Morrisons employee arrested after major payroll leak

A MORRISONS employee has been arrested by police investigating the theft of payroll data.

The information, including bank account details of around 100,000 employees from director level downwards, was published online and sent on a disc to a newspaper, it is understood.

The criminal inquiry into the theft is being led by West Yorkshire Police.

In a statement today, West Yorkshire Police said: “Police investigating the theft of payroll data from Morrisons have arrested a man. The man is an employee of the company and has been arrested on suspicion of making or supplying an article for use in fraud.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Hooks, of Protective Services (Crime), said: “An employee of Morrisons has been arrested in Leeds this morning in connection with an investigation into the theft of data from the company.

“He is currently in custody.”

In a statement last week Morrisons said: “We can confirm there has been no loss of customer data and no colleague will be left financially disadvantaged.”

Morrisons found out about the theft on Thursday, just after it revealed it had slumped to a £176m loss last year and said it expects the challenging market to continue for the rest of this year.

The chain went from a profit of £879m the year before to a loss of £176m in the 12 months to February.