Phone hacking scandal deepens

[David Guyatt]

Brooks says she had "no recollection" of Prince William in a bikini.

As if...

Court judges and credulity (I'm being polite)

'I went from sweeping floors to paying for $250,000 exclusive on Hugh Grant's prostitute': Rebekah Brooks tells phone hacking trial of her rise through ranks

• Judge told jury to clear her 'because she has no case to answer on count'
  
• Former Sun editor still faces four other charges linked to hacking scandal
  
• The 45-year-old has started her defence after more than 3 months on trial
  
• Her QC told Old Bailey: 'Agendas are being pursued elsewhere' against her
  
• Giving evidence Brooks described going from tea girl to top of NotW
  
  
• At 27 she paid $250,000 for exclusive with Hugh Grant's LA prostitute
  
• Her NotW rivals cut her phone line and compiled 't**t' file on her mistakes
  
  

By MARTIN ROBINSON
PUBLISHED: 10:23, 20 February 2014 | UPDATED: 15:15, 20 February 2014

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Rebekah Brooks told the Old Bailey today how she went from a teenage tea girl 'sweeping floors' to securing a $250,000 News of the World exclusive with Hugh Grant's LA prostitute at 27.
The 45-year-old gave evidence for the first time at the phone hacking trial and described her meteoric rise to the very top of Rupert Murdoch's media empire.
It came as she was cleared of illegally sanctioning a deal to secure a picture of the Duke of Cambridge in a bikini at a 007-themed party he attended with Kate Middleton in 2006.

Judge Justice Saunders told the jury to acquit her of one charge of misconduct in a public office because 'she has no case to answer'. She faces four further counts.
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Old Bailey sketch: Rebekah Brooks in the dock today as she began giving her defence after being cleared of one charge of misconduct in public office

The court heard earlier the former Sun editor had agreed a payment for her tabloid's 'best contact at Sandhurst' to secure the image of William posing as a Bond girl in a green bikini.

More...

• Tony Blair's advice to best pal Rebekah: Tough up and take sleeping pills
  

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Cleared: Rebekah Brooks was acquitted of one charge shortly after she arrived at the Old Bailey to begin her defence today. She still faces four others

The embarrassing photo was taken at a 007-themed party held in the cricket pavilion of the military academy, but was never published.

Kate Middleton also attended the fancy-dress party and was said to have worn a wetsuit.
But uncertainty over where the picture came from means that the jury was asked to find her not guilty.

The judge told jurors: 'I have decided there is no case to answer for Mrs Brooks on count four, that's the charge of the picture of Prince William in a bikini acquired by the Sun newspaper.

'Whether or not there is a case to answer is for me to decide as a matter of law.

'I do not propose to tell you in any detail the reasons for my decision.

'But you may remember there was considerable uncertainty where the photo obtained by The Sun actually came from.'
On her first day in the stand Rebekah Brooks recalled her meteoric rise in the newspaper world from floor sweeper to editor.

The 45-year-old described how - through unerring enthusiasm and strong contacts with the likes of PR guru Max Clifford - she rose through the ranks of the News of the World, starting as features researcher in the 'pink parlour', to deputy editor of the newspaper by the age of 27.

The only child of a gardener father and personal assistant mother from Warrington, Cheshire, the former NotW and Sun editor told how she decided at the age of eight that she wanted to be a journalist.

Brooks recalled getting work experience at a local newspaper, the Warrington Guardian, at the age of 14.

While there, she said she had 'swept the floors and made the tea' until she got her first full-time job in journalism in 1988.

The court heard that she next went to work for the NotW's Sunday magazine, starting in April 1989 as a features researcher.

The court heard that when her then-editor moved to be deputy editor at the NotW newspaper in 1992, Brooks asked if she could move with her to work on the newspaper's features desk.

After becoming deputy features editor in March 1994, Brooks became features editor in June that year. And just over a year later, in September 1995, she became acting deputy editor.
Asked about major stories while she was features editor at the newspaper, Brooks described securing a £100,000 deal in 1995 with prostitute Divine Brown after actor Hugh Grant was caught with her.

But she said the newspaper ended up spending far more money, as they went to huge lengths to prevent rival publications getting to the prostitute.

Brooks said sje hired a plane to fly 'very smart' Brown and members of her family to 'the desert' - she thought Nevada - to stay in a resort to prevent other newspapers finding them.

Asked by her QC Jonathan Laidlaw how much the whole enterprise had cost, she said it could have amounted to as much as £250,000.


Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson arrive at the Old Bailey









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Change: Ms Brooks was acquitted of one charge today linked to allegations that she sanctioned an illegal payment for a picture of Prince William in a bikini

She also told jurors reporters slashed her phone lines and kept a file of her mistakes labelled 't**t' amid fierce rivalry at the News of the World.

She said the brutal competition between the news and features departments at the tabloid was well-known and even encouraged by the editors.

'There was probably a lot of old-school misogyny, added in to the competition,' she said.

'Competition between the two desks was engrained in News of the World history - people didn't like each other.'

