TEESSIDE University lecturer, Bethany Usher, will face no further action in connection with phone hacking investigation, it has been revealed.

Last week she became the 17th arrest under Scotland Yard's Operation Weeting.

Ms Usher, who teaches media ethics, had maintained she had "never been involved in the interception of telecommunications in any way".

The 31-year-old spent three years working on national newspapers after leaving the Sunderland Echo, where she was a trainee journalist.

In 2006, the 31-year-old was questioned by officers on suspicion of providing false information for a job at Buckingham Palace, but was never charged. In a statement issued after her arrest, she said: "Due to the huge and justified public interest in practices at the News of the World, and the fact my name has become attached to them, I feel I have no alternative but to release a statement today.

"I embarked on a career in journalism with the best intentions, believing that being the eyes and ears of the public was a just profession.

"I worked for national newspapers between 2005 and 2008, spending two of those years at the News of the World, working largely on the road in the north of England.

"At no time did I work in the Wapping office and I had little contact with other colleagues.

"I have never been involved in the interception of telecommunications in any way and strictly adhered to the Press Complaints Commission code of practice."

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