A UNIVERSITY lecturer from the North-East was arrested today over phone-hacking at the News of the World.

Bethany Usher, who worked at the axed Sunday tabloid and its former rival the People, is being questioned in custody at a police station in Northumbria, sources said.

The 31-year-old - who was questioned by officers in 2006 on suspicion of providing false information for a job at Buckingham Palace - becomes the 17th arrest under Scotland Yards Operation Weeting.

Officers said the suspect was being held this morning in connection with conspiring to intercept communications.

Ms Usher, who worked in the newspaper industry for seven years, is currently a senior journalism lecturer at Teesside University.

Ms Usher studied at Leeds University before getting her first job as a trainee reporter on the Sunderland Echo.

According to her biography on the university's website: "Bethany has won four awards and was named young journalist of the year in 2003."

Regarding her arrest, a spokesman for the university said: "We cannot comment on an ongoing investigation."