Phone Hacking Probe: Journalists Freed On Bail

Five of the six journalists arrested as part of a new investigation into claims of phone hacking at the News Of The World have been released on bail.

The journalists - three men and three women who all worked for the now defunct newspaper - included two reporters who are now employed by The Sun.

A 39-year-old man arrested in Greenwich remains in police custody. The others have been bailed until mid-May pending further enquiries, following interviews at police stations in London and Cheshire.

Scotland Yard said detectives were looking into a suspected conspiracy that took place between around 2005 and 2006.

The arrests were made as part of a new line of inquiry separate from allegations under the existing Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking called Operation Weeting.

A number of people have been charged under that operation.

The latest arrests included two men aged 45 and 46 who were held in Wandsworth, south London.

The three women arrested were a 39-year-old who was detained in Cheshire, a 33-year-old in Islington, north London, and a 40-year-old in Lambeth, south London.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Officers will be making contact with people they believe have been victims of the suspected voicemail interceptions."

The News Of The World was shut down by owner Rupert Murdoch in 2011 amid hacking claims.