Press Association reporter held in phone hack probe

LONDON (Reuters) - A journalist from Britain's Press Association (PA) news agency was arrested on Monday by detectives investigating a phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World tabloid, the first reporter working for another organisation to be held.

Police said the 34-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of unlawfully intercepting mobile phone voicemail messages when she appeared by appointment at a London police station. PA confirmed that the woman was one of its reporters.

She is the fifth person to be arrested by detectives investigating assertions that journalists on the paper, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp media empire, hacked the phones of members of the royal family, politicians, celebrities and sports stars to listen to their voicemail messages.

In April, detectives arrested the paper's chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, one of its senior reporters James Weatherup, and Ian Edmondson, a former senior editor who was sacked after an internal inquiry into his conduct.

Last week, a 39-year-old woman, said by media to be a freelance reporter who had contributed stories to the News of the World, was arrested last week.

The scandal dates back to 2005-6 when the News of the World's royal reporter and a private detective were arrested and later jailed for snooping on the voicemail messages of royal aides.

Police launched a new inquiry last January after being severely criticised over their original investigation, which critics said had not gone far enough.

News International, parent company of the News of the World, said in April it would admit liability and pay compensation in eight cases, though many more people believe they were targeted.

Earlier this month, film star Sienna Miller's privacy and harassment claim against the paper was settled for 100,000 pounds.

The issue has also hit Prime Minister David Cameron, whose former media chief, Andy Coulson, was the paper's editor when the hacking scandal broke.

Coulson later resigned his government post, although he always denied any knowledge of the practice.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Tim Castle)