Fresh Arrest in News Corp.'s Phone Hacking Scandal
Police arrested Stuart Kuttner, News of the World's former managing editor, on Tuesday
UPDATE: The Guardian has confirmed that the man arrested is indeed Stuart Kuttner, pictured below. Amelia Hill reports:
As managing editor until his resignation in July 2009, Kuttner was in charge of finances at the now-defunct tabloid.
Kuttner, 71, was described at the time of his resignation by the last editor of the newspaper, Colin Myler, as a man whose "DNA is absolutely integrated into the newspaper which he has represented across the media with vigour".
ORIGINAL POST: London Metropolitan Police arrested an unnamed man for phone hacking-related charges on Tuesday morning. According to The Guardian, who first reported the story, "the unnamed man, believed to be former News of the World managing editor Stuart Kuttner, apparently did not know he was going to be taken into custody when he arrived by appointment at a police station in London at 11am." The man faces the same two charges as Rebekah Brooks--suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and suspicion of corruption--and is expected to be released on bail after several hours of questioning.
If the suspect is indeed Kuttner, this wouldn't be the first time he's had to face questioning over controversy at the now shuttered 168-year-old tabloid. Kuttner served as the News of the World's managing editor for 22 years and resigned abruptly in July of 2009. A Guardian profile written at that time reports that "Kuttner was in charge of the paper's finances. The paper conceded that [private investigator Glenn] Mulcaire was on its payroll, receiving £100,000 a year, but claimed that was for carrying out unrelated, and legitimate, investigative work." After former News of the World royal reporter and Mulcaire accomplice Clive Goodman was arrested in 2006, Kuttner said only one thing, "It happened once at the News of the World. The reporter was fired; he went to prison. The editor resigned."