Met police reopen investigation into phone hacking at News of the World; Murdoch tabloid gives 'significant new evidence' to Scotland Yard as senior newsman Ian Edmondson is sacked

Shortly afterwards the paper announced that it had sacked its assistant editor (news), Ian Edmondson. This came hard on the heels of the arrival in London of its proprietor, Rupert Murdoch, said to be in town to deal with both the phone-hacking scandal that has engulfed the paper and his corporation's bid to take complete control of BSkyB.

The sacking, and the new police investigation, come after 18 months of Guardian reports into allegations of widespread phone hacking at the News of the World.

Until shortly before Christmas the paper had always alleged that only one rogue reporter and a private investigator were involved in the practice, and the police had repeatedly insisted that there was no evidence available to link any other News Corporation employees with hacking.

Tonight a source close to the new police investigation said the latest evidence passed to the Metropolitan police so far amounted to only a small number of emails, although detectives believe there may be many more.

"It's hard to believe these are the only ones. There may be a shedload of shit still to come," said one source.

Part of the fresh police inquiry will look at whether this new evidence should have been uncovered by the original investigation, undertaken by the Met's former assistant commissioner Andy Hayman. Some officers are understood to feel that Hayman's team did not investigate sufficiently thoroughly at the time.