British journalist arrested in hacking probe

PanARMENIAN.Net - British police investigating computer hacking and privacy offenses arrested a journalist Wednesday, Aug 29, at his home, The Associated Press reported.

The 28-year-old man was being questioned at a London police station for alleged hacking related to the identification of an anonymous blogger in 2009. He is also suspected of perverting the course of justice, police said.

Police did not identify the journalist by name but the Press Association said he was Patrick Foster, a former reporter at The Times.

The journalist was the 11th person arrested by detectives from Operation Tuleta, one of three parallel police investigations triggered by the phone-hacking scandal that has rocked Britain and Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media empire.

More than 40 people have been arrested in the probes of media wrongdoing and corruption. Criminal charges have been brought against suspects such as Rebekah Brooks, the former chief of News Corp.'s British operations, and Andy Coulson, a former Murdoch tabloid editor and the former communications chief for Prime Minister David Cameron.

Separately, police in Scotland said they detained a journalist in Glasgow on Wednesday over allegations he attempted to pervert the course of justice during the 2006 defamation court case between Murdoch's News of the World Scotland tabloid and former lawmaker Tommy Sheridan.

British media including the Press Association identified the 56-year-old man as former News of the World editor Bob Bird, who edited the now-closed Scottish edition of the tabloid when it ran allegations about Sheridan's private life.

Sheridan successfully sued the newspaper for defamation in 2006.