Is this Armageddon for Murdoch and NewsCorp?

A QUESTION SKY SPORTS HAS CEASED TO BROADCAST,BUT THEY ARE STILL SPONSORING A SPORTS CHARITY,WHAT GOING ON THERE?

I didn't know Sky sport had ceased broadcasting, When was that?

wjk wrote:I didn't know Sky sport had ceased broadcasting, When was that?

since the start of july. In the programme menu on freeview it just says "ceased broadcasting".

Iris wrote:

wjk wrote:I didn't know Sky sport had ceased broadcasting, When was that?

since the start of july.  In the programme menu on freeview it just says "ceased broadcasting".

Oh right, I hadn't heard that, thanks Iris.

Fiona Hamilton ‏@Fhamiltontimes 1m

Phone hacking trial of Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson + others has been adjourned until Oct 28 for legal reasons (was due to start Sept 9)


It'll be after Christmas at this rate.....

chrissie wrote:Fiona Hamilton ‏@Fhamiltontimes 1m

Phone hacking trial of Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson + others has been adjourned until Oct 28 for legal reasons (was due to start Sept 9)


It'll be after Christmas at this rate.....

Thanks for the info chrissie.....I was just ready to follow the Trial with interest....wonder what the Legal reasons can be that can cause a 5 week delay.Both Parties have had plenty of time to get their act together. I am very suspicious now that the Trial will be held in camera or something because of Cameron's friendship with Rebekah.

Call for Murdoch to quit as Fox chairman

Media chief facing fresh investor revolt and calls for his sons James and Lachlan to step down from board of 21st Century Fox.







A spokesman for 21st Century Fox said ISS’s analysis was “completely out of touch with reality” Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque









By Katherine Rushton, US Business Editor

12:01AM BST 09 Oct 2013



2 Comments





Rupert Murdoch might have hoped that dividing his media empire in two would silence shareholders who sought to oust him as chairman. However, the embattled media chief is facing a fresh investor revolt as well as calls for his sons, James and Lachlan Murdoch to step down from board of 21st Century Fox.


America’s Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), the influential advisory group, has called for Mr Murdoch to stand down as chairman of his film and television business, 21st Century Fox, which will have its first annual shareholder meeting in Los Angeles next week.


ISS has also advised its members to vote against every single member of the 21st Century Fox board who previously served as a director of the larger News Corp empire, including James and Lachlan Murdoch, the company’s chief operating officer Chase Carey, and Mr Murdoch’s longstanding acolyte Viet Dinh.


These directors should go because they approved a so-called “poison pill" clause, designed to ward off potential hostile takeovers, ISS said. “Poison pills shift the balance of power between board and shareholders”, which it claimed was a particular concern at a media business with a “problematic governance structure and history of poor governance.”


A spokesman for 21st Century Fox said ISS’s analysis was “completely out of touch with reality”. “These are the very directors that have shepherded remarkable progress both in terms of bolstering shareholder value and strengthening our corporate governance and compliance policies, and we strongly support their election,” he said.



Related Articles

Murdoch empire 'should face US charges'
04 Jul 2013

Murdoch 'could close UK newspapers’
21 Aug 2013

Murdoch 'should be questioned by police'
04 Jul 2013

Senior Murdoch exec leaving after 24 years
01 Jul 2013

Murdoch recalled to face MPs over secret tape
09 Jul 2013

Murdoch could face criminal charges in US
10 Jul 2013
Sponsored
British innovation: the business of the future



ISS’s position was echoed by Pirc, a British shareholder advisory service, which has said 21st Century Fox should appoint an independent chairman, with no previous ties to Mr Murdoch’s media business.

The new candidate should be “empowered to challenge management, to foster a culture of accountability, and to reflect the interests of the wider shareholder body,” Pirc said in a note to its members.

It has also called for an end to 21st century Fox’s dual-class shareholding structure, which hands “B-class” shares a disproportionately large amount of the vote, and ensures Mr Murdoch retains an iron grip on the company.

Institutional investor Christian Brothers Investment Services filed a motion to appoint an independent chairman at 21st Century Fox earlier this year. It is being backed by institutional investors including the Local Authority Pension Fund Forum (LAPFF), and Canada’s British Columbia Investment Management Corporation, who together control well over £200bn of investments.

Investors spent years campaigning for Mr Murdoch to be replaced as chairman of the old News Corporation, when the company encompassed his film and television assets, dramatically stepping up their protests after the News of the World phone hacking scandal.

The episode, which led to the tabloid newspaper’s closure, highlighted a “lax ethical culture, and lack of effective board oversight,” shareholders claimed.

