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A senior Metropolitan Police detective has been charged with offering information to the News of the World (NoW) newspaper.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Det Ch Insp April Casburn had been charged with misconduct in a public office and will appear in court next month.

She is the first person charged in connection with Operation Elveden, which is investigating alleged links between the police and press.

The NoW was closed in July 2011.

Det Ch Insp Casburn is accused of offering to give the paper information in September 2010 and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 1 October for an initial hearing.

Alison Levitt, the CPS's principal legal adviser, said: "The CPS received a file of evidence from the Metropolitan Police Service which arose from Operation Elveden in relation to April Casburn. Ms Casburn is employed by the Metropolitan Police Service as a detective chief inspector in specialist operations.

"We have concluded, having carefully considered the file of evidence, that there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and that it is in the public interest to charge DCI Casburn with misconduct in public office."

The BBC's home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw said Det Ch Insp Casburn was the former head of the National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit.

She is thought to have worked as a fraud expert at the City of London Police, prior to joining the Met.

Fifty people, including the former NoW editor and ex-Downing Street communications chief Andy Coulson, and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, have been arrested as part of Operation Elveden. But other than Det Ch Insp Casburn, no-one has yet been charged.