Former News International chief Rebekah Brooks and husband Charlie were arrested today and charged with obstruction of justice.
The arrest is part of Operation Weeting, which is probing phone hacking at the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid and other papers.
Brooks, a confidante of News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch, had edited NOTW and the Sun. Following her summer resignation in the aftermath of the Milly Dowler hacking news, Brooks was arrested and held for 48 hours.
London police arrested six people in the latest round-up, issuing a statement to say the sweep is due to suspicion of “conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.”
The Guardian reports that Mark Hanna, director of group security at News International, also was arrested along with a “non-editorial employee” at the British newspaper operation.
The Brooks' are friends of U.K. prime minister David Cameron, who was involved in last month’s “Horsegate” story about the politico riding a horse that had been lent to Rebekah Brooks by Scotland Yard in 2008.
Cameron has said he hasn’t been riding with Brooks since the 2010 election.