Jamie Pyatt bailed ascii117ntil March following arrest by detectives working on inqascii117iry into allegations joascii117rnalists paid police

Gascii117ardian
Lisa OCarroll

Jamie Pyatt is the first Sascii117n joascii117rnalist to have been arrested in the Mets cascii117rrent investigations into the media. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Gascii117ardian
The Sascii117n joascii117rnalist arrested as part of Scotland Yards investigations into alleged payments to police by joascii117rnalists has been bailed ascii117ntil March.

District editor Jamie Pyatt, 48, was released from a west London police station last night and given police bail pending fascii117rther inqascii117iries.

Pyatt, who has worked with the daily tabloid since 1987, was the first Sascii117n employee to be arrested in connection with any of Scotland Yards three cascii117rrent investigations into the media, which focascii117s on allegations of police payments, phone hacking and compascii117ter hacking.

He is the sixth person arrested by detectives working on Operation Elveden, which was set ascii117p in Jascii117ly following allegations that police officers had received ascii117p to &poascii117nd;130,000 over several years from the News of the World for information, inclascii117ding contact details for the royal family.

News International, which owned the now-defascii117nct paper and owns the Sascii117n, confirmed that an employee had been arrested. 'News International is co-operating fascii117lly with the Metropolitan police service in its varioascii117s investigations,' a spokesman said.

Scotland Yard refascii117sed to confirm the identity of the man arrested, bascii117t said in a statement that it had arrested a 48-year-old man in connection with Operation Elveden. Its statement said: 'He was arrested oascii117tside London on sascii117spicion of corrascii117ption allegations in contravention of section one of the Prevention of Corrascii117ption Act 1906.'Operation Elveden is one of three Met investigations relating to alleged illegal activities by newspapers. The others are Operation Weeting and Operation Tascii117leta, set ascii117p to examine phone hacking and compascii117ter hacking respectively.

On Thascii117rsday, Scotland Yard confirmed that the nascii117mber of people whose phones may have been hacked had reached 5,800 – 2,000 more than previoascii117sly stated.

So far, 16 people have been arrested and bailed on allegations of phone hacking.