According to a report published by the information commissioner, What Price Privacy Now? The News of The World journalists were, relatively speaking, the good boys and girls. In fact, it would appear that paying police officers for information, blagging and hacking are widespread practice in the world of journalism.

There is no doubt that as each day passes those individuals who know they have done wrong will feel slightly more nervous.

When the arrest of the first police officer for having accepted money for information takes place, Hackgate will unravel like a ball of wool at the paws of a kitten.

A police officer in prison serves his time in solitary confinement, for obvious reasons. As a former Home Secretary explained to me the other day, every police officer faced with that situation does everything he can to mitigate his circumstances and shorten his time behind bars.

If a police officer sold information to one journalist from one paper, he will very likely have sold information to others from other titles.

It will take one arrest of one police officer for the squealing to begin.