POLICE INVESTIGATING BRITAIN’S  phone hacking scandal say they have arrested a woman on suspicion of money laundering offences.

Metropolitan police said the 42-year-old was arrested this morning after being asked to go to a police station in south west London.

She was arrested as part of Operation Weeting, the police name for their investigation into phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch’s News International.

According to The Guardian the woman is the first to be held on suspicion of money laundering offences in connection with Operation Weeting. She’s the 25th person to be arrested in relation to the scandal.

Former News International executive Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie were arrested in the same investigation in March.

Britain’s scandal began in 2005 with the revelation that tabloid reporters had listened in to voicemail systems of aides to the royal family.

It mushroomed last summer when it was revealed that hacking had been widespread at Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid, which has since been shut down.

Meanwhile former Prime Minister Tony Blair is appearing today at the Leveson inquiry into media ethics, which was disrupted by a protester earlier.

Protester disrupts Tony Blair evidence at Leveson inquiry>

Watch live: Leveson inquiry hears evidence from Tony Blair>

Rebekah Brooks and husband to face criminal charges over hacking inquiry>

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