Is this Armageddon for Murdoch and NewsCorp?

wjk wrote:Breaking News on Sky
She IS to be charged with perverting the course of justice!

She and her husband say, "We deplore this weak and unjust decision"

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16227865

WOW Wjk, that will put the cat among the Pigeons.!!!! I'm so pleased that Murdoch wasn't able to manipulate anyone to "pervert the course of justice

Thanks,.

Panda wrote:

wjk wrote:Breaking News on Sky
She IS to be charged with perverting the course of justice!

She and her husband say, "We deplore this weak and unjust decision"

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16227865

WOW Wjk, that will put the cat among the Pigeons.!!!! I'm so pleased that Murdoch wasn't able to manipulate anyone to "pervert the course of justice

Thanks,.

Isn't it excellent news! I really thought she'd get away with it.
I wonder whats in the documents she tried to get rid of?? Very interesting things to come.

Sky Sources: Rebekah Brooks To Be Charged
0 Comments
9:59am UK, Tuesday May 15, 2012

Former News Of The World editor Rebekah Brooks is expected to be charged with perverting the course of justice, according to Sky sources.
More to follow...

wjk wrote:

Panda wrote:

wjk wrote:Breaking News on Sky
She IS to be charged with perverting the course of justice!

She and her husband say, "We deplore this weak and unjust decision"

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16227865

WOW Wjk, that will put the cat among the Pigeons.!!!! I'm so pleased that Murdoch wasn't able to manipulate anyone to "pervert the course of justice

Thanks,.

Isn't it excellent news! I really thought she'd get away with it.
I wonder whats in the documents she tried to get rid of?? Very interesting things to come.

There are apparently 5 ex Employees waiting to hear if they are to be charged. what about the £1 million paid to the McCanns , we knew about the
£200,000 paid to The Sun, but not the £800,000 paid by the Times.

Just announced.

Rebekah Brooks to be chargged on 3 counts.

1. Perverting the course of Justice

2. Concealing material from the investigating Police.

3. Removal of 7 boxes of material.

2:36pm UK, Tuesday May 15, 2012

Mark White, home affairs correspondent

News International's former chief executive Rebekah Brooks has been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the phone-hacking scandal.
Brooks, who was News Of The World (NOTW) editor when the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's mobile phone were intercepted, faces three charges.

Her husband, racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, has been charged with two counts of the same offence.

Four other people, including News International's head of security, Mark Hanna, and Rebekah Brooks' former PA Cheryl Carter, also face counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice.



Rebekah Brooks married horserace trainer Charlie in 2009

The decision was announced by the director of public prosecutions' principal legal advisor, Alison Levitt QC, who said: "All the evidence has now carefully been considered.

"I have concluded that in relation to all suspects, except the seventh, there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction."

The charges include conspiring to conceal material from Scotland Yard detectives, conspiring to remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International and conspiring to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from detectives.

Ms Levitt said: "All these matters relate to the ongoing police investigation into allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News Of The World and The Sun newspapers."

Rebekah Brooks and her husband released a statement condemning the decision to charge them.

The couple said: "We have this morning been informed by the Office of the Department of Public Prosecutions that we are to be charged with perverting the course of justice.

"We deplore this weak and unjust decision. After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS we will respond later today after our return from the police station."

The charges are the first to be brought following Scotland Yard's multimillion-pound investigations into phone hacking, computer hacking and corruption, which have led to 50 arrests since they began in January last year.



The News Of The World newspaper was closed after 168 years

Police launched Operation Weeting, the inquiry devoted specifically to phone hacking, after receiving "significant new information" from News International on January 26 last year.

Operation Elveden was launched months later after officers were given documents suggesting News International journalists made illegal payments to police officers.

Officers also launched three related operations: the Sasha Inquiry into allegations of perverting the course of justice; Kilo, an inquiry into police leaks; and Tuleta, the investigation into computer-related offences, as the inquiry escalated.

Metropolitan Police figures showed there were 829 potential victims of phone hacking, of whom 231 were said to be uncontactable.

