Rebekah Brooks, Former News of the World Editor, Arrested in London
Rebekah Brooks, editor of the scandal-plagued and now closed News of the World tabloid, was arrested Sunday after voluntarily going to a London police station to answer questions about phone hacking and bribing police for information.
The paper was part of mogul Rupert Murdoch’s vast media empire and has been under fire for allegedly hacking into the voicemail messages of celebrities and royals and even those of a murdered girl in search of sensational stories, as well as paying off police for information. Brooks is also the former CEO of Murdoch’s British newspaper arm, News International. She resigned from that post on Friday.
Brooks, Murdoch and his son, James, are set to appear before a UK parliamentary committee probing the hacking next week, but her arrest means she may not have to undergo questioning there since it could prejudice any criminal investigation against her.
She is one of 10 people arrested so far in connection with the scandal, but the first within the Murdoch inner-circle. Thus far, she has denied any prior knowledge of the phone hacking, a claim former News of the World employees have greeted with skepticism.
[Reuters]