London: Police officer and journalist arrested in on going operation

September 19, 2012, 7:07 am

Officers from the MPS’s Operation Elveden made three arrests at around 06.00hrs this morning, Wednesday 19 September.

Operation Elveden is the investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials. It is being supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission and is running in conjunction with Operation Weeting, the MPS inquiry into the phone-hacking of voicemail boxes.

A 39-year-old man was arrested at his home in Wiltshire on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, contrary to common law and suspicion of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977 [Elveden arrest 48]. He is a serving officer in Wiltshire Police and will be interviewed at a south-west London police station.

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A 51-year-old man, a journalist [Elveden arrest 49], was arrested at his home address in Bristol and will be interviewed at an Avon and Somerset police station.

A 32-year-man, a journalist [Elveden arrest 50], was arrested at his home address in south-east London and will be interviewed at a south London police station.

Both journalists were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office, both offences contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1977.

Today’s arrests are the result of information provided to police by News Corporation’s Management Standards Committee. They relate to suspected payments to a public official and suspected disclosure of confidential information by a police officer and are not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately.