Two held in 'corrupt payment' probe

A serving member of the Armed Forces and a former Ministry of Defence employee have been arrested by detectives investigating alleged corrupt payments to public officials by journalists, Scotland Yard said.

A 34-year-old woman, who previously worked for the MoD, was arrested at her home in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and corruption.

A 31-year-old man, who is a serving member of the Armed Forces, was detained at the same address on suspicion of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office and money laundering.

Both are being questioned at a South Yorkshire police station.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said their arrests were the result of information provided to police by the management and standards committee at newspaper publisher News Corporation.

He said: "It relates to suspected payments to public officials and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately."

The arrests bring the number of people arrested in Operation Elveden, the investigation into alleged corrupt payments to public officials, to 52.