UK tabloid journalist cleared of bribery charge

A former journalist with media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid The Sun was today cleared of paying a government official for stories, following a trial triggered by the phone-hacking scandal.
Clodagh Hartley, a 40-year-old mother of two, burst into tears and mouthed "thank you" to the jury after it found her not guilty of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
She was accused of paying about USD 27,000 over three years to a press officer at the tax service in return for leaks of economic information, including on the 2010 budget.
Hartley's lawyer Alexandra Healy said the journalist made no secret of arranging payments for Hall and had no idea it was illegal, defending her stories as in the public interest.

"She was doing her job. She did it well. She did what was asked of her and everybody knew what she was doing," she said.
Jonathan Hall, the 43-year-old press officer, has pleaded guilty to the offence and is due to be sentenced in February.

His girlfriend Marta Bukarewicz, 45, who let Hall use her bank account, was also cleared.
Hartley was arrested in 2012 as part of Operation Elveden, a wide police investigation into allegations of inappropriate payments to police and public officials.
It was opened in the fallout from the scandal over phone-hacking at the News of the World tabloid, which Murdoch shut down in disgrace in July 2011.