A prison officer and a former Mirror journalist were arrested today in connection with the police probe into alleged corrupt payments to public officials.
Press Association has named the Mirror man Greig Box Turnbull, 37, who worked for Trinity Mirror until taking voluntary redundancy in March. He was arrested at his home in Morden, Surrey.
The prison worker, 46, was arrested at his home in south-east London, and a 50-year-old woman was held at a non-residential address in Kent.
They were all arrested on suspicion of corruption, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.
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Box-Turnbull is working for Westminster council but was on secondment to Richmond council.
Trinity Mirror has not been contacted by Scotland Yard about the arrest, and it is unclear whether any allegations are linked to Box-Turnbull's work for the Daily Mirror, a spokesman said.
So far 37 people have been arrested in connection with Operation Elveden, the investigation into suspected corrupt payments to public officials. The vast majority of those who have been arrested are journalists.
The Met has not said that the current arrests stemmed from information provided by the News Corp Management and Standards Committee, leading sources to speculate that they may involve another newspaper group.
The Met Police said this morning: 'Following extensive inquiries carried out by officers from Operation Elveden – which is investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials – three people have been arrested this morning.
'The arrests were made between 06.00hrs and 08.00hrs by officers from Operation Elveden, which is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and is being run in conjunction with Operation Weeting, the MPS inquiry into the phone-hacking of voicemail boxes.
'A 46-year-old man, a prison officer, was arrested at his home address in south east London on suspicion of corruption (contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906) and on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery contrary to the Bribery Act 2010 and on suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office (contrary to Common Law).
"A 50-year-old woman was arrested at a non-residential location in Kent on suspicion of corruption (contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906) and on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery contrary to the Bribery Act 2010 and on suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office (contrary to Common Law).
"A 37-year-old man was arrested at his home address in Morden, Surrey on suspicion of corruption (contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906) and on suspicion of conspiracy to commit bribery contrary to the Bribery Act 2010 and on suspicion of conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office (contrary to Common Law)."
All three are currently in custody at London police stations.
The Met said: 'Today's arrests relate to suspected payments to a public official and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."
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