Third man arrested: Spurs deny involvement

A third man has been arrested in relation to the theft of private documents belonging to West Ham United vice-chair Karren Brady.

According to a story by Paul Kelso in the Telegraph, a former partner at PKF - the firm hired by Tottenham Hotspur to investigate the Olympic Stadium bidding process - was taken into custody on Wednesday and arrested on suspicion of fraud.

Howard Hill left PKF, an accountancy firm with 23 offices based across the UK that employs more than 1,500 partners, in December last year - four months after it was first revealed that West Ham United had called in Police to investigate the theft of personal records. Hill, who was employed by PKF as a senior corporate investigator, is understood to have been involved with the case.

The Sunday Times opened a can of worms back in July of last year when they ran a story accusing West Ham of corruption with regards to their Olympic Stadium bid.

The Times' story claimed that United had 'paid secret cash' to an employee of the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) - an employee was who later revealed to be involved in a personal relationship with a member of West Ham United's Olympic Stadium team.

Sensing foul play, West Ham launched their own investigation and within 48 hours released a statement confirming that they were taking legal action against both the newspaper and Tottenham Hotspur, who hired PKF. The OLPC called in Police a week later to investigate claims that its chief executive had had his telephone records stolen.

At the beginning of August, West Ham followed suit and confirmed they had also called in Police "with regard to the serious matter of a private investigator acting unlawfully, reportedly under instruction by Tottenham Hotspur".

Following the October collapse of West Ham United's move to Stratford, when the original decision to award the use of the Olympic Stadium post-2012 games was overturned, the Metropolitan Police arrested a 29-year-old man in connection with their investigation in November.

A second man, aged 39 from Surrey, was arrested a week later "on suspicion of fraud offences".

Spurs responded to the latest arrest with a brief statement. "Tottenham Hotspur did not instruct PKF to engage in any unlawful activity and PKF have confirmed that they did not," they said.