklands War including spells in Buenos Aires and Commadorio Rivadavia, the invasion base of the Argentinean Junta. I also spent time in most countries in Europe and the Mediterranean".[3] Wallis then became the paper's Chief Investigative Reporter, responsible for conducting investigations into "murders, show business scandals, corruption, crime in general, drugs, spying and politics".[3]

In December 1986, he joined News International's UK tabloid newspaper The Sun where he served in a series of assistant and editorial roles before becoming Deputy Editor[3] in 1993. He left The Sun in 1998 and took up the editorship of The People. In 2003, he moved to become Deputy Editor of the News of the World, and in 2007 he became Executive Editor of the paper. In May 2009, he announced that he would be leaving his post later in the year.[4] He was known as "The Wolfman" by fellow journalists.[5]

Wallis is a former member of the Editors' Code of Practice Committee at the Press Complaints Commission.[6] Wallis currently works regularly as a media commentator for both television and radio stations such as talkRADIO [7]

After leaving journalism he worked for the Outside Organisation, a company specialising in public relations,[8] becoming Managing Director in 2010.[9] Wallis' own company, Chamy Media, provided "strategic communication advice and support" to the Metropolitan Police on a part-time basis from October 2009 to September 2010 whilst the Met's Deputy Director of Public Affairs was on extended sick leave.[10][11]

It is alleged that while recovering from illness Sir Paul Stephenson, head of the Metropolitan Police, accepted a free extended stay (worth £12,000) at a Champneys health spa, a company which then employed Wallis for PR work.[12] Upon announcing his resignation from the Metropolitan Police on 17 July 2011, Stephenson acknowledged that his decision to resign was "in particular in relation to Neil Wallis".[13]