Suspect in Pippa royal photo 'hack' bailed by UK police

London: A suspected hacker was bailed by British police following reports that 3,000 photographs had been stolen from Pippa Middleton, sister-in-law of Prince William, and were up for sale.

The pictures were reported by The Sun and Daily Mail newspapers to have been stolen from Middleton's iCloud account and included shots of her sister Kate, plus her and William's children Prince George, three, and Princess Charlotte, one.

The Sun said it had been asked for USD 65,000 for the shots, after someone contacted the newspaper via the encrypted messaging service WhatsApp.

London's Metropolitan Police said on yesterday a 35-year-old man arrested a day earlier had been released on bail, to return to a police station in the British capital in late November.

Police said the suspect, whom they did not name, was arrested in the central English county of Northamptonshire on suspicion of a Computer Misuse Act offence.

Detectives received a report on Friday regarding the alleged hacking of a personal iCloud account, police said, without naming Middleton as the victim.

Pippa Middleton, 33, is the younger sister of Kate and found fame after acting as bridesmaid at the 2011 royal wedding.

She is engaged to hedge fund boss James Matthews and the couple are expected to marry next year. The allegedly hacked photos also reportedly included shots of her own wedding preparations.

William and Kate and their two children started an eight-day tour of western Canada on Saturday.