Mr Murdoch attempted to silence his opponents by dividing news Corporation in two, separating his tarnished newspaper business, which includes the Sun, the Times and the Sunday Times, from his much more profitable 21st Century Fox film and television empire. The publishing arm still bears the News Corp name.

==========================

The Trial is due to be started against Rebekah on 28th October ...what will that unearth I wonder.

By Peter Oborne

8:24PM BST 09 Oct 2013

45 Comments





More than two years have passed since Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson were arrested in connection with the phone-hacking scandal. Since then, more than 60 journalists have been arrested (almost all from the Sun, News of the World and Daily Mirror). Charges are being brought against more than 20 of them, with trials expected to continue into the middle of next year.


The Leveson Inquiry has come and gone. However, the most dramatic action by far starts in 18 days’ time, when Andy Coulson, the former Downing Street director of communications, and Mrs Brooks, formerly chief executive of News International, stand trial at the Old Bailey. They will be joined by Mrs Brooks’s husband, Charlie, and four others, all former News International employees.


The Old Bailey will host the trial of the century. While the Leveson Inquiry generated dramatic headlines, all the most important areas of criminal investigation were out of bounds. The defendants are facing a variety of charges. Mrs Brooks denies conspiracy to intercept voicemail messages, involvement in conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice (Charlie Brooks, a sports columnist for the Telegraph, is also accused of this offence, for which the maximum penalty is life imprisonment).


Much of the fascination will be human. Hollywood movies are going to be made about Rebekah Brooks, guilty or not guilty, and her journey from the Cheshire village of Daresbury to become the most powerful and courted woman in Britain, intimate of prime ministers and press tycoons alike. Her autobiography, when it comes, will be worth millions.


The trial is of extraordinary political significance. For the past two decades, Rupert Murdoch’s News International was more than just a newspaper group. It became part of the process of government, first under Tony Blair, then Gordon Brown and finally David Cameron.



Related Articles

Regulation will be imposed on press as politicians reject self-regulation
08 Oct 2013

The phone-hacking trial will be dream territory for the PM’s rivals
09 Oct 2013

Journalist becomes first person charged under Operation Tuleta
30 Sep 2013

Leveson says he will not engage in debate over press regulation
09 Oct 2013

Sunday Mirror faces hacking probe
12 Sep 2013

Politicians reject Press self-regulation after hacking scandal
08 Oct 2013


Mrs Brooks, her husband Charlie and Andy Coulson formed an inner circle, the so-called Chipping Norton set, elements of which David Cameron brought with him into Downing Street.

The trial is certain to distract attention from government, as it tries to get its message out. Instead of the latest economic figures, or falling immigration, night after night the latest drama from the courtroom will dominate the nation’s television screens and social media. The most dangerous problem, however, concerns the unity of the Coalition itself. When Nick Clegg signed up for the Coalition agreement in May 2010 the privileged status of Rupert Murdoch and his newspapers was not part of the bargain. This is a problem for Cameron, not Clegg.

So far, Mr Clegg has not sought to exploit the Prime Minister’s embarrassment. However, as their recent party conference showed, the Liberal Democrats are now in the mood to take on the Conservatives as the general election approaches. The spectacle of the Prime Minister’s personally chosen director of communications, Andy Coulson, and his close country neighbour, Rebekah Brooks, simultaneously on trial at the Old Bailey will be too delicious a target to ignore for many Lib Dems.

Meanwhile, Ed Miliband was the first party leader to express horror at the phone hacking affair, the first to challenge the power of Rupert Murdoch, and the first to call on Rebekah Brooks to quit. This is dream territory for a leader of the opposition. No one in his position has had such a slice of luck since Harold Wilson was handed the Profumo affair exactly 50 years ago. Mr Miliband has assiduously built himself a reputation as a politician who takes on major corporate predators on behalf of their victims. Every day of this trial will make the opposition leader more appealing.

The Prime Minister is therefore finding it hard to resist the temptation to succumb to pressures to bring the media under a new form of control. The details are complicated and very boring, and both Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband would deny it, but the system that both of them are advocating is tantamount to statutory regulation.

This is the system that was meant to be scheduled for discussion at yesterday’s rather mysterious Privy Council meeting. Essentially, the scheme is exactly the same as the one that was agreed six months ago, in Ed Miliband’s office, in the presence of supporters of Hacked Off, the pressure group that is lobbying for restrictions on press freedom.

Their plan to underpin press regulation with legislation is the thin end of a wedge that is hurtling down a very slippery slope across a Rubicon which everyone will in due course regret. The frequently made claim that the statutory element does not matter is nonsense. Once Parliament decides that the media need a new framework of regulation, it is inevitable that some future Parliament will later resolve that the system needs to be toughened. Some pitiable victim of a vicious journalist will be “denied justice” by the new system. MPs will be outraged and action will be taken.

