Police have arrested Mark Hanna, the director of group security at News International, as part of the police inquiry into allegations of phone hacking.
Five other people were detained in dawn raids including former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, and her husband Charlie Brooks – a race horse trainer, Daily Telegraph columnist and friend of the Prime Minister David Cameron.
Police said that six people had been arrested between 5am and 7am today, as part of the Operation Weeting phone hacking investigation, on suspicion of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Police have not confirmed the identities of those arrested but News International has confirmed that Hanna was among them.
Hanna has over 18 years experience in corporate security and prior to joining News International in April 2009 was vice president (head of security) at the financial institution, Nomura International.
Prior to that he worked for Wilson James, the manned security services company. Before that he was in the military where he was involved in explosives, close observation and royal protection.
Hanna is also on the editorial board of Professional Security magazine. [Update] He was also a judge of the 2011 Security Excellence Awards, organised by UBM and Info4Security.com.
As a member of the Security Institute, he got News International to take the gold sponsorship of the Security Institute’s 2010 annual conference.
In 2004 while at Nomura, Hanna started LISTEN, the London Intelligence Shared Transferred (via) Electronic Network which aims to share intelligence, hold regular seminars and provide a networking opportunity for security professionals.
[Update] Five of the six individuals arrested yesterday, including Hanna, were released on bail last night.
