38-year-old journalist arrested in Operation Elveden probe into corrupt payments

A 38-year-old journalist was arrested in connection with the Met’s investigation into corrupt payments to public officials yesterday.

The woman was held at her home in Sussex at 6.30am on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office, before being bailed to return to a Sussex police station in March

She was arrested after information was provided to police by News Corporation's management standards committee, which was set up in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The 38-year-old woman, a journalist, was arrested at her home at approximately 6.30am on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977 and suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977.

"She was later bailed to return to a Sussex police station."

Operation Elveden is being run in tandem with Operation Tuleta, an investigation into privacy breaches including the alleged hacking of computers and stolen mobile phones, and Operation Weeting which is looking at alleged phone hacking.

On Wednesday man was arrested as part of an investigation into alleged breaches of privacy.

The 55-year-old was arrested at his home in East Sussex at about 7.30am on suspicion of conspiracy to commit offences under Section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 and Sections 1 and 2 of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, Scotland Yard said.

He was later bailed to a date in mid-February.

The arrest took to 19 the number of people arrested under Operation Tuleta, the Met's investigation into privacy breaches including the alleged hacking of computers and stolen mobile phones.

Scotland Yard said the arrest was not directly linked to any news organisation or the activities of journalists.

Topics in this article : Operation Elveden