This is a process that can only go one way. No one will ever decide that the system is too strong and the press needs more freedom.

The conduct of many newspapers is frequently disreputable and always has been. There is no getting away from this. Nevertheless, the case for a special regulatory regime does not exist. The best means of dealing with newspaper abuses is through the law of the land.

Paradoxically enough, the way to prove this is through the phone hacking scandal itself. The police were admittedly slow to act. But once the law was brought to bear, scores of journalists were arrested, many of them very senior. Britain’s best-selling Sunday newspaper, The News of the World, was closed down. No system of regulation, however draconian, would have made the slightest difference either way.

Of course people need swift means of redress when they are victims of wrongful or criminal conduct. But that can be provided without the intrusive assault on press freedom now being proposed by all three party leaders.

The Trial of Rebekah Brooks starts today, and it is expected to last well into the New year according to one BBC Reporter.

Panda wrote:The Trial of Rebekah Brooks starts today, and it is expected to last well into the New year according to one BBC Reporter.

Wouldn't it be nice if, just for once, those who actively encourage indeed force the plebs of this world to break our laws and moral standards, are treated as the criminals they are, despite their bottomless pockets and high flying cheapskate mouthpieces.

As an aside, Cameron must be seriously regretting his choice of giving Coulson a 'second chance' and making him director of communications for the Conservatives...
As my old gran used to sat, 'A Leopard doesn't change it's spots'.

malena stool wrote:As an aside, Cameron must be seriously regretting his choice of giving Coulson a 'second chance' and making him director of communications for the Conservatives...
As my old gran used to sat, 'A Leopard doesn't change it's spots'.

Morning Malena, there is certainly one Law for the rich and famous and with good connections like youknowwho, and just LegalAid for those who can't afford to defend themselves. The Police, Parliament, Big Business....all corrupt at the top.

I just went to sky news to see if this is being reported and there is a video showing Rebekah and Coulson entering Court, loads of Press photographers outside the Courthouse. There is a video of Brunt reporting and reading something which I think are the charges. Even turning up the volume on max on my Computer I couldn't hear what he was saying. Can someone post it here with a good sound quality? Thanks.

What am I like....I didn't have the sound up on my computer. 

Anyway, Rebekah is being charged with 5 offences , Phone Hacking, Conspiracy payments , Perverting the course of justice twice , can't remember the last one. Let's see her get out of a prison Sentence with that lot.!!! This is why Murdoch has published the Efit saga, to highlight Police incompetence and misleading the public.

FOUR MONTHS AND MORE OF ENTERNAINMENT AT THE OLD BAILEY.

Phone-Hacking Trial: Coulson And Brooks Arrive

Ex-News of the World editors Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks are the first to face trial in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.

6:48pm UK, Monday 28 October 2013





Video: Phone-Hacking Trial Under Way

Enlarge












Email



The Prime Minister's former director of communications, Andy Coulson, and ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks have attended the first day of the phone-hacking trial.

The two former editors of the News of the World face charges linked to phone hacking and alleged corrupt payments to public officials.

Rebekah Brooks and her husband Charlie Brooks
Rebekah Brooks arrives at the Old Bailey with her husband Charlie

The Old Bailey trial, which is expected to call 100 witnesses and will involve 22 barristers, could take up to six months.

It is the first trial to result from the phone-hacking scandal, which saw the closure of the News Of The World (NOTW) two years ago.

Former Sun and NOTW editor Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, is accused of conspiring to intercept communications by illegally access voicemails between October 3, 2000 and August 9, 2006.

She is also charged with two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office linked to alleged inappropriate payments to public officials - one between January 1, 2004 and January 31, 2012, and the other between February 9, 2006 and October 16, 2008.

She faces another two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

One of those is with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, with whom she is alleged to have conspired to remove seven boxes of material from the News International archive.

Cheryl Carter
Brooks' personal assistant Cheryl Carter

The second relates to allegations that Brooks, her race horse-trainer husband Charlie Brooks and former head of security at News International Mark Hanna tried to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from police officers who were investigating allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the NOTW and The Sun newspapers.

Coulson, 45, from Preston, Kent, is charged with conspiracy to intercept communications in the course of their transmission by illegally accessing voicemails.

Andy Coulson
The Prime Minister's former spin doctor, Andy Coulson, outside court

He is also facing two allegations that he conspired with the tabloid's former royal editor Clive Goodman, 56, and persons unknown to commit misconduct in public office

NOTW head of news Ian Edmondson, 44, from Raynes Park, southwest London, and the tabloid's ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, from Woodford Green, Essex, are also accused of conspiracy to illegally access voicemails between October 3, 2000 and August 9, 2006.

