Two journalists in Britain, including one from the Sunday Mirror, were arrested yesterday by police officers investigating allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials.
A 37-year-old man was arrested at his home in Kent, southeast England, and a 34-year-old was arrested at his home in southeast London in dawn raids conducted by the London Metropolitan police.
The Trinity Mirror company has confirmed that one of the two journalists arrested is Sunday Mirror crime correspondent Justin Penrose.
It is believed that the second journalist arrested is Tom Savage, deputy news editor of the Daily Star Sunday. The newspaper’s publisher, Northern Shell, said it had no comment to make.
Scotland Yard officers also launched a raid of at least one office in central London in connection with the arrests. A source at Northern Shell said police had visited the publisher yesterday morning.
Trinity Mirror said: “We have been informed by the police that Justin Penrose was arrested this morning on suspicion of alleged payments to public officials. We are co-operating fully with the police.” Penrose has been with the Sunday Mirror since 2004, when he joined as a general news reporter. He was promoted to the position of full-time crime correspondent in January 2006.
The arrests represent a widening of the Operation Elveden investigation beyond News International which has confirmed neither of the two works for any of its titles.
– (Guardian service)