by Breaking Celebrity News Staff

Rebekah Brooks, Rupert Murdock’s top executive and close confidante arrested this weekend in connection with the News of the World phone hacking scandal, has now been released on bail.

Brooks, 43, was arrested and detained for twelve hours on Sunday. Her arrest came after she "voluntarily attended a London police station to assist with their ongoing investigation," according to a statement released on her behalf.

According to her spokesman David Wilson, Brooks' meeting with the police was arranged, but she was "not aware she was going to be arrested."

Brooks --  considered to be like a daughter to Murdoch -- edited the News of World from 2000 to 2003, when much of the phone hacking took place. It’s been alleged that the paper’s reporters hacked the cell phones of 4,000 people, including celebrities, a murdered child and the relatives of slain British soldiers.