Rebekah Brooks and her husband are among six people who have been arrested by police investigating phone hacking, according to reports on Tuesday. The former News International chief executive has already been arrested under Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan Police’s investigation into phone hacking at the company.
Five men and one woman were arrested at addresses in London, Oxfordshire, Hampshire and Hertfordshire between 5am and 7am on Tuesday morning on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, Sky News reported.
A police spokesperson said: “All six – five men and one woman – were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977. A number of addresses connected to the arrests are being searched.
“Today’s operation follows consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service.”
Operation Weeting is running alongside Operation Elveden, which is looking into inappropriate payments to those in public life and Operation Tuleta, which is looking into computer hacking. The probe was set up in January 2011, the second police investigation into allegations of phone hacking at the News of the World.
So far there have been 22 arrests under Weeting.