The scandal has already led to the closure of the NOTW after 168 years, prompted a major public inquiry, and forced the resignation of Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson and his assistant John Yates.

Rebekah Brooks and the others charged will appear at Westminster Magistrates Court in the coming days.

The decision from prosecutors comes just days after Mrs Brooks gave almost an entire day's evidence at the Leveson Inquiry into media standards.

When Rebekah left The Sun, Murdoch gave her £1.7 million, an Office and a Car.....was this because they both knew she was in trouble.?

He was reported to be very upset, looked on her as a Daughter, as was David Cameron who is a friend of Rebekahs' Husband. His charges are lesser so
one presumes he will serve a lesser Term. I think Murdoch will hire the best QC , but apparently this news has had no effect on shareprices of the
Murdoch Empire but the U.S.A. could find him unfit to run any Companies.

Statement from Mrs Brooks any time now on Sky news

wjk wrote:Statement from Mrs Brooks any time now on Sky news

Thanks wjk, Iv'e turned on the Sky News, reports this afternoon said they are outraged.!!!....on NOW.

Charlie Brooks says he is a scapegoat and his Wife dragged into this and a Witch Hunt against his Wife. Rebekah said she has always respected the Justice system and needs to know that it is a fair investigation, and baffled by the decision to try this case which has been an expensive side show.

Charlie says that 172 Police Officcers have been investigating and he is in no doubt that there is a lack of evidence.

Martin Brunt, outside the Building said the sentence can be life imprisonment if Rebekah is found guilty but doubts she would serve that if found guilty.
He did comment that he was surprised the couple were making a public statement in this mannner and felt the Public Prosecutor must have felt there
was a case to answer.

They both look surprised that THEY should be charged!
Obviously they think they are above the law!

wjk wrote:They both look surprised that THEY should be charged!
Obviously they think they are above the law!

wjk, this is a typical brazen it out couple, these are serious charges and I'm sure Murdoch would have coached them , he,s managed as has his Son
to not be charged with anything.

Mark Hanna and Paul Edwards, both Employees of News Intl have been suspended on full pay pending result of the charges of perverting the course of justice.

Rebekah Brooks and her husband , together with the other 4 will appear at Crown Court on 13th June because it is such a serious charge.

A 50yr old man and 43 yr old Woman have also been charged, not not about the hacking etc , I didn't catch the Firm, thought they said Customs?

Hanna, who is Rebekah's Chauffeur is suspended on full pay until his Trial is over,. Rebekah won't like that , now she will have to drive herself or get a taxi.

The cost of Operation Weeting so far is £9 million and £30 million has been budgeted for the next 3 years.

Rebekah Brooks, the close friend of News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch and former head of the company’s British publishing unit, was charged with trying to cover up the tabloid phone-hacking scandal.

Brooks, 43, faces three charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, Alison Levitt, the principal legal adviser to Britain’s Director of Public Prosecutions, said in London today. Brooks’s 49-year-old husband, Charlie, her former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, and three other people were also charged.

Enlarge image Ex-News Corp. Executive Charged Over Phone-Hack Cover-Up Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Rebecca Brooks leaves Lewisham police station on May 15, 2012 in London.

Rebecca Brooks leaves Lewisham police station on May 15, 2012 in London. Photographer: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Enlarge image Former CEO of News Corp.s British Publishing Unit Rebekah Brooks Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Former CEO of News Corp.s British publishing unit Rebekah Brooks, seen here right, with her husband Charlie, left, as they exit the Royal Courts of Justice after testifying at the Leveson enquiry.

Former CEO of News Corp.s British publishing unit Rebekah Brooks, seen here right, with her husband Charlie, left, as they exit the Royal Courts of Justice after testifying at the Leveson enquiry. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg
Brooks conspired “to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from officers,” and “remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News International,” in the police investigations into phone hacking and bribery of public officials at the News of the World and the Sun tabloids, prosecutors said.

The phone-hacking scandal prompted News Corp. to close the News of the World and drop its 7.8 billion-pound ($12.5 billion) bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc. (BSY) The charges against Brooks come four days after she testified at a media inquiry triggered by the scandal about her ties to Murdoch, Prime Minister David Cameron and other politicians.

