Post date: Jul 17, 2011 10:0:57 PM
Brooks arrested: police chief resigns as UK hacking scandal spreads. Deborah Lutterbeck reports.
The UK hacking scandal continues to spread with the arrest of Rebekah Brooks, former editor of the News of the World and the resignation of the Metropolitan police chief.
Britain's senior police chief Paul Stephenson offered his resignation over the scandal while saying he played no role.
Brooks, a favored lieutenant of Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, was arrested Sunday as part of an investigation into allegations of phone hacking and bribing police.
The 43-year old Brooks has said she was unaware of allegations that the News of the World tabloid hacked thousands of phones, including that of a murdered schoolgirl.
Britain's senior police chief Paul Stephenson, saying:
"I had no knowledge of, or involvement in, the original investigation into phone hacking in 2006 that successfully led to the conviction and imprisonment of two men. I had no reason to believe this was anything other than a successful investigation. I was unaware that there were any other documents in our possession of the nature that have now emerged."
Stephenson quit in the face of allegations that police officers had accepted money from Rupert Murdoch's News of the World paper and not done enough to investigate phone-hacking charges.
The scandal has shocked the British public and raised concerns not only about unethical media practices but about the influence Murdoch has wielded over British leaders.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters