Phone hacking scandal deepens

[Jan Klimkowski]

Look what the cat dragged in:

Phone hacking: former NoW executive editor Neil Wallis arrested in London

Neil Wallis taken for questioning at local police station, the ninth person to be arrested over phone hacking at News of the World

Neil Wallis, the former News of the World executive editor, has become the ninth person to be arrested over alleged phone hacking and payments to police officers by the paper.

Detectives from Operation Weeting, the Metropolitan police investigation into mobile interceptions by News International, are understood to have raided an address in west London on Thursday.

Wallis was taken for questioning at a local police station on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, a Scotland Yard spokesman said.

He is the ninth arrest Scotland Yard has made since the fresh investigation into phone hacking was launched in January.

A Scotland Yard statement confirmed the arrest was carried out at 6.30am. "The man is currently in custody at a west London police station," the Met said. "It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details at this time."

Wallis joined the News of the World from the People in 2003 as deputy to then editor Andy Coulson. In mid-2007 he became executive editor and left the News International title in 2009. He is now a senior consultant at PR firm Outside Organisation.

Coulson and former NoW royal editor Clive Goodman, who was jailed in January 2007 for intercepting the voicemail messages of members of the royal household, were arrested and bailed on Friday as part of Operation Weeting and Operation Elveden, the separate Scotland Yard investigation into alleged illegal payments to police officers.

Coulson resigned as NoW editor in January 2007 after Goodman was jailed, saying he accepted responsibility. He has always maintained that he was unaware of phone hacking at the paper.

On the same day a 63-year-old man, who has not been named, was arrested and bailed as part of the phone hacking and police payments investigations.

The others arrested and bailed as part of Operation Weeting are Laura Elston, Press Association's royal correspondent, freelance journalist Terenia Taras, senior News of the World journalists James Weatherup and Neville Thurlbeck, and former NoW assistant editor (news) Ian Edmondson.

Precisely who did Neil Wallis serve as a consultant to?

Metropolitan Police Chief Officers, including Asst Commissioner John Yates.

Scotland Yard have admitted they employed Neil Wallis, the former executive at the News of the World who was arrested today in the phone hacking inquiry, as an adviser to the commissioner until September of last year

Vikram Dodd, our crime correspondent, reports.

Wallis was employed to advise Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates on a part-time basis from October 2009 to September 2010. During this time Scotland Yard said there was no need to reopen the phone hacking investigation, a decision made by Yates, despite allegations in the Guardian that the first police investigation into the scandal had been inadequate.

Wallis joined the News of the World from in 2003 as deputy to then editor Andy Coulson. In mid-2007 he became executive editor and left the News International title in 2009.

Police say he supplied "strategic communications advice", and the Met said his company was chosen because it offered to do the work for the lowest price.

Relations between senior Met officers and the News of the World senior executives have been under scrutiny recently.

In September 2006, the then deputy commissioner, Paul Stephenson, accompanied by the Yard's head PR man, Dick Fedorcio, dined with Wallis, then the News of the World's deputy editor. This was only a month after Yard officers had arrested the paper's royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, and at a time when detectives were still attempting to investigate whether other journalists or executives were involved in the interception of voicemail messages. In theory, Mr Wallis was a potential suspect in the inquiry.

In a statement Scotland Yard said: "Chamy Media, owned by Neil Wallis, former Executive Editor of the News of the World, was appointed to provide strategic communication advice and support to the MPS, including advice on speech writing and PR activity, while the Met's
Deputy Director of Public Affairs was on extended sick leave recovering from a serious illness.

"In line with MPS/MPA procurement procedures, three relevant companies were invited to provide costings for this service on the basis of two days per month. Chamy Media were appointed as they were significantly cheaper than the others. The contract ran from October 2009 until September 2010, when it was terminated by mutual consent.

"The commissioner has made the chair of the police authority aware of this contract."

Source.