Key arrest in phone-hacking scandal

Tuesday, 2 August 2011 12:40 PM

By Ian Dunt Follow @IanDunt

A former managing editor of the News of the World has been arrested and questioned by police, the Met has confirmed.

A 71-year-old man was taken into custody at 10:50 BST today after arriving by appointment at a London police station.

The Met refused to confirm the identity of the man, but the Guardian newspaper reported that it was Stuart Kuttner, the paper's longest serving managing editor and a public front for the outlet during controversies over phone-hacking. He stepped down in 2009.

Mr Kuttner is believed to have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to Section1 (1) Criminal Law Act 1977, and on suspicion of corruption allegations contrary to Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

Those are the very same allegations made against Rebekah Brooks, former editor at the newspaper.

He is currently in custody where he is likely to be questioned for several hours before being released.

Officers from Operation Weeting, which is looking into phone-hacking, and Operation Elveden, which is looking into media payments to police, are understood to have been involved in the arrest.

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