In London, police have arrested a former aide to British Prime Minister David Cameron for his involvement in the mobile phone-hacking scandal that has shut down the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid News of the World, one of England's most popular newspapers.

Andy Coulson, 43, who was Cameron's senior aide and communications chief until last week, turned himself in to London Metro Police at 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Coulson was being investigated by police for his role in two ongoing official inquires, Operation Weeting and Operation Elveden, the code names for the phone-hacking and police payment scandals, respectively.

Coulson served as editor of News of the World from 2003-2007, years when the News International subsidiary was allegedly hacking cell phones and bribing police officers for information.

Cameron hired Coulson even though he knew that the police were in the midst of investigating him.

I decided to give him a second chance, Cameron said. The decision to hire him was mine and mine alone and I take full responsibility.

Cameron has been very vocal about his disgust with the mobile hacking controversy.

I cannot think what was going through the minds of the people who did this, Cameron said.

Action will be taken to get to the bottom of the specific revelations and allegations, the P.M. added. Action will be taken to learn the wider lessons for the future of the press in our country.

The news comes just one day after Murdoch's decision to close the News of the World for good. The 168-year-old weekly tabloid, which Murdoch purchased in 1969, will run its final issue ever on Sunday.

Controversy has surrounded the tabloid in recent weeks after it was revealed that the company had been hacking the cell phones of as many as one thousand people, according to some reports. Most shocking, in 2002 News of the World apparently hacked the cell phone of Milly Dowler, a missing girl who was eventually found murdered. They also are said to have looked into the calls and text messages of celebrities like Hugh Grant and Sienna Miller, as well as the families of soldiers who died overseas.

Coulson's arrest is the sixth, and most high-profile, to come from the scandal. The police investigation officially opened in January, but is likely to get more serious in coming weeks.

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