Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Media Law
September 20, 2012

Met arrests fourth journalist in space of a week

By Dominic Ponsford

A 30-year-old journalist today became the 14th person arrested as part of the Met Police Tuleta inquiry into allegations of computer hacking.

He is the fourth journalist to be arrested in the space of a week as a result of inquiries set in train by the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.

The man was arrested at 7.30am today and he is the 14th Tuleta arrest. He is being questioned at a south London police station on suspicion of offences under Section 1 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and suspicion of handling stolen goods contrary to Section 22 of the Theft Act 1968.

The Met Police said: "The arrest relates to a suspected conspiracy involving the gathering of data from stolen mobile phones and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."

Yesterday a serving police officer and two Sun journalists, including one from south-east London, were arrested by detectives investigating alleged corrupt payments to public officials.

The 39-year-old Wiltshire officer was arrested at his home in the county at 6am, Scotland Yard said, on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office.

A 51-year-old journalist was detained at his home in Bristol and a 32-year-old journalist was held at his house in south-east London, both on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

On Saturday, a 43-year-old journalist was arrested as part of the Elveden investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to public officials.

The man was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

Topics in this article : ,

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Websites in our network