Brooks is “baffled by the decision to charge” her and said in a televised statement that, “as details of the case emerge, people will see today as an expensive sideshow, and a waste of public money, as a result of this weak and unjust decision.”

‘Scapegoats’
Her husband, standing next to her, said the charges are “an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which is to ratchet up the pressure on my wife, who I believe is the subject of a witch hunt.”

Charlie Brooks said that, while he has “grave doubts” that his wife will get a fair trial, they will fight the case.

The charges against Brooks, which relate to events from July, are the first in the expanded police investigation into phone hacking, which began in January of last year. The charge, which can be related to destroying evidence or deliberately misleading a court or investigation, carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, according to prosecutors.

The CPS decided “there is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction” in regards to the defendants, Levitt said. The defendants were told to report to police stations today to face the charges.

Driver, Guard
Brooks’s personal assistant, Carter; the former head of security at News International, Mark Hanna; Brooks’s chauffeur, Paul Edwards, and former News International security guard Daryl Jorsling, were also charged in the cover-up, Levitt said.

Carter, 48, was charged with one count of perverting the course of justice at Basildon Police Station. She “vigorously denies the commission of that or any offense,” her lawyer, Henri Brandman, said in a statement.

Edwards, 47, of London, was charged at Belgravia Police Station today. Hanna, 49, from Buckinghamshire, reported to Bethnal Green Police Station to face the charge, and Jorsling, 39, was charged with one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice at Sutton police station, the Metropolitan police said. Brooks and her husband, who live in Oxfordshire, were charged at police stations in Lewisham and Hammersmith.

Brooks resigned from News International in July when it was revealed that News of the World journalists accessed messages on the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler while Brooks was editor of the tabloid. She was arrested by police for the first time a few days after she stepped down.

March Arrest
Police arrested Brooks again on March 13 in the probe into the perversion of justice. Her husband and Hanna were also arrested at the time.

At the inquiry last week, which is probing the relationship between the press and politicians, Brooks was asked about her friendship with Cameron, a neighbor in Oxfordshire. She said Cameron sent her an “indirect” message offering her support when she resigned.

In the years before the scandal, she said she exchanged text messages with him about once a week, prior to him being elected. That increased to about twice a week during the 2010 general election.

Cameron signed off his texts with “LOL, for lots of love,” Brooks said at the inquiry led by Judge Brian Leveson. He stopped doing so after she told him it meant “laugh out loud,” she said.

No Discussion
Cameron’s spokesman declined to comment on the arrests, citing the continuing police investigation. Cameron wasn’t informed in advance and there was no discussion of the subject in this morning’s Cabinet meeting, the spokesman, Steve Field, told reporters in London.

Leveson’s inquiry is in addition to parliamentary probes and police investigations that have expanded to include bribery of public officials and computer hacking and have resulted in about 45 arrests.

Prosecutors received evidence from the Met Police on March 27 in relation to seven suspects. The seventh, who provided security for Brooks on behalf of News International, wasn’t charged. The six who were charged will have their first court appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court in London on June 13, prosecutors said.

Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with News Corp. units in providing financial news and information.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-16/murdoch-made-brooks-a-priority-in-his-scandal-as-did-prosecutors.html



Rupert Murdoch Made Brooks a Priority, As Did Prosecutors (Update 2)

By Greg Farrell - May 16, 2012 8:49 PM GMT+0100
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..
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch arrived in London last July to take charge of a burgeoning phone-hacking scandal and was asked by reporters what his priority was.

“This one,” the 81-year-old media mogul snapped, gesturing to red-haired Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive of his company’s U.K. publishing business, who was standing at his side.







News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, left, is seen with Rebekah Brooks, right, in London in July, 2011. Photographer: Max Nash/AFP/Getty Images









Yesterday Rebekah Brooks became the highest ranking News Corp. executive to be charged in the 17-month-old investigation that has seen about 50 people arrested on suspicion of involvement in voice-mail intrusion, police bribery or computer-hacking. Photographer: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
.
Prosecutors in London, it turns out, had the same priority.

