19 Aug 2011

News of the World reporter arrested

11:56 am on 19 August 2011

British police investigating a phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch's defunct News of the World have arrested a former reporter at the newspaper.

All they will say is that they have arrested a 38-year-old man on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.

Sources say the man is James Desborough, who joined the News of the World in 2005 as a showbusiness and news reporter and was promoted to United States editor, based in Los Angeles, in 2009.

US agencies are investigating whether the News of the World's phone-hacking activities extended to that country. So far, they have not found evidence that they did.

The arrest is the 13th in connection with the hacking scandal.