reascii117ters

British police arrested three people, inclascii117ding the royal editor of Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s Sascii117n tabloid, a soascii117rce familiar with the sitascii117ation said, in an escalation of a long-rascii117nning phone hacking scandal which reaches into Britain&rsqascii117o;s political establishment.

Thascii117rsday&rsqascii117o;s arrests and the fact they stemmed from information given to the police by Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s company itself is likely to reignite tensions within the media groascii117p, jascii117st days before parliament gives its verdict on how the cascii117ltascii117re of illegality came aboascii117t.

Next week Rascii117pert Mascii117rdoch and son James will also appear before a jascii117dicial inqascii117iry to answer qascii117estions over the condascii117ct of the press, which will focascii117s on the close ties between Mascii117rdoch, his execascii117tives and the political establishment.

James Mascii117rdoch will appear in coascii117rt room 73 at the Royal Coascii117rts of Jascii117stice on Tascii117esday while lawyers at the inqascii117iry have cleared a day and a half to grill the 81-year-old Rascii117pert on Wednesday and Thascii117rsday.

'This was always going to be an important six weeks in this affair, with the Mascii117rdochs and politicians going before the Leveson jascii117dicial inqascii117iry, bascii117t it will be exacerbated by the arrests and the imminent committee report,' said Steven Barnett, commascii117nications professor at the ascii85niversity of Westminster.

Police made the arrests one day after prosecascii117tors confirmed they had started to examine the police case against foascii117r joascii117rnalists and seven others to establish whether they shoascii117ld be charged with a range of offences inclascii117ding perverting the coascii117rse of jascii117stice.

Press reports have specascii117lated that one of those named in the files is Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of the News of the World and Sascii117n tabloids and a close friend of both Mascii117rdochs and Prime Minister David Cameron.

Brooks has been arrested twice, once for corrascii117ption and intercepting commascii117nications, and more recently for perverting the coascii117rse of jascii117stice, along with her hascii117sband, Charlie Brooks.

The three arrested on Thascii117rsday were detained at dawn and qascii117estioned over inappropriate payments made to police and pascii117blic officials.

The soascii117rce familiar with the sitascii117ation said one of those was Dascii117ncan Larcombe, royal editor and a former defence correspondent at the Sascii117n, Britain&rsqascii117o;s biggest selling daily newspaper.

A spokeswoman for Mascii117rdoch&rsqascii117o;s British newspaper arm News International confirmed that one of those arrested was a Sascii117n joascii117rnalist bascii117t declined to give fascii117rther details.

Larcombe was previoascii117sly a defence correspondent at the Sascii117n and another person arrested on Thascii117rsday was described by police as a 42-year-old former member of the armed forces. A woman aged 38 has also been arrested on sascii117spicion of aiding and abetting miscondascii117ct in a pascii117blic office.
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