Four present or former Mirror journalists were arrested today by Metropolitan police officers on suspicion of conspiracy to hack mobile telephones. Three men and one woman aged between 40 and 49 were held at addresses across south London and are being interviewed at various police stations in London and searches were continuing at a number of addresses.
The Sky News website quotes a statement from the police as follows :
“Detectives on Operation Weeting have identified and are investigating a suspected conspiracy to intercept telephone voicemails at Mirror Group Newspapers.
This conspiracy is being treated as a separate conspiracy to the two being investigated at the now defunct News of the World newspaper.
It is believed it mainly concerned the Sunday Mirror newspaper and at this stage the primary focus is on the years 2003 and 2004.
As part of the inquiry four people were arrested at separate addresses at approximately 0600 hrs this morning (14 March) on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept telephone communications contrary to the Criminal Law Act 1997.
All of them are journalists or former journalists on Mirror Group Newspaper titles.
The police said that officers would be “making contact with people they believe have been victims of the suspected voicemail interceptions” in due course.
Until now the arrests have concerned the “Sun” and the “News of the World”. However, on 22 October 2012, four civil claims our civil claims were brought against Mirror Group by Seven Goran Eriksson, former footballer Garry Flitcroft, actor Shobna Gulati and Abbie Gibson, the former nanny to David and Victoria Beckham’s children. The Mirror subsequently announced an investigation into those claims. At the time a Trinity Mirror spokesman said
“As we have previously stated, all our journalists work within the criminal law and the Press Complaints Commission code of conduct“
It is not known whether any of today’s arrests relate to allegations arising out of any of these civil claims.
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