Yesterday Brooks, 43, became the highest ranking News Corp. executive to be charged in the 17-month-old investigation that has seen about 50 people arrested on suspicion of involvement in voice-mail intrusion, police bribery or computer-hacking.

One of six defendants who include her husband and her former assistant, she is accused of obstruction and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by destroying e-mails and other relevant evidence. She denied the charges. Her husband, Charlie, described the prosecution as a “witch hunt.”

From Murdoch there was uncharacteristic silence. Just a year ago, the media titan threw all his support behind Brooks, designating her as the company’s main line of defense against the widening phone-hacking probe.

He spoke out on her behalf last July, even after it was revealed that phone-hacking had taken place on her watch as editor of the News of the World. He accepted her resignation July 15 with regret and refused to blame her during his subsequent testimony before Parliament.

When the London media ran titillating stories in February that Brooks had received a retired police horse for her own personal use, Murdoch came to her defense, writing in Twitter messages: “Now they are complaining about R Brooks saving an old horse from the glue factory!”

Rupert Blamed Others

Even last month, giving testimony before a judge-led inquiry into media ethics, Murdoch refused to blame Brooks for problems linked to her watch at his London tabloids. He assigned blame to a former lawyer and another editor at News of the World.

With Brooks now accused of trying to obstruct Scotland Yard’s inquiry into phone hacking and police bribery and not of those scandal crimes themselves, Murdoch is learning the price of standing by one of his favorite editors at all costs.

“It’s fascinating how people reciprocate loyalties,” said Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of the Yale School of Management. “Murdoch stands by his people. When he puts his trust in you, it takes a lot to shake it.”

Murdoch’s willingness to allow Brooks to manage the company’s initial response to the phone-hacking matter demonstrates the perils of a dual-class stock structure that gives him almost complete personal control over the publicly traded company, said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.

Murdoch Not Accountable

“Your accountability is effectively to yourself” in such situations, Elson said. “If you’re accountable to a board and investors, you tend to be more circumspect than if you’re not. In the end, the harm to you is nothing, since the problem of losing control of your business is non-existent. The consequences to you are much less severe than in a standard corporate structure because there’s nothing they can do.”

From the moment the police investigation was begun in January 2011, Brooks seemed to misjudge the gravity of challenges she and New York-based News Corp. (NWSA) faced, according to people familiar with her conduct who gave the following account. She retained BCL Burton Copeland, the same law firm that successfully contained a 2006 police inquiry into voice-mail hacking.

Lack of Cooperation

By April, Sue Akers, the deputy assistant commissioner in charge of the Scotland Yard inquiry, expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of cooperation she was getting from the firm. Brooks sent two newly hired deputies, William Lewis and Simon Greenberg, to meet with Akers to make amends.

At the same time, internal evidence emerged at News International, News Corp.’s U.K. unit, that police bribery had also taken place at News of the World to secure tips.

Brooks assured two members of Murdoch’s management team in New York, Joel Klein, the head of News Corp.’s education division, and Lon Jacobs, the general counsel, that everything was under control, even with the newly discovered evidence of bribery.

The men retained Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly LLP, one of the top criminal defense lawyers in the U.S., to advise the company. Last May, Brooks flew to Washington to meet one-on-one with Sullivan. A senior News Corp. executive described her as “very persuasive” in her discussions with Sullivan and other members of top management.

May Dinner

A week later, Murdoch convened a dinner at his townhouse in London at which Sullivan set the ground rules for how the crisis would be handled. He expressed confidence in Brooks, and her ability to manage the company’s relationship with the police.

Sullivan cautioned the attendees, who included News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey and Deputy Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch, that Brooks might wind up getting charged as a result of the inquiry. Based on the information available to him, those charges wouldn’t be warranted, he said.

Sullivan also advised Brooks to retain her own lawyer. Brooks complied, but instead of hiring an attorney outside the circle of law firms already engaged on the matter, she asked Ian Burton, the lead partner of Burton Copeland, to represent her personally.

