More arrests made for bribery and corruption
Five senior journalists from the Sun Newspaper were among eight people arrested in connection with allegations of bribing police officers, public officials and serving military personnel.
The other three held were a serving member of the armed forces, a female Ministry of Defence employee and a serving police officer from Surrey Police.
The five were arrested at addresses in London, Kent and Essex on suspicion of corruption under the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906, aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and conspiracy in relation to both those offences. All eight arrested had been bailed by Sunday pending further police enquiries.
Arrested from the Sun were deputy editor Geoff Webster, picture Editor John Edwards, chief reporter John Kay, chief foreign correspondent Nick Parker and news editor John Sturgis. They are accused of offering bribes for information to use in their newspapers.
The mood in The Sun newspaper room was gloomy despite assurances from top officials that they have no intention of closing or selling the paper. However, Rupert Murdoch has made it clear that The Sun will not be going the way of the News Of The World. People have been arrested but not charged.
It was said by one pundit that “many journalists have been slipping a fiver to police etc for many years for the scoop on a story” adding that many times the technique exposed some very nasty conduct by certain people and has made it possible to bring such people to justice.
Labour MP Tom Watson said that the enquiry goes well beyond just phone hacking and goes to the very heart of the ownership of newspapers. It is suspected that the further the enquiry goes, the more likely it is that not just News International will be found guilty but also the broadsheets until now thought to be in the clear.
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