Rebekah Brooks, the former Chief Executive of News International, has been arrested.
Police said that a 43-year-old woman was arrested by appointment at a London police station on Sunday on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption allegations. A spokesperson for Brooks confirmed that the appointment for her attendance at the police station was made on Friday.
Brooks was arrested by Operation Weeting, the investigation into phone-hacking, with involvement from Operation Elveden, which is investigating allegations of improper payments to police.
According to the BBC’s Robert Peston, the arrest of Brooks is a “big deal”. He adds: “News Int sources say they had no inkling Rebekah Brooks would be arrested when discussing her resignation last week”.
The New Statesman’s legal correspondent, David Allen Green, has questioned the timing of the arrest. He wrote on Twitter: “Am not a conspiracy theorist, but… the Met need to urgently explain the agreed timing of the Brooks arrest ‘by appointment’.”
It is the tenth arrest in connection with the investigation over phone hacking at News of the World.
In a statement, the Metropolitan police said:
At approximately 12.00 hrs a 43-year-old woman was arrested by appointment at a London police station by officers from Operation Weeting together with officers from Operation Elveden. She is currently in custody.
She was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1 (1) [of the] Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
Krishnan Guru-Murthy of Channel 4 News has questioned whether the arrest makes it harder for MPs to question Brooks at the Select Committee hearing on Tuesday. Tom Watson, the MP who has championed the investigation into hacking, added: “Had she made her appointment to be arrested before confirming attendance at our committee? I wouldn’t be surprised.”
John Whittingdale MP, another member of the Culture, Media and Sport select committee, told the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope the arrest “change[s] the picture somewhat”.
Meanwhile, Rupert Murdoch’s biographer, Michael Wolff, wonders whether attention might turn now to James Murdoch, who is still employed by News Corporation. He tweets: “In 2008, during a two hour interview I did with Rebekah Brooks, she took seven phone calls from James Murdoch –that’s how often they spoke.”.
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