Police arrest NOTW royal reporter

Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson and one of his former top reporters were being questioned about alleged corruption today after a dramatic double arrest by Scotland Yard.

Mr Coulson, the ex-Downing Street communications chief, was also being questioned over phone hacking during his time at the paper.

Police sources later confirmed that former royal editor Clive Goodman – who was jailed in January 2007 over the scandal – had been rearrested in connection with alleged payments to police.

Mr Coulson, 43, and Mr Goodman, 53, were being held for questioning in south London.

The former editor had been expected to be arrested after an appointment at a station but Mr Goodman – who currently works for the Daily Star Sunday – was held after a dawn swoop by officers at his home in Surrey.

Detectives are searching both Mr Coulson’s address in Forest Hill, south London, and Mr Goodman’s property.

Officers investigating Operation Elveden – the inquiry into payments to police by the News of the World – and Operation Weeting, the long-running hacking investigation, are questioning the pair.

Referring to Goodman’s arrest, a Scotland Yard statement said: “At 6.11am officers from the MPS’ Operation Weeting together with officers from Operation Elveden arrested a man on suspicion of corruption allegations in contravention of Section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.

“The man, aged 53, was arrested at a residential address in Surrey. A search is ongoing at this address.”

The moves by Scotland Yard pile further pressure on the Prime Minister, who gave Mr Coulson a job at No 10 despite his association with the scandal.

Mr Coulson had been widely expected to face police action today but few had predicted the decision to rearrest Mr Goodman, who was jailed in 2007.

It is the latest bombshell in a catastrophic week for News International chiefs, who announced they were shutting the Sunday tabloid because it had betrayed its readers’ trust.

Mr Goodman was arrested in August 2006 along with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire over allegations that they hacked into the mobile phones of members of the royal household.

Five months later the royal reporter was jailed for four months and Mulcaire for six months after they admitted intercepting voicemail messages, including some left by Prince William, now the Duke of Cambridge.

The Old Bailey heard the pair tapped into more than 600 messages on the phones of royal family aides.

Mr Coulson responded by resigning as News of the World editor, saying he “deeply regretted” what happened and took “ultimate responsibility” for it.