Brooks didn’t appear to grasp the potential conflict that might ensue if her personal interests ever deviated from the interests of News International, according to a News Corp. executive with direct knowledge of the matter.

Close to Murdochs

Brooks joined News of the World in 1989, the year she turned 21. In 1995, she was promoted to deputy editor of the paper and three years later, named deputy editor of The Sun, a more powerful position in the world of Murdoch tabloids.

In 2000, she became editor of News of the World. In 2003, she returned to The Sun, this time as editor. Over the next several years, she cultivated a strong relationship with Rupert Murdoch, occasionally joining him and his family on vacations and socializing with him during his visits to London.

In 2007, James Murdoch was named chairman and chief executive, Europe and Asia for News Corp. as well as executive chairman, News International, the News Corp. unit which published both tabloids, as well as The Times and The Sunday Times. Brooks began working with the younger Murdoch, who didn’t share his father’s affection for newspapers.

In 2009, she succeeded James Murdoch as chief executive of News International, while he took on more global responsibilities. Brooks was one of the few people who moved easily between James Murdoch’s circle of top managers in London and Rupert Murdoch’s top lieutenants in New York, according to a former senior executive who worked with her in London.

Fiercely Competitive

She was fiercely competitive and responded directly to any challenges facing her company. When The Guardian first reported, in July 2009, that hacking hadn’t been confined to a single “rogue reporter,” as News Corp. had insisted, Brooks declared that The Guardian had “substantially and likely deliberately misled the British public.”

At the same time, her position atop the company that published Murdoch’s U.K. newspapers also gave her political clout. In 2009, she blew off a request from a Parliamentary committee that she testify about the problem of phone hacking.

Her resignation from News International, where she had worked for 22 years, came only after revelations in The Guardian last July that phone hacking had occurred at News of the World when she was in charge.

Brooks’ exit from News International may have been softened by a compensation package which -- for executives at her level in the company -- usually includes a car and driver, as well as fees for legal representation and public relations services.

Daisy Dunlop, a spokeswoman for News International, and David Wilson, Brooks’ spokesman, declined to comment on any separation package.

Ever Loyal

Despite the circumstances of her departure, Brooks appears to remain loyal to Murdoch. At the Royal Courts of Justice last week, where the Leveson Inquiry into media ethics is being held, Brooks was interrogated at length about the power she amassed through her position as the head of News International.

Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with News Corp. units in providing financial news and information.

Brooks defended herself against allegations that she used her access to Prime Minister David Cameron to argue on behalf of News Corp.’s attempt to buy the 61 percent of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc (BSY) that the company didn’t already own.

She insisted she argued in favor of the BSkyB bid only in response to what she described as an extraordinary “anti-Sky bid alliance” that had formed against Murdoch.

‘Gossipy’ Questions

Brooks also took issue with what she described as “gossipy” questions from Robert Jay, the lead lawyer for the inquiry, regarding the closeness of her relationship with Murdoch.

“I think a lot of it’s gender-based,” she said. “I think that my relationship with Mr. Murdoch -- if I was a grumpy old man of Fleet Street, no one would write the first thing about it, but perhaps otherwise I get a lot of this criticism and gossip.”

Jay was unmoved by Brooks’s suggestion that his questions were “gossipy” in nature.

“Same sort of stuff one reads or did read in the News of the World and continues to read in The Sun,” he said. “Isn’t that true?”

“Yes, but we’re not in a tabloid newsroom now, are we?” Brooks replied.

Nor may she ever be again if convicted.

To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Farrell in New York at gregfarrell@bloomberg.net

"A week later, Murdoch convened a dinner at his townhouse in London at which Sullivan set the ground rules for how the crisis would be handled. He expressed confidence in Brooks, and her ability to manage the company’s relationship with the police.

Sullivan cautioned the attendees, who included News Corp. Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey and Deputy Chief Operating Officer James Murdoch, that Brooks might wind up getting charged as a result of the inquiry. Based on the information available to him, those charges wouldn’t be warranted, he said.

