UK's senior police chief under fire after hacking probe bust

LONDON - Britain's senior police chief came under fire on Thursday after his force said a former News of the World deputy editor, arrested by officers investigating phone hacking by the paper's reporters, had been hired as a consultant by the police.

Paul Stephenson, London's police commissioner, was summoned for a 90-minute meeting with the city's mayor after the capital's force said it had employed the journalist between October 2009 and September 2010.

The disclosure was an embarrassment for a police force facing questions about its links to tabloid reporters and prompted Home Secretary (interior minister) Theresa May to write to Stephenson asking for an explanation.