Former Hollywood reporter ‘arrested’ by phone hack police
The latest person arrested by police investigating illegal phone hacking at the News of the World is believed to be former US editor James Desborough, who made his name with celebrity scoops.
The arrested man has been bailed after being questioned on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications. He is the 13th person to be quizzed by police during the fresh investigation into criminal activities at the News of the World.
Police said in a statement: “On Thursday, 18 August officers from Operation Weeting arrested a man [H], aged 38, on suspicion of conspiring to unlawfully intercept voicemails contrary to section 1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977.
James Desborough, who joined the News of the World in 2005, moved to America in 2009 and became the newspaper’s man in Hollywood.
At the 2009 British Press Awards, he was named “showbiz reporter of the year” by judges who praised a “series of uncompromising scoops which mean no celebrity with secrets can sleep easy”.
Channel 4 News’s Jon Snow presented him with the prestigious award (pictured) for his stories about Heather McCartney, Peaches Geldoff’s divorce and Fern Britton’s gastric band. His last articles for the now defunct tabloid focused on the royals in the US, including Kate Middleton and Sarah Ferguson.
Leslie Ash settles hack case
In a separate development, Leslie Ash and husband Lee Chapman say they plan to take action against other newspapers after settling their phone hacking claim against the News of the World.
The actress and the former footballer sued the tabloid over fears that it illegally listened to their voicemails while Ash was recovering from a superbug in hospital in 2004.
Speaking to Channel 4 News last month, Ash said her numbers, her husband’s numbers and her children’s numbers had been “taken”.
She explained: “It was during the time that I was in hospital and I think they wanted to find out some pretty intimate information.
“The children were at boarding school. They were worried about their mother being in hospital… what could have been listened to were very intimate conversations between a mother and her sons.”
In response to the police inquiry she said she felt “let down”.
She and Mr Chapman said today they were “pleased” the claims they and their sons brought against the paper’s publishers, News Group Newspapers, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire had been settled.
