AN AWARD-WINNING reporter at the former News of the Worldnewspaper has been arrested by officers investigating the phone-hacking scandal.
James Desborough was arrested at 10.30am yesterday on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, after arriving at a south London police station.
He had arrived at the station by appointment for questioning about criminal activities at the paper.
The allegations are believed to relate to events which took place before Desborough was promoted to be the newspaper’s Los Angeles-based US editor in April 2009.
He was given the job less than a month after winning the British Press Award for showbusiness reporter of the year.
His move to the US makes his arrest, the 13th by Operation Weeting, particularly significant. If Desborough was involved in hacking while in Britain, it raises the question of whether he practised those techniques in the US – and if so, whether he was the first and only News of the Worldjournalist in the US to do so.
At the 2009 British Press Awards ceremony, Desborough was praised by judges for his series of “uncompromising scoops which mean no celebrity with secrets can sleep easy”.
He was presented with his award by Jon Snow, the respected Channel 4 journalist and news anchor.
Desborough continued to win plaudits after his move to the US. Ian Halperin, a Hollywood author, described him as someone who “never gets his facts wrong. He’s a rock solid reporter.”
Hollyscope, an online site, praised Desborough for “seem[ing] to have information that not even close family members . . . know”.
Desborough joined the News of the Worldin 2005 and broke stories including "Fern's big fat lie", which revealed that former This Morninghost Fern Britton's dramatic weight loss was the result of having a gastric band fitted, not exercise and sensible eating, as had been thought.
Desborough was writing for the paper until it closed last month.
His final story for the online version was on July 8th, two days before the closure, claiming the new Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, was to act in a Hollywood film. – ( Guardianservice)