A former police constable from Hayling Island is due to appear at the Old Bailey today, charged with misconduct in public office.
Ex-Pc Alan Tierney, who was with Surrey Police, allegedly sold details of the separate arrests of John Terry’s mother and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood to The Sun newspaper. Wood and Sue Terry both accepted cautions over the matters.
Tierney, 40, is facing two counts of misconduct in public office, the first between March 26 and April 3 2009, and the second between December 2 and 7 2009.
He was charged under Operation Elveden, Scotland Yard’s investigation into alleged corrupt payments and information leaks, and will join former government spin doctor Andy Coulson and ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks in the court.
Coulson, 45, is accused with ex-News of the World royal correspondent Clive Goodman of requesting and authorising payments to public officials in exchange for information, including a royal phone directory known as the ‘Green Book’.
Former NOTW editor Coulson, from Kent, and Goodman, 55, from Surrey, face two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office - one between August 31 2002 and January 31 2003, and the other between January 31 and June 3 2005.
In a separate case, Brooks, 44, is accused along with Sun chief reporter John Kay, 69, of making payments to Ministry of Defence official Bettina Jordan-Barber.
It is alleged that Brooks, from Churchill, Oxfordshire, and Kay, from north west London, conspired to pay Jordan-Barber, 40, from Shrivenham, Swindon, around £100,000 for information.
They each face one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office between January 1 2004 and January 31 this year.
Prison officer Richard Trunkfield, 31, from Moulton, Northamptonshire, is accused of leaking information about a high profile prisoner to the tabloid.
He is charged with misconduct in a public office between March 2 and April 30 2010.
All seven defendants are attending the Old Bailey for plea and case management hearings.
Defence editor of the Sun Virginia Wheeler and ex-Metropolitan Police constable Paul Flattley are also due at court for a preliminary hearing.
Flattley, 30, from Stockport in Cheshire, and Wheeler, 33, from Kennington, south London, are accused of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
They face allegations that the officer was paid at least £4,000 in cheques and £2,450 in cash in exchange for information between May 25 2008 and September 13 2011.