Lecturer arrested on suspicion of 'conspiracy to hack voicemail messages'

Bethany Usher, 31, was held at her home in Sunderland shortly after 6.30am today on suspicion of "conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages".

Ms Usher was previously arrested by the Met police in 2006 after she had applied for a job as a cleaner at Buckingham Palace while she was working for the News of the World.

At the time the newspaper said she was investigating security at the palace. She began that undercover investigation while a reporter for The People but then moved to the rival News of the World.

It is claimed that her former bosses at The People tipped off the Palace about her identity.
Police took no further action after an inquiry.
Ms Usher, now a freelance journalist and a senior lecturer in media studies at Teesside University, was being questioned today at a police station in Northumbria.

She is the 17th person to be arrested by detectives working for the Met's Operation Weeting inquiry into phone-hacking allegations.
So far the arrests have included high-profile figures such as former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson.

The 120-strong Yard phone-hacking squad is working its way through 300 million emails from News International.

The scandal has led to the closure of the News of the World after 168 years, prompted the Leveson inquiry into press standards and forced the resignation of Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and anti-terror chief John Yates - both of whom have since been cleared of any wrong-doing. The arrest of Ms Usher, a former young journalist of the year, is the first since sports journalist Raoul Simons, 35, was held in September.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "At 6.35am officers arrested the woman on suspicion of conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages. The woman is now in custody at a police station in Northumbria. "It would be inappropriate to discuss any further details at this time."

New Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe says police have already spent up to £3 million on salaries, with officers speaking to 1,800 of 6,000 potential victims.

A total of 1,800 people came forward to express fears that they may have been hacked.

The Leveson inquiry was set up by David Cameron after the News of the World admitted intercepting voicemail messages of prominent people to find stories.