News Corp info sees prison officer arrested in Elveden bribes inquiry

A prison officer has been arrested by detectives investigating alleged corrupt payments to public officials, Scotland Yard said today.

The 40-year-old man was held at around 8.30am at his home in Sittingbourne, Kent, on suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.

He is currently being questioned and his home is being searched.

The arrest, a result of information passed to police by News Corporation's Management and Standards Committee, brings the number of people held under Operation Elveden, the inquiry into alleged inappropriate payments, to 58.

Of those arrested under Elveden, eight people have faced or will face court proceedings and two – a retired police officer and a former journalist – have been told they will face no further action.

Last week, the Crown Prosecution Service announced that ex-Metropolitan Police constable Paul Flattley and The Sun's defence editor, Virginia Wheeler, would face a charge of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

It is alleged that the officer was paid at least £4,000 in cheques and £2,450 in cash in exchange for information.

Allegations have also been made against former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, 44, Sun chief reporter John Kay, 69, and Ministry of Defence employee Bettina Jordan-Barber, 39.

It is alleged that Brooks, from Oxfordshire, and Kay, from north-west London, conspired to pay Jordan-Barber, from Shrivenham, near Swindon, Wiltshire, around GBP100,000 for information.

Prime Minister David Cameron's former spin doctor, Andy Coulson, and former News of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman are charged with conspiracy to pay for information including a royal phone directory known as the "Green Book".

All five are due to appear at the Old Bailey for a plea hearing on March 8.

In another case, Detective Chief Inspector April Casburn, 53, was found guilty of misconduct in public office earlier this month for offering to sell information to the News of the World.

She will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on February 1.

Operation Elveden is being run alongside two other police investigations. Operation Weeting, an inquiry into alleged phone hacking, has seen 26 arrests, and Operation Tuleta, an investigation into computer hacking and other privacy breaches, has seen 19.