Rebekah Brooks 'was passed details of NOTW phone-hacking probe by senior police official'

London, Feb 26 (ANI): Former News International chief-executive Rebekah Brooks was allegedly passed details of the original News of the World phone-hacking inquiry by a senior police official, it has emerged.

Brooks was editor of the NOTW between 2000 and 2003, and editor of The Sun in 2006 when the original phone-hacking inquiry was carried out.

It was then that a senior Metropolitan Police officer allegedly provided her with details of the investigation, The Daily Mail reports.

The officer works in the Metropolitan Police's specialist operations division, which handles protection for the most senior public figures and deals with counter-terrorism operations.

There is no suggestion they were paid for providing details of the investigation.

Although the News International executive who was passed details of the original investigation has not been named, the Independent reported that it is understood to be Brooks.

According to the report, a spokesman for Rebekah Brooks refused to comment.

Brooks is now expected to be interviewed by officers as a witness in the coming weeks over the fresh claims.

According to the paper, it has also been revealed for the first time that the NotW's publisher has admitted four journalists on the paper personally hacked phones, and that the practice was still going on as recently as 2009. (ANI)