[devilincarnate]

Phone hacking appeared to be a "bog-standard journalistic tool" for gathering information, a former Daily Mirror financial reporter has said.

James Hipwell, who was jailed in 2006 for writing about firms whose shares he owned, said he witnessed repeated privacy infringements at the paper.

He told the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics that he overheard showbiz journalists openly talking about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16283935

A 52-year-old serving police officer has been arrested as part of an inquiry into alleged illegal payments from journalists, Scotland Yard has said.

The woman was arrested at a property in Essex on Wednesday morning and is being held at a police station in the county.

She is the eighth person - and first police officer - to be arrested as part of Operation Elveden.

Operation Elveden is running alongside the Metropolitan Police's phone-hacking investigation, Operation Weeting.

The Met said the woman was arrested at a residential address at about 06:00 GMT.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16283948