Eight people including a former Sun deputy news editor, an ex-Daily Mirror journalist, a police officer and a prison officer have appeared in court over allegations of corrupt payments to police and public officials.
Ben O'Driscoll, the Sun's former deputy news editor; Greig Box Turnbull, a former journalist at the Daily Mirror; Darren Jennings, an officer with Wiltshire Police; Grant Pizzey, a prison officer at HMP Belmarsh in south-east London; and his partner Desra Reilly appeared at the Old Bailey.
Graham Dudman, former managing editor at the Sun; Vince Soodin, who used to be a journalist at the paper; and Alan Ostler, formerly an assistant technical instructor at Broadmoor Hospital in Berkshire, also appeared in court.
Ex-Sun journalist John Troup and Marc Alexander, a former prison officer at HMP Holloway in north London, also face charges following the Operation Elveden investigation but were excused from attending the brief preliminary hearing.
The other eight defendants appeared side by side in the dock and spoke only to confirm their names before they were told to appear at the Old Bailey for a plea and case management hearing on 22 November, alongside several other people who were charged following the investigation.
All the defendants had their unconditional bail continued.
The inquiry into corrupt payments to police and public officials is being run alongside two other investigations – Operation Weeting, which is looking at alleged phone hacking, and Operation Tuleta, which focuses on computer hacking and other alleged privacy breaches.
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