Man arrested in phone-hacking probe

A man has been arrested in connection with phone hacking and perverting the course of justice, Scotland Yard has said.

The 41-year-old is being held at a south London police station.

Officers arrested the man in London at 07:00 GMT on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages.

The Met Police's Operation Weeting is investigating the hacking of the mobile phone voicemails of public figures by the now-defunct NoW newspaper.

The phone hacking investigation is working its way through about 300 million emails from News International.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said officers from Operation Weeting had "arrested a man in connection with phone hacking and perverting the course of justice".

He said: "At 7am officers arrested the man at an address in London on suspicion of conspiring to intercept voicemail messages, contrary to Section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 and on suspicion of perverting the course of justice contrary to common law."

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson are among those who have already been arrested as part of the inquiry.

The scandal has led Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates to resign, and the NoW to close down after 168 years.

Operation Weeting is now investigating claims of more widespread phone hacking.

Meanwhile, some 1,800 people have come forward to express fears that they may have been hacked.