LONDON (AFP) - A journalist who helped expose a series of police errors in the shooting of a Brazilian man mistaken for a suicide bomber has been arrested on suspicion of theft, a newspaper said.
The scoop in August by television broadcaster ITV News was based on leaked statements from the official inquiry into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes at a London subway station on June 22.
The documents from the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) revealed among other factors that the 27-year-old electrician had been held down when he was shot by armed officers.
The journalist, who works as a news producer for ITV News, is thought to have obtained copies of the text, The Guardian newspaper reported.
Leicestershire Police arrested him in October and raided his home, the daily said, quoting an ITV News insider.
The anonymous insider said police seemed to be looking for evidence that money was paid for the information. This did not appear to be the case.
A 43-year-old IPCC employee has also been arrested and since resigned from the commission, according to the newspaper. Police have also arrested a 30-year-old woman over the affair. All three people remain on police bail.
The de Menezes expose by ITV News is regarded as one of the biggest scoops in the history of British television news.
David Mannion, the broadcaster's editor in chief, told The Guardian: "We absolutely stand by the story, the way we covered it and the way we got the story; it was to our usual high editorial standards."
De Menezes was shot seven times on a subway train at Stockwell Underground station in south London the day after an alleged attempt to replicate the July 7 attacks on the capital's transport system.
