LONDON — Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s News International, was arrested early Tuesday on suspicion of obstruction of justice, according to a person with knowledge of the arrests. Her husband, Charlie, a decades-long friend of Prime Minister David Cameron from their days at Eton, was also arrested, the person said.
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Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, in 2011.
In a statement, the police said that a total of six people in and outside of London had been arrested on Tuesday as part of Operation Weeting, the criminal investigation into phone hacking and other illegal activities at the News of the World and other newspapers.
Following standard procedure, police did not name the suspects, but said that they had been arrested between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m. and were being interrogated at different police stations on suspicion of “conspiracy to pervert the course of justice,” as the British call obstruction of justice. This could relate to activities like destroying e-mails, computers and other evidence, people with knowledge of the investigation said.
Ms. Brooks, 43, is a confidante of Mr. Murdoch and erstwhile friend of Mr. Cameron. She also worked as the editor of the now-defunct News of the World and the editor of The Sun tabloid before being named chief executive of News International, the British newspaper arm of Mr. Murdoch’s media empire.
So far, the police have arrested more than two dozen people in Operation Weeting and two other ancillary investigations: Operation Tuleta, which is looking into allegations of computer hacking, and Operation Elveden, which is looking into allegations that journalists paid police officers and government officials for information.>>>
