Rupert Murdoch Confidante Rebekah Brooks Arrested by Police

NEW YORK - Rebekah Brooks, who on Friday had resigned as head of News Corp.'s U.K. newspaper unit, was arrested Sunday in the phone hacking scandal, according to reports.

U.K. reports initially just said a woman was arrested.

Sky News later said the woman was Brooks, 43, and the New York Times quoted a News International executive as saying it was her.

Sky News said Brooks went to a London police station by appointment mid-day Sunday and was then held "on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and corruption allegations."

The BBC pointed to the fact Brooks had been arrested "by appointment," having made an initial arrangement to talk to the police Sunday afternoon British time. On arrival, she was then arrested. She is the tenth person to be in custody amid the phone hacking scandal.

Brooks, a long-time confidante of News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch, used to be editor at the shuttered News of the World tabloid, which is at the heart of the phone hacking scandal.

The official arrest sheet is on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption.

Brooks was scheduled to appear - along with Murdoch and his son and News Corp. deputy COO James Murdoch - in front of a parliamentary committee on Tuesday testify.

After her resignation, she said in a statement: "As chief executive of the company, I feel a deep sense of responsibility for the people we have hurt and I want to reiterate how sorry I am for what we now know to have taken place."

The weekend activity in the case came after a whirlwind Friday. Following the departure of Brooks that day, News Corp. also announced the resignation of 52-year company veteran Les Hinton as CEO of its Dow Jones unit and publisher of the Wall Street Journal. Hinton was also a long-time Murdoch ally. He oversaw News International as executive chairman at the time of the alleged phone hacking.