Goodman, from Addlestone in Surrey, also faces two charges of committing misconduct in public office.

Potential jurors were selected at the court with the judge telling them: "It's critical to the jury system ... that a jury takes the case free from any preconceptions. From now on you do not discuss the case with anyone."

A final jury is expected to be sworn in on Tuesday. All eight defendants were released on bail until then and the prosecution is set to start later this week

Phone Hacking Trial: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson trial begins
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are among eight people who will face a range of charges during a trial at the Old Bailey

By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent
8:23AM GMT 28 Oct 2013
More than two years after the phone-hacking scandal led to the closure of the News of the World, two of its former editors are due to go on trial in one of the most high profile criminal cases in years.

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are among eight people who will face a range of charges, when the five month long trial gets underway at the Old Bailey today.

Mrs Brooks - who as well as being News of the World and Sun editor, was also the Chief Executive Officer of News International - is facing charges of conspiracy to intercept voicemails, conspiracy to cause misconduct in public office News of the World reporters hacked phones while she was editor, the second charges relate to allegations that journalists made corrupt payments to public officials and the final set of charges relate to allegations that she worked with others to try to cover up any wrongdoing.

Mr Coulson, who was Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of communications, is facing charges related to phone hacking and also to allegations connected to corrupt payments, while he was editor of the News of the World.

Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor at the News of the World, arrives at the Old Bailey (Getty Images)

Related Articles
Phone Hacking Trial: Solicitor general warns MPs of responsibilities during trial
25 Oct 2013
Don't mention Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, MPs told
25 Oct 2013
Sun reporter charged over 'theft of Labour MP's phone'
18 Oct 2013
The phone-hacking trial will be dream territory for the PM’s rivals
09 Oct 2013

Joining them in Court 12 of the Old Bailey, will be the News of the World’s former managing editor, Stuart Kuttner, the paper’s former head of news, Ian Edmondson and the tabloid’s former royal editor, Clive Goodman.

Also on trial are Mrs Brooks’ former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, News International’s former security chief, Mark Hanna and Mrs Brooks’ racehorse trainer husband, Charlie Brooks.

Clive Goodman, former royal editor at the News of the World newspaper, arrives at the Old Bailey (Getty Images)

The trial, before Mr Justice Saunders, is the first of three trials emanating from the phone-hacking scandal.

The first job will be to empanel a jury, which is expected to take up most of the first day.

Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, is expected to begin setting out the Crown’s case later this week.

Special facilities have been laid on at the Central Criminal Court to help cater for the 70 journalists from around the world who are expected to cover the lengthy trial.

Those accredited journalists unable to sit in Court 12 to watch proceedings will be housed in an overspill court with a live feed.

Due to the huge interest in the trial on both sides of the Atlantic, the judge and the Attorney General will be keen to ensure nothing occurs to jeopardise the defendants’ right to a fair trial.

The judge is expected to warn jurors to avoid Twitter during the trial

Panda wrote:
Phone Hacking Trial: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson trial begins
Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are among eight people who will face a range of charges during a trial at the Old Bailey

By Martin Evans, Crime Correspondent
8:23AM GMT 28 Oct 2013
More than two years after the phone-hacking scandal led to the closure of the News of the World, two of its former editors are due to go on trial in one of the most high profile criminal cases in years.

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are among eight people who will face a range of charges, when the five month long trial gets underway at the Old Bailey today.

Mrs Brooks - who as well as being News of the World and Sun editor, was also the Chief Executive Officer of News International - is facing charges of conspiracy to intercept voicemails, conspiracy to cause misconduct in public office News of the World reporters hacked phones while she was editor, the second charges relate to allegations that journalists made corrupt payments to public officials and the final set of charges relate to allegations that she worked with others to try to cover up any wrongdoing.

Mr Coulson, who was Prime Minister David Cameron’s director of communications, is facing charges related to phone hacking and also to allegations connected to corrupt payments, while he was editor of the News of the World.

Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor at the News of the World, arrives at the Old Bailey (Getty Images)

Related Articles
Phone Hacking Trial: Solicitor general warns MPs of responsibilities during trial
25 Oct 2013
Don't mention Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, MPs told
25 Oct 2013
Sun reporter charged over 'theft of Labour MP's phone'
18 Oct 2013
The phone-hacking trial will be dream territory for the PM’s rivals
09 Oct 2013

Joining them in Court 12 of the Old Bailey, will be the News of the World’s former managing editor, Stuart Kuttner, the paper’s former head of news, Ian Edmondson and the tabloid’s former royal editor, Clive Goodman.

