News of the World journalists arrested over phone-hacking
By politics.co.uk staff
The former news editor and current chief reporter at the News of the World have been arrested in the investigation over phone hacking.
Ian Edmondson and Neville Thurlbeck have become the first men to become legally affected by the row since the jailing of private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
The two men voluntarily presented themselves to seperate London police stations this morning. They were arrested on suspicion
of conspiring to intercept communications and unlawful interception of voicemail messages and bailed until September.
“It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details regarding this case at this time,” a Metropolitan police spokesperson said.
The names of the men were revealed by the Guardian newspaper, not the police.
The arrests will be treated as further evidence that Scotland Yard is conducting the phone hacking investigation with a robust and thorough approach that many critics say was previously lacking.
It comes as director of public prosecutions (DPP) Keir Stramer appears before MPs in parliament. The police cited a narrow definition of phone hacking from the DPP as the reason behind its limited original investigation.
Later advice included hacks where the message had already been heard by the intended recipient.
