Image copyright PA Image caption Max Clifford's custody mugshot was released by police after he was sentenced last year

Former celebrity publicist Max Clifford has been arrested by Operation Yewtree officers, the BBC understands.

Clifford, who is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence for indecent assault, is thought to have been interviewed by officers in connection with sexual offence allegations.

Scotland Yard said a 71-year-old man had been arrested "under the strand of the investigation we have termed 'Others'."

The Met Police has not named Clifford.

The man was interviewed at a Peterborough police station and inquiries are ongoing, the force said.

'Not new individual'

A Met Police spokesman said it had spoken to 17 people as part of Operation Yewtree, the investigation into sexual abuse claims launched in the wake of the Jimmy Savile scandal.

He added: "This is not a new individual to Operation Yewtree. This is not an 18th individual."

Clifford was the first person convicted under the operation.

In May 2014 he was jailed by Judge Anthony Leonard after being found guilty of assaulting four young women and girls, one of whom had been 15 at the time.

Clifford was given eight consecutive sentences of between six and 24 months and was told he had to serve at least half of his total sentence in prison.

Judge Leonard said at sentencing that some of the offences would have been charged as rape if they had happened under current guidelines and told Clifford he had groomed and degraded his victims.