Also on trial are Mrs Brooks’ former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, News International’s former security chief, Mark Hanna and Mrs Brooks’ racehorse trainer husband, Charlie Brooks.

Clive Goodman, former royal editor at the News of the World newspaper, arrives at the Old Bailey (Getty Images)

The trial, before Mr Justice Saunders, is the first of three trials emanating from the phone-hacking scandal.

The first job will be to empanel a jury, which is expected to take up most of the first day.

Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, is expected to begin setting out the Crown’s case later this week.

Special facilities have been laid on at the Central Criminal Court to help cater for the 70 journalists from around the world who are expected to cover the lengthy trial.

Those accredited journalists unable to sit in Court 12 to watch proceedings will be housed in an overspill court with a live feed.

Due to the huge interest in the trial on both sides of the Atlantic, the judge and the Attorney General will be keen to ensure nothing occurs to jeopardise the defendants’ right to a fair trial.

The judge is expected to warn jurors to avoid Twitter during the trial

So these 12 men/women straight and true can go on forums, facebook, read the newspapers, listen to the radio and watch the TV, but must avoid Twitter....?

seems so. what a twit

I think he is reminding them of the Guy who sued someone who had voiced an opinion on twitter Lord something? when his name was linked to pedophilia. If it is anticipated this Trial will go on for at least 4 months .....can you imagine the Legal cost and the strain on Jurors?

Hacking trial prosecution to open

The prosecution case in the trial of former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-spin doctor Andy Coulson is due to open today.



Published: Wed, October 30, 2013









0Comments




The prosecution case is due to open in the trial of ex Government spin doctor Andy Coulson and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks The prosecution case is due to open in the trial of ex-Government spin doctor Andy Coulson and former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks [PA]


A jury has been selected to hear the case, which is taking place at the Old Bailey, and the nine women and three men were told to return this afternoon when it is hoped Andrew Edis QC will begin outlining the prosecution case.

Yesterday Mr Justice Saunders told the panel that they must only consider the case on the evidence and arguments presented in court.

He said: "I'm going to give you some extremely important directions. They are always important, but they could not be more important than they are in this particular case.

"In this case, in a way, not only are the defendants on trial but British justice is on trial."

He added: "It is absolutely vital that you decide this case solely on the evidence and the arguments that you hear in court."

Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, and Coulson, 45, from Preston in Kent, are both accused of conspiracy to intercept communications in the course of their transmission.

They allegedly conspired with former News of the World (NotW) head of news Ian Edmondson, 44, from Raynes Park, south west London, the tabloid's ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, from Woodford Green, Essex, and others to illegally access voicemails between October 3 2000 and August 9 2006.

Ex-NotW and Sun editor Brooks is also charged with two counts of conspiring with others to commit misconduct in public office - one between January 1 2004 and January 31 2012 and the other between February 9 2006 and October 16 2008 - linked to alleged inappropriate payments to public officials.

She faces another two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice - one with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, from Chelmsford in Essex, between July 6 and 9 2011.

It is alleged that they conspired to remove seven boxes of material from the News International archive.

The second count alleges that Brooks, her husband Charles Brooks and former head of security at News International Mark Hanna conspired together and with others between July 15 and July 19 2011 to pervert the course of justice.

It is claimed that they tried to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from police officers who were investigating allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World and The Sun newspapers.

Former No 10 spin doctor and ex-NotW editor Coulson is also facing two allegations that he conspired with the tabloid's former royal editor Clive Goodman, 56, from Addlestone in Surrey, and persons unknown to commit misconduct in public office - one between August 31 2002 and January 31 2003, and the other between January 31 and June 3 2005.

All eight defendants are on bail.

Phone hacking trial: Rebekah Brooks 'active in phone hacking conspiracy'

Rebekah Brooks accused of approving payments to public officials while editing The Sun and clearing out old notebooks in the dying days of The News of the World as prosecution opens case





Rebekah Brooks arriving at the Old Bailey on trial for phone hacking

Rebekah Brooks arrives at the Old Bailey in London Photo: Heathcliff O'Malley







By John Bingham, Martin Evans and Sam Marsden

3:09PM GMT 30 Oct 2013





Rebekah Brooks was “active” in a conspiracy to hack phones while she was editor of The News of the World, the Old Bailey has heard.


She went on to approve “quite large sums” of money to public officials for information after she was appointed to edit The Sun, a jury was told.


The prosecution today began opening its case against Mrs Brooks, who became chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's News International, and Andy Coulson, who was later David Cameron's communications chief.


