Agency's royal reporter is arrested in hacking probe
The Royal correspondent of the Press Association news agency yesterday became the fifth person to be arrested in the Scotland Yard investigation of the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World.
Laura Elston, 34, who has covered royal stories for the agency since 2003, was released on bail yesterday evening after being detained on suspicion of intercepting voicemails.
She spoke to officers from Operation Weeting, the ongoing inquiry into the alleged eavesdropping of mobile phone messages by journalists at the Sunday newspaper during a period ending in 2006.
Ms Elston joined the Press Association as a trainee in 2000, before being appointed deputy court (royal) correspondent in 2003.
In 2007 she was appointed court correspondent, a prestigious post which allowed her close access to the Royal Family. During her time in that position she travelled widely to cover the Prince of Wales's tours abroad in Iraq, Iran, Bosnia, Sri Lanka and Australia. She also interviewed Prince William in his final year at university and Prince Harry to mark his 21st birthday.
It is not known whether Ms Elston has ever worked for the NOTW, but if she has not, as appears to be the case, she would be the first journalist arrested as part of Operation Weeting with no links to the newspaper.
Last week, Terenia Taras, 39, a freelance writer and former contributor to the NOTW, was arrested at her home in West Yorkshire before being released on bail. She is thought to have contributed about 36 stories to the NOTW over a period of nearly six years.
Detectives from Operation Weeting have arrested three other people, all of them current or former journalists at the NOTW.
A High Court judge has ruled that police must hand over documents seized from Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective who hacked into voicemails on behalf of the Rupert Murdoch-owned title and was jailed in 2007.
Lawyers for nearly 30 individuals bringing damages claims against the NOTW will now be able to scrutinise papers from the database of 11,000 pages of documents, to establish just how high up the Sunday newspaper knowledge of hacking had spread and who was responsible for sanctioning it.
The order covers details of contracts and invoices between Mr Mulcaire and News Group Newspapers (NGN), publisher of the NOTW. Phone-billing data showing calls between Mr Mulcaire and the paper's offices in London will be handed over.
Michael Silverleaf QC, for NGN, contested the decision to provide access to the data trove, saying there was now "little or no dispute" between the sides and the search of police files would increase costs without improving the ability of the court to decide the compensation due to each victim.
But lawyers for the alleged victims said it was likely the documents would help prove their claim that there was an organised plan between Mr Mulcaire and NGN to eavesdrop on the phone messages of individuals across public life.
Hugh Tomlinson QC, for several claimants, said: "It is understandable that News Group wants to limit the disclosure, partly for the good reason that it wants to limit costs but partly for the bad reason that it wants to put a lid on the disclosure of its wrongdoing going back over the years."
Football pundit Andy Gray became the latest celebrity to settle with the paper's publishers last week, accepting £20,000 in damages for voicemail interceptions.
NGN paid actress Sienna Miller £100,000 in damages. Other figures taking legal action include politicians Lord Prescott and George Galloway, actor Jude Law, comedian Steve Coogan, footballers Paul Gascoigne and Ryan Giggs, and television presenter Ulrika Jonsson.