Operation Elveden: Ex-crime editor held in police probe

Operation Elveden was launched after claims journalists made illegal payments to police officers

The former crime editor at the now defunct News of the World newspaper, who was arrested over alleged payments to police officers, has been bailed.

Lucy Panton, 37, was arrested in Surrey by Operation Elveden detectives probing alleged police corruption.

She was arrested at 06:15 GMT and held at a south London police station before being bailed until late April.

Operation Elveden is running alongside the Operation Weeting investigation into phone hacking.

A BBC correspondent has witnessed bags of evidence and papers being seized from Ms Panton's home in Ashtead, Surrey, although officers there would not confirm they were from Operation Elveden.

It is the seventh arrest for the police operation into alleged police corruption.

Operation Weeting, which is investigating hacking of mobile phone voicemails of public figures by the News of the World, has resulted in 16 arrests.

Operation Elveden was launched after officers were handed documents suggesting journalists working for News International had made illegal payments to police officers.

Allegations of phone hacking and police payments led Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and Assistant Commissioner John Yates to resign, and the News of the World to close down after 168 years.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said a woman had been arrested "on suspicion of committing offences involving making payments to police officers for information".

"She was arrested at a residential address in Surrey and has been taken to a south London police station where she remains in custody," he added.