In a statement released today, the head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service has resigned as allegations fly that top police and Scotland Yard officials accepted bribes from editors and reporters at Rupert Murdoch’s News International. (There have also been reports that police officials were involved in setting up several of the phone hacks in question.) It was Sir Paul Stephenson’s connection to Neil Wallis — a former News of the World executive later hired by the Met who was among those arrested in connection in the phone hacking scandal — that really put the pressure on him to respond. That said, he maintains that he had no knowledge of the shady practices within his organization and even declared: “I will not lose sleep over my personal integrity.” But the simple fact that the NotW scandal has metastasized and cost one of London’s most important men his job goes to show how much damage this crisis may ultimately cause.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson quits [BBC]
Related: Ex-News International CEO Rebekah Brooks Arrested in Murdoch Hacking Scandal
WSJ Publisher Latest Casualty in News Corp. Scandal