Andrew Edis QC, for the Crown, told jurors: "This is the phone hacking trial, but it is not only the phone hacking trial, as you already know…


"It has arisen out of an investigation which started in Jan 2011 into phone hacking at the News of the World. That investigation uncovered other things against various people.


Related Articles
Phone hacking trial: Three News of the World journalists admit hacking
30 Oct 2013
Phone hacking trial: Rebekah Brooks 'condemned snooping while paper paid MoD official'
30 Oct 2013
'British justice is on trial', jurors in Brooks and Coulson trial told
29 Oct 2013
Phone Hacking Trial: Solicitor general warns MPs of responsibilities during trial
25 Oct 2013
Don't mention Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, MPs told
25 Oct 2013
Sun reporter charged over 'theft of Labour MP's phone'
18 Oct 2013


"The investigation and discoveries resulted in the closure of the News of the World. That came about because of the discovery that the phone of [murdered schoolgirl] Milly Dowler had been hacked."

Mr Edis said that Mrs Brooks had been the editor of The News of the World and during this period was "active in the conspiracy" to hack phones.

Later, while editing the Sunday tabloid’s daily sister paper The Sun, she also approved “quite large sums” of money to officials for information, the court heard.

The prosecutor went on to outline charges of perverting the course of justice in the dying days of The News of the World, which was closed in the summer of 2011.

He said it “wasn’t a secret” that an investigation was being carried out into the paper and it was quite clear that the storm wasn’t going to go away.

Mr Edis said that during this period Mrs Brooks and her trusted personal assistant Cheryl Carter obtained Mrs Brooks’ old notebooks.

“They were got out of the archive on the Friday before the last edition of the News of the World was closed. After that the building was sealed and became a crime scene,” he said.

The prosecutor alleged that the notebooks “would have revealed the way she [Mrs Brooks] operated” if they had not “disappeared”.

Mr Edis said phone hacking became a crime in 2000, and was defined by the law as “unlawful interception of communications”.

He added: “In this case that mean listening to other people’s voicemails without their consent, by usually finding the pass code that they need in order to listen to phone messages which have been left for them by someone else.

“The News of the World hired a man who was very good at getting hold of other people’s codes. He was called Glenn Mulcaire - you are going to hear a lot about him.”

Mr Edis said four of the people on trial – Mrs Brooks, Mr Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, and Ian Edmondson – who were charged with conspiring to intercept communications had all been in senior positions at The News of the World.

He went on: “We say that we will be able to show that there was phone hacking at the News of the World, that Glenn Mulcaire did it, that Clive Goodman [the paper's former royal editor] did it and that Ian Edmondson did it.”

The prosecutor said the question was whether the others knew about it, adding that they “controlled the purse strings”.

Evidence suggests that Mr Edmondson had hacked the phones of rival journalists on the Mail on Sunday, the court heard.

Mr Edis told the jury that Mr Goodman had wanted to acquire royal telephone directories and said he had sent emails setting out the price of doing so to Mr Coulson, who allegedly approved it.

When Mr Goodman’s house was searched, 15 royal directories were found, the court heard.

“Within the context of a newspaper in which there was a lot of phone hacking going on and which was intensely interested in the royal family the acquisition of a phone directory is very significant,” the prosecutor said.

Mr Mulcaire and Mr Goodman were arrested for phone hacking in August 2006, which caused "ripples" and led to the Press Complaints Commission, the newspaper industry watchdog, investigating what had gone on at The News of the World, the court heard.

The prosecutor told the jury: “At that point the balloon goes up as the police have managed to prove some phone hacking. That inquiry was quite restrictive - it only uncovered some phone hacking … but it did have some effect."

Mr Edis said that when Mr Mulcaire was arrested, his home was searched and notebooks containing thousands of pages of evidence were recovered.

He said the documents showed who at the News of the World had “tasked” him with each hacking.

In some cases there was what the prosecutor called a “hacking narrative”, including the mobile number, Pin and various other codes needed to access the target's voicemail.

Mr Edis showed jurors references to Will Young, the singer, Louise Woodward, the British nanny who was tried for the murder of a child in the United States, as well as people with connections to celebrities, such as the brother of a friend of Kate Moss.

He said: “What it shows you in a nutshell is that there were an awful lot of taskings of Glenn Mulcaire. We know what Glenn Mulcaire did - he did phone hacking but did he do anything else?

“One of the things that has been recovered is that while they were paying him £100,000 a year, give or take, no-one seems to have written down what he was producing."

The prosecutor said the evidence in the case would show that some public officials had illegally sold private information to The News of the World and The Sun.

He added: “We are not talking here about what we may call a whistleblower… We are dealing with people who sold information because someone was famous, sometimes a member of the royal family.

