Phone-hacking trial: Former News Of The World editor Andy Coulson found guilty, Rebekah Brooks acquitted

Updated

Former News Of The World editor Andy Coulson has been found guilty of plotting to hack phones while ex-colleague Rebekah Brooks was cleared of all charges in a dramatic end to Britain's marathon media trial.

The jury delivered their verdicts after eight days of deliberations at the end of the 130-day trial sparked by the scandal that led to Rupert Murdoch shutting down the Sunday tabloid in disgrace in July 2011.

Coulson, who was forced to resign as British prime minister David Cameron's media chief over the scandal, now faces jail following his conviction at the Old Bailey in London.

The jury has not been able to come to a unanimous verdict and is still deliberating the remaining bribery charges against Coulson and former royal correspondent Clive Goodman.

But Brooks, once one of Mr Murdoch's closest confidantes, has walked free after being cleared of conspiring to intercept mobile phone voicemails and of plotting to pay officials for information.

On hearing the verdict, the 46-year-old showed little immediate emotion but was led out of the court by a nurse and later rushed through a group of photographers into a taxi.

She was followed by her husband Charlie who was also cleared of any attempt to hinder the investigation.

Brooks had been accused of being complicit in journalists' hacking of phones to find exclusive stories at the paper she edited from 2000 to 2003.

Her lawyer had argued the prosecution failed to produce a "smoking gun" during her 14 days of intense questioning on the stand, and likened the decision of the authorities to take her to court to a medieval witch hunt.

David Cameron 'extremely sorry' he hired Coulson

The News Of The World shut down in a firestorm of disgrace and a boycott by advertisers after it emerged the paper had hacked the voicemails of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

The scandal sent shockwaves through Britain's political elite, with prime ministers from both main parties shown to have been close to Mr Murdoch and his senior staff, including Brooks.

Police said there were probably more than 1,000 victims of hacking, including Prince Harry, Prince William and his wife Catherine. Politicians, celebrities, sporting figures and even rival journalists were also targeted.

Coulson, who admitted during the trial he had been aware of one hacking incident, said staff had kept the widespread criminal activity from him.

Mr Cameron, who ordered a public inquiry into press ethics in the immediate aftermath, told the UK parliament in 2011 that he would apologise if it turned out that Coulson had lied to him and did know about phone hacking at the News Of The World.

After the verdicts, the prime minister stood by his pledge, saying: "I'm extremely sorry that I employed him. It was the wrong decision."

Meanwhile a spokesman for News UK, Mr Murdoch's British newspaper operation, said the company had changed the way it did business.

"We said long ago, and repeat today (Monday), that wrongdoing occurred and we apologised for it," the spokesman said. "We have been paying compensation to those affected and have cooperated with investigations.

"We made changes in the way we do business to help ensure wrongdoing like this does not occur again. And we are strong supporters of the Independent Press Standards Organisation that is expected to begin work this autumn, serving as a watchdog on the industry in the public interest."

The jury heard highly detailed evidence about the workings of the paper, known for its celebrity scandals.

The trial had its own dose of scandal worthy of the News Of The World when the jury heard that Brooks and Coulson had an extra-marital affair while working at the paper.

Judge John Saunders had urged the jurors when he sent them out on June 11 to "put out of your head anything you have heard outside court".

Civil trial may have had different outcome, lawyer says

Mark Lewis, who has represented nearly 100 affected clients including the family of Milly Dowler, has told Lateline that Coulson could expect a custodial sentence.

"There have been custodial sentences for hacking phones before, and especially when somebody has protested their innocence and pleaded not guilty throughout the trial and a long trial," he said.

"The pay back, if you like, in terms of sentencing, is that usually that means that a sentence will be at the higher level of a sentence for that crime rather than not, so I would expect that it probably will be a custodial sentence. But again, that is for the judge to decide."

For Brooks, Mr Lewis said that while she had been cleared, her reputation had taken a hit.

"This is someone who got a 13-million-pound pay-off and appears to have run a defence on the fact that she didn't know what was actually happening ... a lot of money paid for someone who wasn't very good at their job," he said.

He said News UK would want to limit the damage as much as possible and doubted there would be a civil trial now that the criminal case had concluded.

"In a way it's a shame because Rebekah Brooks has been cleared, but she has been cleared on the criminal standard of proof beyond reasonable doubt," he said.

"On a civil basis, on the balance of probabilities, the judge would have to decide on the evidence of something being more likely than not, more than 50 per cent likely, and it might well be that the judge would then have come up with a different decision."

ABC/AFP

Topics: print-media, information-and-communication, courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, media, united-kingdom

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