Yorkshire journalist arrested in phone-hacking probe

Terenia Taras, 39, was arrested early yesterday morning at her home in West Yorkshire and questioned by Scotland Yard detectives on suspicion of conspiring to intercept mobile phone voicemail messages.

Ms Taras was a staff journalist at the Dewsbury Reporter newspaper during the 1990s before going on to contribute more than 30 articles to the News of the World and other national publications.

The Yorkshire Post understands that she once shared a north London home with Greg Miskiw, who worked in senior roles for the News of the World until 2005.

Ms Taras was arrested shortly before 7am yesterday and interviewed at a West Yorkshire police station before being released on bail.

She is the fourth person to be arrested as part of Operation Weeting, a Metropolitan Police investigation set up in January into claims that phones used by celebrities had been hacked.

The News of the World’s former royal reporter Clive Goodman and private detective Glenn Mulcaire were jailed in 2007 for intercepting messages from the Royal Family.

But the Met was heavily criticised over its handling of the original inquiry and agreed to investigate the matter again following complaints from other public figures, including the former Deputy Prime Minister, Lord Prescott, and the actor, Jude Law.

In the last month, both actress Sienna Miller and football pundit Andy Gray have accepted cash settlements from the News of the World following phone-hacking claims.

News International, which owns the newspaper, said yesterday’s arrest “did not relate to a current employee or a former full-time member of staff of the News of the World.

“We have been co-operating fully with the police inquiry since our voluntary disclosure of evidence reopened the police investigation.

“Since then we have been determined to deal with these issues both on the criminal and civil side. In April we admitted liability in several civil cases and we are attempting to bring these to a fair resolution.”

No one has been charged with any offence in connection with the Operation Weeting investigation.