Brooks among six held over ‘hacking cover-up’

The News International former chief executive and Charlie Brooks – a friend of Prime Minister David Cameron since their school days together at Eton – were being held on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, sources said.

Mark Hanna, News International’s head of security, was also confirmed by the company as one of those arrested in dawn raids in Oxfordshire, London, Hampshire and Hertfordshire yesterday.

Ms Brooks, a former editor of the Sun, was already due to answer bail later this month after being questioned by detectives last summer on suspicion of phone hacking and corruption.

The dawn raid on her home is potentially embarrassing for Mr Cameron, who was forced to make further admissions earlier this month about the extent of his relationship with the Brookses.

After it emerged Scotland Yard lent an ex-police horse, Raisa, to Mrs Brooks, the Prime Minister conceded it had been among his mounts on rides with Mr Brooks.

Officers from Operation Weeting – the inquiry into voicemail interceptions – said they consulted the Crown Prosecution Service before carrying out their busiest morning of arrests since the operation was launched last year.

Mrs Brooks, 43, was being questioned at an Oxfordshire police station while Mr Brooks was being interviewed at a Buckinghamshire police station.

The force said searches were going on at several addresses after a 39-year-old man was arrested in Hampshire, a 46-year-old man was held in west London, a 38-year-old man was arrested in Hertfordshire and a 48-year-old man was detained at a business address in east London.

All six were being interviewed at separate police stations. Mrs Brooks was previously arrested and questioned by appointment last July, days after resigning as chief executive.

Her relations with top police officers and politicians were called into question in recent weeks after it emerged she “fostered” Raisa the horse when it retired from active service in 2008. She paid food and vet bills until Raisa was rehoused with a police officer in 2010.

Asked about the arrest, a Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister is travelling to Washington. It is an operational matter for the police. You wouldn’t expect him to comment on it.”

A total of 22 people have now been arrested under Operation Weeting, which has been running since January last year, Scotland Yard said.

The Scotland Yard deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, who is leading the investigation into illegal news-gathering, told the inquiry into Press standards that there was a “culture of illegal payments” at the Sun.

Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, who is in charge of three linked inquiries into phone hacking, illicit payments and computer hacking, told Lord Justice Leveson the payments appeared to have been authorised at a “senior level”.

This week it was announced the Attorney General is looking into concerns that the policewoman could have prejudiced any potential trials. Earlier Mrs Brooks’s lawyer Stephen Parkinson said evidence given by Ms Akers at the Leveson Inquiry brought “much prejudicial material” into the public domain.