Sullivan also advised Brooks to retain her own lawyer. Brooks complied, but instead of hiring an attorney outside the circle of law firms already engaged on the matter, she asked Ian Burton, the lead partner of Burton Copeland, to represent her personally.

Brooks didn’t appear to grasp the potential conflict that might ensue if her personal interests ever deviated from the interests of News International, according to a News Corp. executive with direct knowledge of the matter. "


So Sullivan sis not consider the charges warranted "based on the information available to him". would that be because he wasn't told about the
evidence removed?"

News Corp.’s Seven Boxes Spirited Away During Key Week
By Greg Farrell and Erik Larson - May 17, 2012 6:59 PM GMT+0100 Facebook Share LinkedIn Google +1 2 Comments
Print QUEUEQ
Last July when London prosecutors claim Rebekah Brooks was attempting to hide seven boxes of relevant evidence from a police probe, the former top lieutenant of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. was dealing with the crisis point of the phone-hacking scandal under investigation.

According to the Crown Prosecution Service, Brooks allegedly conspired with Cheryl Carter, her personal assistant, to remove the boxes from the premises of News International, the News Corp. U.K. unit she headed, between Wednesday July 6 and Saturday July 9.

Enlarge image News Corp. Seven Boxes Spirited Away During Pivotal Hacking Week Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Rebekah Brooks leaves her solicitors office in London.

Rebekah Brooks leaves her solicitors office in London. Photographer: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images
Enlarge image News Corp. Seven Boxes Spirited Away During Pivotal Hacking Week Max Nash/AFP/Getty Images
News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, left, is seen with Rebekah Brooks, right, in London in July, 2011.

News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, left, is seen with Rebekah Brooks, right, in London in July, 2011. Photographer: Max Nash/AFP/Getty Images
News International and the London Metropolitan Police Service, which has been collecting evidence related to phone- hacking and other illegal activities at Murdoch-owned newspapers in the U.K., declined to comment on the contents of the boxes or to explain how they know about their removal.

The alleged actions of the women, who both deny the charges, took place during a week that began with the publication of a July 4 article in The Guardian. The paper reported that representatives of the Murdoch-owned tabloid News of the World had hacked into the voicemail of a phone belonging to Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old girl who had been abducted and murdered in 2002.

This week, Brooks, 43, became the highest ranking News Corp. (NWSA) executive to be charged in the 17-month-old investigation that has seen about 50 people arrested on suspicion of involvement in voice-mail intrusion, police bribery or computer- hacking.

The Guardian story provoked a furor over reporter behavior at the tabloid and created a public relations disaster for News International, publisher of News of the World and The Sun.

‘Get to the Bottom’
The company was already cooperating with a police inquiry into allegations of phone-hacking and police bribery at News of the World dating back to 2005 and 2006.

Brooks testified before Parliament that as soon as she learned of the Dowler incident, she wrote to the family to offer her apologies and pledged “to get to the bottom of the allegations.”

The Guardian story altered Brooks’s status at the company. For the previous five months, the News International chief executive had been responsible for managing its response to the police investigation. With the Dowler matter, there was evidence that phone hacking had taken place at News of the World as far back as 2002, when Brooks had been the paper’s editor.

On Wednesday, July 6, Murdoch issued a statement pledging full cooperation with the police investigations.

“That is exactly what News International has been doing and will continue to do under Rebekah Brooks’s leadership,” he said in a statement.

Joel Klein
Murdoch said he was appointing Joel Klein, head of New York-based News Corp.’s education unit, to “provide oversight and guidance” to News International’s efforts to clean up its problems.

The assignment for Klein, a former assistant attorney general in the U.S. Justice Department and the ex-chancellor of New York City’s schools, came after Brooks appeared to have a conflict in investigating a matter in which she might be a possible participant. Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, competes with News Corp. units in providing financial news and information.

On July 7, a day after Brooks and her assistant allegedly began taking the boxes out of the News International archive, Rupert Murdoch’s son James, chairman of News International and deputy chief operating officer of the parent company, announced News of the World would be shut down following publication of that weekend’s edition.