“The prosecution say that betraying the public’s trust for money is a crime of misconduct in a public office.”

Mr Edis stressed that said the trial was not “an attack on journalism” but said that journalists were also subject to the law.

“The prosecution accept that it is important in this country that there is a free press,” he said.

“There is no justification of any kind for journalists to get involved in phone hacking that is an intrusion into people’s privacy which is against the law.”

The prosecutor also said it was not right for newspaper journalists to “corrupt” public officials by giving them money for information, adding: “Where there is a payment it is always a crime.”

The public figures targeted by the papers included Sir Paul McCartney and his former wife Heather Mills as well as Jude Law and Siena Miller, the jury heard.

Mr Edis directed the jury to articles they would be looking at, including one in The Sun headlined: “Army bonking in the Congo”.

Closing his submissions for the day, the prosecutor asked the jurors to consider the role of the management at the News of The World and ask whether it as possible that they did not know what was going on.

He said: "The News of the World was a Sunday paper. That means it publishes once a week, or at most 52 times a year. It wasn’t War and Peace, it wasn’t an enormous document.

“It was the sort of document that if you were its editor you could take an interest in its content without too much trouble.

“What you must consider is whether these people were doing their jobs properly in which case they must have known where some of these stories were coming from.

“Either they were doing their jobs properly or at least three – and we say four - of the newsdesk managers were running this operation, with Mulcaire doing a great deal of phone hacking, and the management, the editors knew nothing about it – in which case what on earth were they doing?”

He added: “It was their job to know what was in the paper.”

Mr Justice Saunders, the judge in the case, yesterday told the nine women and three men on the jury that British justice itself was "on trial".

He warned that they must only consider the case on the evidence and arguments presented in court, and not take notice of comments posted on social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Andy Coulson arrives at the Old Bailey

Mrs Brooks, 45, is accused of conspiracy to intercept voicemails, conspiracy to cause misconduct in public office and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

Mr Coulson, 45, is facing charges related to phone hacking and to alleged corrupt payments.

They are standing trial with six other people, including Mrs Brooks’s racehorse trainer husband Charlie, 50, Mr Kuttner, 73, a former News of the World managing editor, Mr Edmondson, 44, a former News of the World head of news, and Mr Goodman, 56.

Also in the dock at Court 12 of the Old Bailey are Ms Carter, 49, and Mark Hanna, 50, News International’s former security chief.

Mr Kuttner was excused attendance in court today because of poor health, Mr Edis told the jury.

All the defendants deny the charges against them.

The trial, which is expected to last up to six months, continues.

They are all plainly as guilty as sin, the entire epic is a crass waste of money.   Throw away the key.

Yes malena, Cameron won't be able to help Rebekah now.!!!



By Martin Evans, John Bingham and Sam Marsden

10:26PM GMT 30 Oct 2013





Members of the Royal family, celebrities and Cabinet ministers were targeted by phone hackers and corrupt public officials were bribed during a 10-year conspiracy at tabloid newspapers overseen by Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, the Old Bailey heard.


News International journalists intercepted at least 13 voicemails belonging to Lord Freddie Windsor, the son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, as well as listening to messages left by Princes William and Harry for their private secretary, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, a jury was told.


At the start of the six-month trial into the activities at The Sun and the now-defunct News of the World, more than a dozen well-known figures were named as alleged victims.


They included Kate Moss, the model, Jude Law, the actor, the actresses Joanna Lumley and Sienna Miller, and Will Young, the pop star. Lord Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, David Blunkett, the former home secretary, and Tessa Jowell, the former Olympics minister, were some of the politicians who were targeted, the court heard.


The jury was told that Mrs Brooks and Mr Coulson must have known and approved of what was going on because they “controlled the purse strings”.


Related Articles
Rebekah Brooks 'active in phone hacking conspiracy'
30 Oct 2013
Brooks 'condemned snooping while paper paid MoD official'
30 Oct 2013
Three News of the World journalists admit hacking
30 Oct 2013


According to the prosecution, Mrs Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, attempted to cover up her role in the alleged criminal conspiracy in July 2011 by hiding evidence from police.

Mr Coulson, who became the director of communications for David Cameron after leaving the newspaper group, authorised illegal payments to police for information, it was alleged.

It can also now be disclosed that Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective who was paid more than £100,000 a year by the News of the World, has pleaded guilty to hacking the voicemails of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler in 2002. Three other former senior journalists at the Sunday tabloid, Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup, have also pleaded guilty to conspiring to intercept voicemail messages.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Andrew Edis QC told the jury of nine women and three men that these guilty pleas suggested that phone hacking was widespread at the News of the World.

