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Tag: rebekah brooks

Ex-Tabloid Editor Rebekah Brooks Acquitted In Phone-Hacking Trial

By Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times

LONDON — Former tabloid editor Rebekah Brooks, a close confidante of Rupert Murdoch and once one of Britain’s most influential women, was acquitted Tuesday of phone hacking, corruption and obstruction of justice in a case that shook this country to its core and exposed the uncomfortably close ties between politicians, police and the press.

But Brooks’ former deputy, Andy Coulson, was found guilty of hacking into cellphones and accessing private voicemail messages when he worked at the now-defunct News of the World. Coulson went on to become the top communications aide to Prime Minister David Cameron, who is likely to face uncomfortable questions about his judgment in hiring a man who is now a convicted criminal.

The jury also cleared Brooks’ husband, Charlie Brooks; her former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter; and the director of security at Murdoch’s News International, Mark Hanna, of charges that they tried to cover up wrongdoing and conceal evidence as police launched an investigation into widespread phone hacking.

Authorities believe that the News of the World tapped into the voicemail boxes of hundreds of people, including famous actors, politicians and sports figures. The scandal exploded in July 2011 with revelations that the paper had even accessed messages left on the cellphone of a kidnapped 13-year-old girl who was later found killed.

Amid the public revulsion that followed, Murdoch shuttered the 168-year-old tabloid, and Brooks, 46, resigned as chief of his British newspapers. The head of Scotland Yard stepped down over accusations of too-cozy relations between police and the media, and a controversial bid by Murdoch to expand his broadcast holdings in Britain sank into oblivion.

Tuesday’s verdicts came after a week of jury deliberation in one of the longest criminal trials in British history. Over seven months, the panel heard from dozens of witnesses, examined thousands of documents and listened to salacious details of the defendants’ personal lives that were worthy of the tabloids under scrutiny.

Besides the Brooks, Carpenter and Hanna, another former senior editor, Stuart Kuttner, was acquitted of phone hacking.

Verdicts are still outstanding on charges against former reporter Clive Goodman, who admitted on the witness stand that he had hacked into the cellphones of Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, nearly 200 times.

Coulson, too, is still awaiting a verdict on charges that he paid public officials for information.

Photo: JonJon2k8 via Flickr

British Court Acquits Ex-Murdoch Aide On One Count In Hacking Case

By Janet Stobart, Los Angeles Times

LONDON — A London court acquitted former newspaper executive Rebekah Brooks on one of the five charges she faces in Britain’s high-profile trial of seven former senior staff members and journalists from Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. on charges related to an extensive phone hacking scandal.

Brooks was acquitted on a count of misconduct tied to charges that she paid $6,000 in 2006 for a photograph of Prince William dressed in a bikini at a party to be published in the Sun, a Murdoch-owned tabloid she edited at the time. Presiding Judge John Saunders told the jury there was no case to be made because the source of the photo was uncertain.

Brooks, 45, faces other charges of illegal payments to public officials, all of which she denies, and of authorizing phone hacking by journalists during her time as editor of Murdoch’s now-defunct News of the World between 2000 and 2003.

The decision came as the jury heard the first defense testimony in the case.

The court heard from defense lawyer Jonathan Laidlow, who described Brooks’ meteoric rise to features editor at age 27, deputy editor at 29 and then editor of Murdoch’s News of the World, one of Britain’s most popular Sunday tabloids, the Times of London reported.

Answering questions in a soft voice, Brooks revealed that payments for stories were commonplace in the cutthroat competitive world of tabloid journalism. One of the highest payments authorized by Brooks — which she first said involved 250,000 pounds but later corrected to $250,000 — was for an exclusive interview with an alleged prostitute known as Divine Brown, whose encounter with actor Hugh Grant in Los Angeles in 1995 made headlines around the world, The Associated Press reported.

“It seems so silly now but it was quite important,” she said.

AFP Photo/Kevork Djansezian

Rebekah Brooks Gave Hacked Cell Phone to Murdered Girl’s Mother

Did Rebekah Brooks, disgraced former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct British tabloid the News of the World, give a cell phone to the mother of a murder victim just so her voicemail could be hacked? That’s what new reports suggest.

Originally, British police told Sara Payne, whose daughter was murdered by a sex offender in a case extensively reported by the News of the World, that they did not believe her cell phone had been hacked, since they could not find her name or cell phone number in their database of hacking victims. But they recently undetook a more thorough investigation, which reveals that the News of the World hacked a cell phone that Brooks gave to Payne “as a gift” in order to “help her stay in touch with her supporters.”

The situation is embarrassing for Payne, who, believing she had never been hacked, spoke out in support of News of the World. In the last published issue of the paper, she compared the closing of the tabloid to “the passing of an old friend” and referred to its staff — including Brooks — as “my good and trusted friends.” Her trust appears to have been misplaced.

Brooks, along with her bosses James and Rupert Murdoch, testified last week before Parliament that she had no knowledge of the phone hacking scandal, which she blamed on untrustworthy subordinates. Earlier, she tried to deflect the phone hacking accusations by pointing to all the good work News of the World had done — most notably working with Payne to pass “Sarah’s Law,” a British version of the American “Megan’s Law,” which lets parents view the sex offender registry. In a memo to her staff, Brooks called the fight for Sarah’s Law “especially personal to me” and proudly declared that “the battle for better protection of children from paedophiles and better rights for the families and the victims of these crimes defined my editorships.”

Of course, it’s possible that Brooks did not know the cell phone would be hacked. She has already released a statement calling it “unthinkable” that she had any knowledge of the hacking. Maybe she was simply so incompetent that her staff and private investigators did not hesitate to hack Payne’s phone, even though it was a symbol of Brooks’ goodwill toward her sources. If not, though, it’s clear that she took advantage of a murder victim’s mother in her time of need. It’s also clear that she and the Murdochs blatantly lied to Parliament.

Live-Blogging of Murdoch Testimony Before Parliament

Below is the transcript of The National Memo’s live-blogging of News Corp testimony delivered before Parliament on July 19, 2011. Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive of News Corp; his son, James Murdoch; and Rebekah Brooks, a top lieutenant who resigned from her post last week, spoke before the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee.