The arrest marks a dramatic fall from grace for Brooks, a woman both feared and courted by the British political establishment as she rose to the title of chief executive of News International, News Corp’s British subsidiary. She is a close personal friend of British Prime Minister David Cameron, with whom she was known to go horseback riding with in the town 75 miles from London where the two both own rural estates. Brooks headed Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid from 2000 to 2003, a time when the paper is said to have engaged in widespread phone hacking.

In 2003, Brooks admitted to Parliament that under her leadership News of the World had paid police officers for information—an admission that Scotland Yard paid little heed to at the time. But police officials now— under massive pressure amid widespread criticism of their cozy ties to News Corp and for ignoring long-standing allegations of broad corruption at News of the World —are intensifying their investigation, with Brooks the highest ranking of several News Corp. officials arrested in recent days. Brooks has denied any knowledge of phone hacking by the company.

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