Paper Closing
On Friday July 8, Brooks met with employees of the tabloid. She explained the paper had to be closed because it had lost the confidence of readers and advertisers. She told employees, many of whom were about to lose their jobs, that a year from that time, it would be clear why the paper had to be closed.

Saturday July 9 is the date by which the last of the seven boxes of material were allegedly moved from the News International archive, according to the prosecutors’ charging summary. That was also the day when the final edition of the News of the World went to press, featuring the headline, “THANK YOU & GOODBYE.”

During the following week, Brooks’s position atop News International eroded. Rupert Murdoch declared upon arriving in London that weekend that his priority was to support her. According to her testimony as well as Murdoch’s, she offered to resign several times that week but he refused to accept. It was only on Friday, July 15, that she got her way.

In-House Security
When the police learned of Brooks’ impending departure, they asked William Lewis, general manager of the unit’s newspapers and the primary liaison with Scotland Yard, to have her office secured.

Members of News International’s in-house security team accompanied Brooks on her final visit to her 10th floor office. After her departure, the premises were secured.

From the day she left News International through the following Tuesday, July 19, when she testified before Parliament, Brooks and five others, including her husband, Charlie, allegedly sought to “conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment” from Scotland Yard, according to prosecutors.

On Sunday, July 17, Brooks was arrested at her apartment in West London. The police searched her home at that time, standard procedure during previous arrests in the same probe, according to a News Corp. person familiar with the matter.

Brooks was arrested that day because the police wanted to limit her ability to testify before Parliament at an upcoming session about matters under investigation, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Bag Found
The following day, Monday July 18, The Guardian reported that a bag containing a computer, some paperwork and a phone had been found in a parking garage below a shopping center near Brooks’s home.

When Charlie Brooks tried to retrieve the bag, claiming that he owned the material inside, a security guard refused to release it and called the police, the Guardian reported.

Brooks and her husband lashed out at prosecutors the day they were accused, saying they were “baffled by the decision to charge” her in the matter, and describing the case as “an expensive sideshow” and “a witch hunt.”

“Prosecutors would have to prove she moved the boxes and then prove the information in them was detrimental to her,” said Mark Spragg, a civil and criminal litigation lawyer with Keystone Law in London. “They’re saying she’s covered her tracks illegally to prevent her being prosecuted for the actual offense of phone hacking. It seems back-to-front. I think that’s why she’s complaining bitterly about it.”

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/londoners-diary/brooks-the-barrister-and-old-school-ties-7778165.html

Brooks, the barrister and old school ties

Are they really all in this together? When Rebekah Brooks appeared at the Leveson Inquiry 10 days ago, she had at her side hotshot barrister Hugo Keith QC. That is unremarkable in itself except that her barrister hails from Three Raymond Buildings, the chambers headed by Alexander Cameron, the elder brother of the Prime Minister.

The Londoner wondered whether the old school tie has been tugged. Rebekah, the former chief executive of News International, has been charged with perverting the course of justice along with her horse-training husband Charlie Brooks. He and Alexander were exact contemporaries at Eton, while Dave chillaxed three years below them. Brooks has kept up with Alexander. Writing an article for GQ in 2009, he picked out the QC as “the star of our pack”.

“I thought he’d do well in politics but it was to the bar that he went,” wrote Charlie. “He was so young when he took silk, he practically still had his milk teeth.”

It may have been a bit awkward on a number of fronts for Alexander, an expert in criminal law, to represent the wife of his old friend Charlie. However, it is not unusual for a senior barrister to recommend someone else in his chambers if he felt he were unable to take the case.

And young Hugo Keith has one specialism that Alexander Cameron lacks. He does human rights law, something that Rebekah is on record as despising, but may find useful if she uses Keith to defend her against charges of perverting the course of justice.

Also tweeted yesterday:

lisa o'carroll‏@lisaocarroll

Mandelson confirms that Rebekah Brooks came to him to c if he could get murdoch critic MP Tom Watson 'pulled off' select committee

Thanks chrissie....interesting to say the least. Tom Watson had his sights set on the Murdochs before the CCC Meeting. He bought shares in Newscorp so he could attend the AGM. As long as the Murdochs own 70% of the shares they are untouchable, but they could face censure in the States and be
forced to dilute their shareholding .

