THE former editor of the Daily Mirror has been interviewed by police investigating alleged phone hacking.

A 51-year-old understood to be Richard Wallace went to a police station in south London yesterday and was questioned by detectives from Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's investigation into phone hacking.

Mr Wallace was deputy editor of the Sunday title between 2003 and 2004, before taking over at the Daily Mirror for eight years.

It follows the arrests of four current and former Trinity Mirror journalists in early morning raids on Thursday.

People editor James Scott and deputy editor Nick Buckley were held, along with former editor of the Sunday Mirror Tina Weaver and former deputy editor of the newspaper Mark Thomas.

They were all released on bail until April.

Scotland Yard said the alleged conspiracy is being treated separately from the two plots being investigated at the now defunct News of the World, and its inquiry is focused on the Sunday Mirror in 2003 and 2004.

Officers said they plan to make contact with potential victims of the suspected hacking in due course, and have appealed to anyone who thinks they may have fallen prey to get in touch.

Four civil claims have been lodged against the Mirror Group over alleged phone hacking, which it is contesting.

Media lawyer Mark Lewis is dealing with phone-hacking claims for four high-profile individuals – former England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, Coronation Street actress Shobna Gulati, Abbie Gibson, former nanny for the Beckhams, and Garry Flitcroft, former captain of Blackburn Rovers.