Rebekah and Charlie Brooks Arrested in Phone Hacking Case
On Tuesday, former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks, who was also a confidante to newspaper owner Rupert Murdoch, was arrested in connection with the phone hacking investigation surrounding the paper. Aside from her editor position at News of the World, she was also the editor of The Sun and was News International’s chief executive until her resignation just days before her July arrest.
London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) wouldn’t identify her, but said the woman they arrested had been arrested on July 17 as well, and Brooks was the only one arrested on that day in connection with the phone hacking investigation. They also noted that the woman is 43, and so is Brooks. Racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, her husband, was also arrested.
Mark Hanna, the head of security at News International, was arrested as well. This was revealed in a message to staff by chief executive Tom Mockridge. Others that have been arrested on suspicion of bribing police or hacking into emails and voice mails include both current and former employees of the News Corp. subsidiary, which published the News of the World. The newspaper was closed in July following the widespread accusations of phone hacking on behalf of the publication.
There were a total of six people arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Brooks was presumably one of the five the MPS reported as having been bailed the same day. In a statement, the police said she was to report back to them pending further inquiries in April. The sixth person was still in custody at a central London station.
According to the police investigation, about 5,800 people - crime victims, celebrities, members of the royal family and politicians - were targeted by phone hacking by journalists at News of the World. So far there has been an independent inquiry, two parliamentary committee investigations and three police investigations into the matter.