Scotland Yard has accused News International of undermining its inquiry into police corruption by leaking confidential details of investigations to the media. NI has orchestrated a "deliberate campaign to undermine the investigation into alleged payments by corrupt journalists to corrupt police officers and divert attention from elsewhere", the Met said in a statement.

"[We are] extremely concerned and disappointed that the continuous release of selected information – that is only known by a small number of people – could have a significant impact on the corruption investigation," the statement went on.

The final straw for officers was the article published on Monday in the London Evening Standard alleging that the News of the World paid officers for personal information about the Queen and other prominent members of the royal family.

But a drip-drip of stories in recent days has infuriated the police. In the most dramatic instance, fears of a leak forced them to bring forward their arrest of former NoW editor Andy Coulson and the paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman.

The police say the information being leaked comes from documents handed over by NI executives and their legal team at meetings over the past few weeks. They said it was agreed to keep the information confidential "so that [the police] could pursue various lines of inquiry, identify those responsible without alerting them and secure best evidence".

All parties at the meetings agreed the information on the table was to be kept out of the public eye until early August, when the police must hand over all relevant information to those pursuing hacking claims against NI. At that point, suspects will be able to see what evidence the police have and will be able to prepare their defence accordingly.