University lecturer and former News of the World reporter Bethany Usher will face no further action following her arrest on suspicion of phone-hacking last week.
Usher, who worked both at the NoW the People, was questioned in custody at a police station in Northumbria on 30 November in connection with conspiring to intercept communications.
She was the 17th person to be arrested in connection with hacking the defunct tabloid and was later released on bail until March.
The following day she issued a statement strongly denying the allegations, saying: ‘I have never been involved in the interception of telecommunications in any way and strictly adhered to the Press Complaints Commission code of practice.”
Today the Met released the statement: “On 30 November 2011 officers from Operation Weeting arrested a woman [31ys] in Northumberland on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages, contrary to Section1 (1) Criminal Law Act 1977.
‘The woman was taken to a police station in Northumberland and initially released on bail to return to a police station in Northumberland on a date in late March 2012 pending further inquiries.
‘She has since been released no further action on 7 December.”
In last week’s statement Usher said she had become ‘disillusioned’working as a tabloid journalist and with people who ‘saw human suffering simply as fodder to fill pages”
She added: “I fully support the work of Operation Weeting and the Leveson inquiry and hope they will help to clean up an industry which forces out young people who chose a career path where they hoped they could make a difference.”
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