Murdoch's former editor arrested again

Rebekah Brooks, husband among six held over phone hacking probe

British police investigating phone hacking have re-arrested Rebekah Brooks, a former editor of the News of the World tabloid and one-time aide to media mogul Rupert Murdoch, reports said on Tuesday.

The 43-year-old and her husband were among six people held on suspicion of perverting the course of justice following dawn raids by officers investigating hacking at the now-closed newspaper, several media reports said.

Brooks was arrested for the first time last July on suspicion of phone hacking and bribing public officials, just three days after she resigned as head of the News of the World’s publisher, Murdoch’s News International. She has always denied any wrongdoing.

Police confirmed the arrests of a 43-year-old woman and a 49-year-old man, both from Oxfordshire, west of London, adding that they were being questioned at separate police stations.

Brooks lives in Oxfordshire with her racehorse trainer husband Charlie Brooks, a close friend of Prime Minister David Cameron.

Murdoch shut down the News of the World in July last year after evidence emerged of widespread phone hacking at the tabloid, but his remaining British newspapers continue to be dogged by allegations they covered up the practice. Last month, documents emerged suggesting that News of the World executives actively sought from the end of November 2009 to delete emails which could be used in legal action against the tabloid.

Scotland Yard said one woman and five men aged between 38 and 49 were arrested in co-ordinated dawn raids on Tuesday by officers investigating phone hacking.