There were 4 former and current Sun journalists and a police officer have been arrested by detectives investigating payments made to police by journalists. Scotland Yard said the men, aged 29 to 57, were arrested at addresses in London and Essex. Also a 29 year old serving officer in the Metropolitan Police’s Territorial Policing Command, was arrested at his work – a central London police station.
Offices at News International in Wapping are currently being searched. The arrested journalists are editor Graham Dudman, crime editor Mike Sullivan and head of news Chris Pharo. These arrests are all part of Operation Elveden, were prompted by information given to police by News Corporation. A source told the BBC, this is an attempt to bring integrity back to the international news.
News Corporation and its management and standards committee (MSC) issued a statement following the arrests saying it had made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated.
“It commissioned the management and standards committee to undertake a review of all News International titles, regardless of cost, and to proactively co-operate with law enforcement and other authorities if potentially relevant information arose at those titles.
“As a result of that review, which is ongoing, the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today’s arrests.” BBC
An internal email from Tom Mockridge, the chief executive of Sun owner News International, on Saturday told staff the company was providing legal support to those being interviewed by police, while officers were conducting a limited search at The Sun’s offices, supervised by the MSC’s lawyers. Saturday’s arrests and searches related to suspected payments to officers and was not about seeking journalists to reveal their sources regarding information obtained legitimately.
According to police 2 men aged 49 and 57 were arrested at their homes in Essex. A 48-year-old man was detained at his home in north London. Officers are searching their homes. Now a 4th man aged 42 was arrested 11am when he attended an east London police station. All of the men are being questioned under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both offences.
And the officer was being held on suspicion of corruption under the same act along with conspiracy to both offenses. He is the second serving officer to be arrested as part of Operation Elveden. The first, a 52-year-old woman, was arrested last month and bailed, police said. This now makes 14 people arrested as part of the investigation.
IPCC deputy chair Deborah Glass said she was satisfied with the “strenuous efforts being made by this investigation to identify police officers who may have taken corrupt payments”.
Among those questioned during the inquiries were former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson, former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, the paper’s former royal editor Clive Goodman, and its former crime editor Lucy Panton. The total number of people arrested in the inquiries now stands at 28. Two were released without further action, and 21 remain on police bail.
