LONDON (AFP) – British police on Sunday arrested Rupert Murdoch's former lieutenant Rebekah Brooks, in a new blow for the media mogul but one that could allow his protege to dodge questioning by lawmakers.
Her arrest on corruption and hacking allegations, just two days after she quit as head of Murdoch's British newspaper wing, piled on the pressure as the Labour opposition called for the break-up of Murdoch's British empire.
But it also raised questions about why Scotland Yard, already under fire for its handling of the investigation, made her arrest when it did even though it could jeopardise her appearance before a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.
"Rebekah had a prearranged appointment with police which she attended of her own volition. She was arrested on arrival by police," her spokesman David Wilson told AFP.
Wilson added: "At the moment today's events do somewhat change potentially her ability to attend the hearing. There will be discussions between her lawyers and the select committee over the next 24 to 36 hours."
"The fact that she has been arrested clearly has implications and so it is by no means a certainty that she will be able to attend, despite wishing to," he added.
He said the arrangement was made on Friday "at the police request."
Scotland Yard would only confirm that a 43-year-old woman had been arrested "in connection with allegations of corruption and phone hacking" at the News of the World tabloid, which Brooks once edited and which shut down last week.
It said in a statement that she "was arrested by appointment at a London police station by officers" and was in custody.
Brooks, 43, is the 10th person and most senior Murdoch aide to be arrested so far over the scandal, which exploded earlier this month amid claims that under her watch the News of the World hacked the phone of a murdered girl.
The flame-haired Brooks is due to appear alongside Murdoch and his son James, the chairman of News International, before the British parliament's media committee on Tuesday to answer questions about the growing scandal.
At a previous hearing in 2003 she admitted the paper had made payments to police.
Committee chairman John Whittingdale was quoted by Sky News as saying that he now did not know if she would attend, as questioning Brooks could in theory interfere with the police investigation.
A lawyer for Dowler's family was quoted as saying the timing "stinks."
Opposition Labour leader Ed Miliband called for his British media interests to be dismantled.
"I think he has too much power over British public life," Miliband told the Observer newspaper, citing his ownership of the The Sun, Times and The Sunday Times newspapers as well as a 39 percent share in pay-TV giant BSkyB.
Abandoning his earlier defiance, Murdoch placed ads in most of Britain's Sunday newspapers for a second day, this time entitled "Putting right what's gone wrong" and promising to fully cooperate with police.
Murdoch closed the News of the World one week ago but the move failed to stem the scandal, which is threatening the interests of the Australian-born magnate's News Corporation all around the world.
In recent days his bid for control of the rest of BSkyB collapsed while Brooks's departure on Friday was followed hours later by that of Dow Jones chief Les Hinton.
The Murdoch empire's links to the police and politicians also came under fresh scrutiny on Sunday.
Scotland Yard revealed that Commissioner Paul Stephenson met its executives and editors 18 times socially between 2006 and 2010. The force has faced criticism for botching the initial investigation into the News of the World.
Stephenson was linked to former News of the World deputy editor Neil Wallis in reports Sunday which said the police chief accepted a five-week stay earlier this year at a luxury health spa where Wallis worked as a PR consultant.
The force is already facing questions about why it hired Wallis as an advisor two months after he quit the tabloid. Wallis was arrested last week.
A police spokesman strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Prime Minister David Cameron meanwhile faced questions about his decision to invite his former media chief Andy Coulson, another ex-News of the World editor, to his country residence in March, two months after Coulson quit Downing Street.
Coulson was arrested and bailed by police earlier this month.
The hacking scandal is also being investigated by the FBI in the United States.
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