News of the World arrests in phone-hacking case

Former news editor and current chief reporter arrested after presenting themselves at separate London police stations The former news editor and current chief reporter from the News of the World are in police custody after being arrested, following allegations of phone hacking. Ian Edmondson and Neville Thurlbeck had voluntarily presented themselves at different London police stations this morning and were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to tap into or hack mobile communications. It is expected their homes will be searched by officers at midday. Edmondson, NoW’s former head of news, is being questioned by officers at Wimbledon police station. Thurlbeck, the paper’s chief reporter, is at Kingston police station. The arrests are the first salvo by Scotland Yard’s new hacking investigation, Operation Weeting, whose tasks include establishing whether there are grounds for bringing further prosecutions in the phone-hacking scandal. Edmondson and Thurlbeck will probably be released later this afternoon after the search of their homes is complete. The two men have been implicated in the long-running scandal through documents seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator employed by the newspaper. Mulcaire says Edmondson was the journalist who commissioned him to hack answerphone messages of the football agent Sky Andrew. Edmondson, who was sacked from NoW in January, denies any wrongdoing. Thurlbeck was interviewed by police last autumn. No charge has been brought against either man, both of whom have denied all involvement in criminal activity. The arrests come on the day that Keir Starmer QC, director of public prosecutions, hears evidence at a home affairs committee from witnesses into the unauthorised intercepting of communications. Only one reporter, the former royal editor Clive Goodman, has been convicted of a crime as part of the scandal. He and Mulcaire were sentenced to jail terms in January 2007. No other reporters or executives were questioned by the initial police investigation. It was only after a series of high court cases brought by the actor Sienna Miller, the football pundit Andy Gray and others that the Met were forced to reveal material found on Mulcaire’s computer, during a 2006 raid of his home. Last Friday, a high court judge ordered NoW to make Mulcaire’s notes available to the growing list of people suing the paper. Justice Geoffrey Vos, who is in charge of the hacking cases, ordered “rolling disclosure” to all claimants. Hundreds of thousands of emails will now be handed over to alleged victims. Phone hacking News of the World News International Glenn Mulcaire News Corporation Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Police Amelia Hill guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 5, 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.