Phone hacking: 61-year-old man arrested

Man arrested by Scotland Yard reported to be former News of the World newsdesk executive Greg Miskiw The Metropolitan police on Wednesday arrested a 61-year-old man, understood to be former News of the World newsdesk executive Greg Miskiw, as part of its investigation into phone hacking at the paper. Officers from Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard’s investigation into phone hacking at the now-defunct News International tabloid, made the arrest by appointment at a London police station at about midday. The man arrested is Miskiw, according to sources. The man was arrested on suspicion of unlawful interception of communications and conspiring to intercept communications, both contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977. Miskiw is the 12th person to be arrested by officers investigating phone hacking at the News of the World. He was the title’s news editor, based at its offices in Wapping, London. He moved to Manchester to head up an office for the title soon after former royal editor Clive Goodman was jailed for phone hacking in January 2007. Miskiw went on to found a news agency in Manchester but then moved to Delray Beach in Florida, where he is thought to have worked for supermarket tabloid the National Enquirer and for another title called the Globe. He said in July that he had been talking to police “for some time” and he was preparing to return to the UK to answer police questions about phone hacking. His former partner Terenia Taras, 39, who is also the mother of his son, was arrested in Leeds in June. Taras, a freelance, has had bylined stories in the News of the World. She was released on bail. Miskiw worked under the former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, who resigned in January 2007, and his predecessor Rebekah Brooks, who went on to become editor of the Sun and then chief executive of News International, which owns Rupert Murdoch’s UK titles. Brooks resigned last month in the wake of revelations the News of the World had hacked into a mobile phone belonging to Milly Dowler, the teenager who was murdered in 2002. She was subsequently arrested and bailed on 17 July by officers working on Operation Weeting and Operation Elveden, the Met investigation into alleged illegal payments by the News of the World to police officers. Brooks’ lawyer, Stephen Parkinson, said police “put no allegations to Brooks and showed her no documents connecting her with any crime”. •

Posted by on August 10, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.