He added that when Mulcaire’s premises were raided in 2006, thousands of pages of notes documenting phone hacks were discovered.

Mr Edis said that, as editor of the News of the World when Milly Dowler’s phone was hacked, Mrs Brooks had been “active in the conspiracy”.

The jury was told that after taking over as editor of the News of the World from Mrs Brooks in 2003, Mr Coulson had authorised his royal editor to pay a Palace police officer for royal telephone directories. Mr Edis suggested this had been done partly to obtain phone numbers of key people in the royal household in order to hack their voice messages.

He said: “The prosecution say that at a newspaper where there is a great deal of phone hacking going on, and which is intensely interested in the Royal family, the acquisition of phone books with phone numbers is something of obvious significance because it would be very useful, wouldn’t it, in doing some phone hacking.”

But Mr Edis explained that the trial would not solely be about phone hacking and not just about illegal activity at the News of the World, but also its sister paper, The Sun.

Mr Edis said Mrs Brooks, who left the News of the World for The Sun in January 2003, had approved payments to public officials for stories, often about the private lives of famous people.

There was evidence, Mr Edis said, to suggest Mrs Brooks had personally signed off payments in excess of £40,000 to one Ministry of Defence official, who had top security clearance.

This had led to one Sun story with the headline: “Army Bonking in the Congo”, the court heard.

When in July 2011 the revelation that Milly Dowler’s voicemail had been hacked, caused the “balloon to go up”, Mrs Brooks then conspired with others to cover up the extent of her role in the illegal activity, the jury was told.

It was alleged that she got her “trusted” personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, to remove seven boxes containing her notebooks from a News International archive.

Mr Edis said: “They were got out of the archive on the Friday before the last edition of the News of the World. After that the building was sealed and became a crime scene.”

He added: “The prosecution say that they have disappeared – and the police would have wanted to know what was in those notebooks.”

It is also alleged that before her arrest, Mrs Brooks conspired with her husband, the racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, News International’s head of security, Mark Hanna, and others to hide phones, computers and iPads from police officers who were investigating the hacking scandal. Mr Edis stressed that the trial was not about the press in general, telling jurors: “The prosecution says that it is important in a free country that there is a free press.” But he added: “Journalists are no more entitled to break the criminal law than anybody else.

“There is no justification at all for journalists to get involved in phone hacking.

“That is an intrusion into people’s privacy which is against the law. The prosecution says also that it is not right for newspapers to corrupt public officials by paying money so that they break their trust.” He went on: “There can be no justification at all for anyone interfering with a police inquiry, not journalists, not anyone.”

The court heard that Mulcaire, who was convicted of phone hacking along with Clive Goodman, the News of the World’s former royal editor, in 2006, had been on a retainer with the tabloid worth £100,000 a year.

Mr Edis said the newspaper was “conspicuously silent” about what it got for its money.

He told jurors: “What you have got to decide ultimately is how much did the management, the bosses, know about what was going on in their newspaper, how much did they know about what was being published in their newspaper and where it was coming from, how much did they know about why it was right to publish a particular story in their newspaper, in other words did they know it was true.”

He went on: “The News of the World was a Sunday paper that means it publishes once a week or at most 52 times a year — it wasn’t War and Peace, it wasn’t an enormous document.

“It was the sort of document that if you were its editor you could take an interest in its content without too much trouble.

"What you must consider is whether these people were doing their jobs properly in which case they must have known where some of these stories were coming from.”

Mrs Brooks is charged with one count of conspiracy to hack phones, two counts of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and two counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Mr Coulson is charged with one count of conspiracy to hack and two of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.

Stuart Kuttner, a former News of the World executive, and Ian Edmondson, a former head of news at the tabloid, each face one charge of conspiracy to hack voicemails; Mr Goodman faces two misconduct charges; Mrs Carter faces one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice; Mr Brooks faces one of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and Mr Hanna also faces one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

All eight defendants deny all the charges. The case continues.

Ooo er missus!

http://news.sky.com/story/1162205/brooks-and-coulson-in-secret-six-year-affair

Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-News Of The World editor Andy Coulson had a long-standing secret affair lasting at least six years, jurors in the phone hacking trial have heard.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis told jurors at the Old Bailey that in February 2004, when the pair were both working at the media giant, they had been having a relationship for some years.

He said a letter was found on Mrs Brooks's computer from February 2004, that made the relationship clear.

Mr Edis said: "The point that I'm going to make in relation to that letter is that over the relevant period, what Mr Coulson knew, Mrs Brooks knew too. And what Mrs Brooks knew, Mr Coulson knew too - that's the point.

"Because it is clear from that letter that, as of February 2004, they had been having an affair which had lasted at least six years."

More follows...