It all began with the arrest of the (now defunct) News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire over allegations that they hacked into the mobile phones of members of the royal household in August 2006.
Fast forward to April 2012, and Guardian reports that:
A 36-year-old man, believed to be Duncan Larcombe, the Sun's royal editor, was arrested at his home in Kent on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office.
The difference between 2006 and 2012 is double, and double trouble, as the charge is corruption not phone hacking and the source of the information leading to the arrest is none other than Murdoch's own MSC.
More below the croissant, which is surely crumbling somewhere in the Sun newsroom.
I leave the last words to the Guardian and to Scotland Yard
The Guardian:
Officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden swooped on two houses in Kent and Lancashire in a dawn raid on Thursday.....Also said to be arrested are a "former serviceman, 42, and a woman, 38, at their home. The man was held on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, and the woman on suspicion of aiding and abetting misconduct in a public office. They are being questioned at a police station in Lancashire....Today's operation is the result of information provided to police by News Corporation's management [and] standards committee...
The Yard:
It relates to suspected payments to a public official and is not about seeking journalists to reveal confidential sources in relation to information that has been obtained legitimately.
Guardian 19.4.2012 at 4 am EDT
7:36 AM PT: Rec list, I am flattered, but the real credit for the news surely goes to Scotland Yard for the arrests and, truth be told, NI's MS Committee who fingered their own employee.