Ex-lawyer for tabloid denies hacking conspiracy

(AP) A lawyer representing the former legal adviser to the now-defunct News of the World tabloid says his client denies committing any criminal offense.

Henri Brandman said Friday that his client, Tom Crone, "has fully assisted the police in their inquiries" into phone hacking at Rupert Murdoch's former Sunday tabloid.

The 60-year-old Crone was arrested at his home Thursday on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications.

Crone, the News of the World's longtime lawyer, was among five executives criticized in a British lawmakers' report on the phone hacking scandal. The report said Crone gave false accounts of his knowledge of the extent of phone hacking at the tabloid.

Three parallel police investigations are running into Britain's phone hacking scandal, which has rocked the country's media and political elite.