Cops arrest cop in alleged corrupt cop-bung probe

A 52-year-old female police officer was the first cop to be arrested yesterday morning in connection with allegations of receiving illegal payments from journalists.

The unnamed suspect was questioned at an Essex police station before being bailed until a return date in April next year pending further inquiries, Scotland Yard said.

She was arrested "on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and offences contrary to the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906."

It's the eighth arrest under Operation Elveden – a police probe supervised by the Independent Police Complaints Commission that is linked to two other investigations.

Officers working on Operation Weeting are investigating alleged voicemail interception by people said to be working at – or on behalf of – the now-defunct News Corp-owned Sunday tabloid News of the World.

Sixteen arrests have so far been made in connection with Op Weeting.

A Metropolitan police team is also working on Operation Tuleta, an investigation into alleged breaches of privacy including computer hacking, for which one person has so far been arrested.

No charges have yet been brought against any of the suspects cuffed as part of the three Scotland Yard investigations that were opened following fresh allegations earlier this year in connection to the phone-hacking scandal that engulfed Rupert Murdoch's media empire. ®