Lee Harpin, recently appointed agenda editor of all three national titles owned by Trinity Mirror, has been arrested for phone hacking.
Sources said Harpin was arrested around midday on Wednesday in the Mirror offices, and his computer confiscated.
A Trinity Mirror spokesperson refused to confirm Harpin’s identity, but said: “We can confirm that an employee has been arrested.”
Harpin is understood to be the fifth journalist to be arrested in relation to allegations of phone hacking at the Mirror. Another 14 have been interviewed under caution.
Harpin was one of three Mirror journalists told by police in 2012 that their phones may have been hacked by journalists working at the now defunct News of the World.
In May, a high court judge ruled that phone hacking at the tabloid publisher Trinity Mirror was “widespread and frequent” for a decade, as he ordered the company to pay a record £1.2m in privacy damages to eight victims, including the actor Sadie Frost and ex-footballer Paul Gascoigne.
The Metropolitan police said in a statement: “A 47-year old man, a journalist, has today, Wednesday 15 July, been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications.
“The arrest was made by detectives from Operation Golding, the investigation into the suspected conspiracy by individuals to intercept telephone voicemails at Mirror Group Newspapers.
“It is being investigated as part of Operation Weeting. He is the fifth person to be arrested under Operation Golding.
“The man remains in police custody at this time.”
