A former journalist with The Sun newspaper has become the first person to be charged under a national inquiry into allegations of computer hacking and other privacy breaches.
Ben Ashford, 34, has been charged with possession of criminal property and unauthorised access to computer material, Scotland Yard said.
It is the first charge to be brought under Operation Tuleta, the Metropolitan Police investigation that is being run alongside inquiries into alleged phone hacking and corrupt payments to public officials.
The move comes amid calls from human rights group Liberty for a six-month limit on the time people can be kept on police bail, as some suspects arrested under the various inquiries approach the second anniversary of being kept under investigation without charge.
Ashford, from Coulsdon, Greater London, will appear before Westminster Magistrates’ Court on October 15.
He has been charged with possessing criminal property between October 11 2009 and October 16 2009.
The former Sun reporter has also been accused of causing a computer to perform a function with intent to secure unauthorised access to a programme or data, between the same dates.
The offences are contrary to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Computer Misuse Act 1990 respectively.