News of the World: Police bribery claims decades old

The current debacle surrounding Rupert Murdoch and his New of the World team of hacks has the feeling of deja vu about it.  Readers interested in glancing back in time need to leap back two decades.

In 1999 a NotW reporter was arrested for bribing a police officer and for conspiracy.

Later, in 2000, News of the World reporter Neville Thurlbeck faced trial on a charge of offering a police officer a "gift" for obtaining information.

Det Con Farmer, who worked for Hertfordshire Police but was seconded to the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) at the time of the alleged offences, and Mr Thurlbeck both pleaded not guilty.

The prosecution had alleged that Mr Thurlbeck, 38, paid Det Con Farmer to supply information on people whose details were kept on a confidential police computer.

Jurors were told Det Con Farmer, 53, made scores of police computer checks on people's criminal records for Mr Thurlbeck.

At Luton Crown Court, Mr Justice McKinnon directed the jury to acquit Mr Thurlbeck and his co-accused Det Con Farmer, after hearing the prosecution evidence. He said there was not enough evidence for the jury to be sure Det Con Farmer supplied information to Mr Thurlbeck for reward. Both the accused were cleared of conspiracy to corrupt and there was no case for either to answer.