Police release email hacking suspect

THE first person to be arrested in connection with claims of computer hacking by private investigators working for News International was released on bail last night.

The 52-year-old man was detained yesterday morning under the Met Police’s Operation Tuleta, which runs alongside the Operation Weeting probe into phone hacking.

The suspect, who was arrested in Milton Keynes on suspicion of Computer Misuse Act offences, was later bailed to return to a London police station in early December.

A police spokesman said: “Operation Tuleta is investigating a number of allegations regarding breach of privacy, received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) since January 2011, which fell outside the remit of Operation Weeting, including computer hacking.”

Tuleta was launched over the summer after a “scoping exercise” into allegations surrounding the use of private detectives.

Officers working on the inquiry have been reporting to deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, who heads the inquiry into mobile phone interceptions at the now defunct News of the World.

Scotland Yard’s phone-hacking squad is working its way through 300 million emails from News International. Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe says police have spent up to £3 million, with officers speaking to 1,800 of 6,000 potential victims.