Sun journalists arrested on suspicion of illegal police payments

Four of The Sun newspaper’s leading figures have been arrested on suspicion of making illicit payments to police officers, as the debris of stunning revelations continues to flood headlines and front pages. With a deluge of controversy still surrounding News Corporation following charges of invasive and illegal acquisition of information, this latest apprehension of the four senior figures opens another shocking chapter of the phone hacking scandal.

The journalists arrested have been identified as Fergus Shanahan, Chris Pharo, Graham Dudman and also Mike Sullivan, who, ironically, serves as The Sun’s crime editor. With the exception of Chris Pharo, who voluntarily turned himself in, the arrests took place in the early hours of the day, between 6-8am.

Officers of the Metropolitan’s Operation Elveden had set up an investigation of the illegal payments made to the police and, following the arrests, the investigators were said to have searched The Sun’s newsroom for further evidence. In addition to the appropriation of the four journalists, a 29-year-old police officer was arrested on suspicion of corruption, misconduct in a public office and conspiracy.

News Corporation’s Management and Standards Committee (MSC), set up to supervise the organisation’s response to the police investigations into the hacking and illegal payments scandal, released a statement revealing “the MSC provided information to the Elveden investigation which led to today’s arrests”.

The arrested parties are expected to be questioned over the coming days.

Leke Sanusi