Sun investigations editor Brian Flynn is bowing out after 20 years at the paper with an impassioned defence of press freedom and a parting shot for Met Police commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe.

Flynn has decided to take voluntary redundancy and leaves the paper after a career which has included spells as a reporter, night news editor, New York correspondent and National Lottery correspondent Sir Lenny Lottery.

In a message to colleagues and friends posted on Facebook, Flynn said: “When I think of the incredible things I've had the chance to see and do at the paper, and – more importantly – the ridiculously talented and committed people I've had the good fortune to work with and against, I feel like the luckiest guy alive.