A journalist from the Guardian has been questioned by detectives investigating sensitive leaks from within Scotland Yard’s phone hacking inquiry team.
Amelia Hill, who was first with the information that the News of the World hacked into Milly Dowler’s phone, was interviewed under caution about the passing of confidential details of the investigation to the newspaper.
Miss Hill, 37, is understood to have formed a friendship with an officer on the hacking inquiry, codenamed Operation Weeting.
The 51-year-old officer has been suspended and Miss Hill was questioned over suspicions that she might have aided and abetted misconduct in a public office.
As part of their investigation, detectives will also try to establish whether the suspended officer received any expenses paid for passing the information.
Miss Hill is believed to have become close to the officer after she interviewed him in connection with another story.
The development is embarrassing for the paper, whose coverage of the hacking scandal prompted a public inquiry into journalistic standards.
In July, Miss Hill broke the Guardian’s Milly Dowler story - described as a “tipping point” in the scandal - which revealed that private investigators working for the tabloid hacked the voicemails of the murdered Surrey schoolgirl after she went missing in 2002.
And last month she reported the arrest of News of the World reporter James Desborough before he had even been formally detained by police. The alleged source of these police leaks was arrested at his desk. The officer was said to have called the Guardian in a panic that night asking to speak to Miss Hill.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers, in charge of Operation Weeting, was furious at the constable’s alleged “unauthorised disclosure”, breaking a confidentiality agreement signed by all Operation Weeting officers
Detectives will be closely examining phone records of the arrested detective in relation to a number of stories written by Miss Hill.
On Monday, she appeared on Sky News to preview the newspaper front pages. She claimed that the Guardian had uncovered a number of documents and tapes in relation to the hacking inquiry.
Dan Roberts, the paper’s national news editor, said on Twitter that it was a “bleak day for journalism when reporter behind vital hacking revelations is criminalised for doing her job”.
Nick Davies, who has led the Guardian’s phone-hacking coverage, wrote on the website: “Scotland Yard trying to use criminal law to restrict reporting of their own activity.”
A Guardian News & Media spokesman said: “Journalists would no doubt be concerned if the police sought to criminalise conversations between off-record sources and reporters. While we would never comment on any specific confidential source, we can confirm that Amelia Hill has never paid any police officer for information. Given the ongoing police investigation we have nothing further to add.”
In a separate development, police yesterday arrested the deputy football editor of The Times, Raoul Simons, 35, on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages.
He has been on extended leave since September 2010.
He is the 16th suspect to be held since the scandal broke.
It also emerged yesterday that News International has asked the technology firm HCL to delete emails and other documents 13 times since 2009.
HCL informed the Commons Home Affairs Committee in August that it was aware of the deletion of hundreds of thousands of emails between April 2010 and July 2011, but said it knew of nothing “untoward” behind the requests. - Daily Mail