Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm, yesterday admitted she and her deputy Andy Coulson would have shared intimate work secrets at the time the paper she edited was hacking a murdered schoolgirl’s phone.
Brooks and Coulson are both on trial on conspiracy to hack phones when they were at Murdoch’s now defunct News of the World tabloid, including that of 13-year-old Milly Dowler who was murdered in 2002 when Brooks was editor.
It was the revelation of the Dowler hacking that caused a public outrage, led to Murdoch closing the News of the World, and rocked Britain’s political establishment.
A private detective who worked for the paper has now admitted hacking Dowler’s phone in April 2002 but Brooks and Coulson, who later edited the tabloid and went on to become Prime Minister David Cameron’s media chief, deny any wrongdoing.
Prosecutors have told the Old Bailey that the Dowler hacking occurred while Brooks was in Dubai and Coulson, her then deputy, was acting editor. But, the jury were told the couple had been lovers over a six-year period from 1998 and so Brooks would have been fully aware of the basis for a story which appeared in the paper and detailed voicemail recordings from the girl’s phone.
Their close ties were revealed last year when the jury heard about an emotional letter from February 2004 from Brooks to Coulson discussing what appeared to be a break-up.
In earlier testimony, Brooks has denied having a six-year affair with Coulson, but said they did have periods of physical intimacy between 1998 and 2006. Taking the stand for the 10th day, Brooks was asked to explain why in her letter she had used the phrase “for six years I have waited”.
“It was the emotion of the moment. I’m clearly saying it’s been six years since we had got together,” a pale-looking Brooks told the court. “I hadn’t been sitting there like Miss Havisham for six years,” she added, in a reference to the wealthy spinster in Charles Dickens’ novel, “Great Expectations.”
She had, in the meantime, got married and tried to have a baby. She agreed that the nature of their relationship meant they would share confidences about work matters which she would not have done with other colleagues.
“If a deputy editor was committing a crime, he might not want the editor to find out about it. He might be able to tell the editor if he really trusted her,” prosecutor Andrew Edis told the jury.
“Was the relationship in April 2002 such that Coulson could completely trust you with any confidence at all?” he asked her. “Yes,” she whispered.
Brooks and Coulson both deny conspiracy to illegally intercept voicemails and authorising illegal payments to public officials. Brooks also denies conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Their trial and that of five others continues.
“It was the emotion of the moment. I’m clearly saying it’s been six years since we had got together”