Perverting the course of Justice is a serious offence but you can bet every effort will be made to prove Rebekah Wade innocent of all charges, let's hope the Police have a watertight case.

Adam Smith (left) with Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt
8:32am UK, Thursday May 24, 2012

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt will come under fresh pressure today as his former special adviser gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.
Adam Smith, who resigned last month over his contact with News Corporation lobbyist Frederic Michel, will be quizzed about how the department handled the BSkyB bid.

Mr Michel will also appear before the inquiry, where he will be asked whether he exaggerated his contact with the Government.

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A 163-page dossier of emails between News Corp and Mr Hunt's office was revealed in evidence to the inquiry into media ethics last month.

They showed there had been close contact between Mr Smith and Mr Michel when the Culture Secretary was in charge of a quasi-judicial process to decide if News Corp's takeover of BSkyB should go ahead.

Mr Smith, in his resignation statement, admitted going too far and that his actions had created a perception that News Corp and the department were "too close".



Adam Smith pictured with Jeremy Hunt

Mr Hunt says he was unaware of the extent of the contact and that he acted with "scrupulous fairness" but Labour have called for him to quit.

Prime Minister David Cameron has rejected calls for a new inquiry into the affair and given the minister his support.

On Friday, the top civil servant at Mr Hunt's Department of Culture, Media and Sport is also due to give evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.

Permanent secretary Jonathan Stephens was dragged into the BSkyB row when Mr Hunt repeatedly told MPs that the civil servant had "approved" the arrangements for maintaining a line of communication with News Corp.

But Mr Stephens declined to confirm that when he subsequently appeared before the Commons Public Accounts Committee.

He said in a later letter that he was "aware and content" of Mr Smith's involvement.

News Corp lobbyist Frederic Michel giving his evidence
1:39pm UK, Thursday May 24, 2012

News Corporation lobbyist Frederic Michel has said he had the "impression" Jeremy Hunt was aware of details being passed on to him about the BSkyB takeover bid.
Mr Michel, appearing at the Leveson Inquiry, says he thought some of the "feedback" he was getting from Mr Hunt's special adviser Adam Smith had been "discussed" with his boss.

The lobbyist is being quizzed about his contact with Mr Smith, who has already quit his job because of the affair, following the emergence of a dossier of emails between the pair last month.

The Leveson inquiry was told Mr Michel made 191 telephone calls, sent 158 emails and 799 texts to Mr Hunt's team between the bid being announced in 2010 and July 2011 when it was shelved.

Of those, more than 90% were exchanged with Mr Smith, although some were with the Culture Secretary himself - including praising his performances on television and in the Commons.

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7:50am UK, Friday May 25, 2012

Jon Craig, chief political correspondent

Pressure on Jeremy Hunt over the BSkyB takeover bid will intensify later when the top civil servant in his department gives evidence to the Leveson Inquiry.
Jonathan Stephens, permanent secretary at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, will be quizzed about the contacts between Mr Hunt's special adviser, Adam Smith, and News Corp lobbyist Fred Michel.



News Corp's Fred Michel gave evidence on Thursday

He will be challenged over claims by Mr Hunt in a Commons statement on April 25 that his permanent secretary had approved the communications between Mr Smith and Mr Michel.

But when he appeared before the Public Accounts Committee of MPs, Mr Stephens repeatedly refused to say whether he had approved the arrangement. Then later, in a statement, he said he was "aware and content" of Mr Smith's involvement.

Mr Smith, the 30-year-old former special adviser who resigned last month after admitting his contacts with Mr Michel had got too close, will also continue giving evidence today.

:: More on the Leveson Inquiry

In his evidence on Thursday, Mr Smith insisted he had not been given any specific instructions by Mr Hunt or civil servants on his role in the quasi-judicial decision on BSkyB, owner of Sky News.

:: See live updates from the Leveson Inquiry from 9.30am