Sandhurst worker admits taking £1,250 from The Sun for five stories

A pharmacy assistant who worked at military training centre Sandhurst has admitted misconduct in a public office for selling stories to a newspaper.

Tracy Bell, 35, from Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to one count of the offence between October 17 2005 and July 7 2006, during which time she received around £1,250 for five articles published in The Sun.

At the time she was a Ministry of Defence employee working as a pharmacy assistant at Sandhurst Medical Centre.

The Royal Military Academy near Sandhurst in Berkshire is where army officers receive initial training.

Bell was allowed to sit at the back of the packed courtroom outside the dock as she entered her plea.

The charge was that "between October 17 2005 and July 7 2006, whilst acting as a public official, namely a pharmacy assistant, Tracy Bell willfully and without reasonable excuse or justification, misconducted herself to such a degree as to amount to an abuse of the public's trust in that office".

The court was told that Bell will be sentenced on date in October that has yet to be fixed, and she was released on bail until then.

Some 13 Sun journalists have been charged with offences as a result of the Met's Operation Elveden Inquiry into payments to public officials. A further two former News of the World journalist, one Daily Star Sunday and journalist and one former Daily Mirror journalists are also set to face trial over allegations about payments to public officials. Six further journalists remain on police bail after being arrested as part of the Elveden probe.