HACKING TRIAL: FOUR REMAINING CHARGES BROOKS FACES

One count of conspiring to hack phones.

Two of perverting the course of justice
One of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office


After she landed a story on former cabinet minister Alan Clark while features editor, Brooks said she was the victim of sabotage.

'At the end of any news story, there was always an appeal to any reader - do you know anything more about this story, give us a call', she said.

'I came in on Sunday and checked and my phone lines had been cut. No one owned up to it, but I always suspected it was the news desk.'

Describing another incident, Brooks said: 'They compiled files on any perceived mistakes, and stupid stories I have done.

'The files - it is embarrassing to say - they were all called t**t 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. I found that one day, it was a tough day.'

Brooks also told the jury how she was a founding member of Women in Journalism, but found her colleagues and rival male journalists then gave it the nickname 'whinge'.
She said the rivalry was even fiercer between the News of the World and The Sun, with almost no co-operation between them at all despite sharing offices.

She recalled The Sun frosted their windows to protect their stories when the News of the World journalists' route to the canteen was changed to go past the Sun desks.



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High riser: Rebekah Brooks went from a work experience girl in her teens to the top of the Murdoch empire within a few decades

At a previous hearing it was alleged Brooks approved payment for the picture on June 16, 2006, while she was editor of The Sun.

BROOKS' FIRST DAY IN THE DOCK

On starting out in journalism: 'I swept floors and probably made the tea.'
On rivalry at the News of the World: 'I came in on Sunday and checked and my phone lines had been cut. No one owned up to it, but I always suspected it was the news desk.'
On sexism in the newsroom: 'There was probably a lot of old-school misogyny'. Brooks was a founding member of Women in Journalism, but rivals gave it the nickname 'whinge', she said.

On her mistakes: 'As part of the internal competition there were compiled files of your perceived mistakes or stupid stories I'd done. I found mine one day and they were all called t**t. T**t 1, 2, 3 and so on.. It was a tough world.'
On her $250,000 Hugh Grant exclusive: 'We asked Divine Brown if she would move from her home to a different location. She (Ms Brown) was very smart, she wanted all her family relocated to this place in Nevada, we had to hire a plane'.

On backing New Labour in 1997: 'The Sun had supported the Tories for a long time and they supported Tony Blair in favour of John Major very early on. It was a big thing.'


She was accused of telling a reporter 'OK' when the proposition of buying the snap was put to her.

But during police questioning, Brooks said she could not remember a picture of Prince William in a bikini at all.

She told detectives: 'In relation to the Prince William story and photograph, I have been shown an online version of the story but I have no recollection of a photograph of Prince William in a swimsuit.'

In evidence, jurors saw paperwork from The Sun showing a £4,000 payment was made on June 16, 2006, with the reference: 'Prince William bikini exclusive'.

However, no photo ever made it into print in the tabloid. Nearly three months later, on September 9, 2006, a crude mock-up of the Prince's face on a man's bikini clad body was published with a story about the Sandhurst party.
Major Julia Parke-Robinson, a Sandhurst platoon commander, had been at the April 2006 party when Prince William, then known as Cadet Wales, arrived wearing the bikini top and a grass skirt.
She told the court William brought his then-girlfriend Kate Middleton to the party, which was used as a training exercise to assess cadets' organisation skills.

'I can remember Cadet Wales wearing a Bond girl style outfit, with a bikini top and grass skirt, as were a number of his friends', she said.

'I have no recollection of what Kate Middleton was wearing at the time.'

Quizzed on the colour of William's bikini, she said: 'I recall it was green.'


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Royal couple: The photo of Prince William in a bikini was said to have been taken at a James Bond-themed party in 2006. His wife was also there


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In the dock: Former NotW editor Andy Coulson arrives at court today and is also accused of series of charges linked to the hacking scandal

Prosecutors finished presenting their case yesterday, three-and-a-half months after the trial opened.
This gave Brooks the chance to start presenting her case.
Jonathan Laidlaw QC made an opening statement and said jurors might have found the trial hard to follow so far.

He told the court that 'on occasions absolutely critical information was overlooked or left out' by the prosecution.

Mr Laidlaw said: 'If there is a sense of confusion about the evidence and what it is said to relate to, that would be entirely understandable.'
He also told the jury it was not for Brooks to give evidence to 'make out her innocence', but that the prosecution must bear the burden of reaching a high standard of proof.
He also told them she should not be tried for being a tabloid editor, her politics or working for Rupert Murdoch, only the charges she faces.

'There are agendas as you can all see, being pursued elsewhere, so please just be careful and keep an open mind and stay focused upon what matters,' he said.
Mr Laidlaw added the jury should see the ex-tabloid editor 'as she is' and 'begin the process of working out whether there is any truth in any of the allegations made against her'.
Brooks and her former lover Andy Coulson, who succeeded her as editor of the now-defunct News of the World, are among those standing trial.
The pair deny charges that include an alleged conspiracy to hack the telephones of celebrities, royals and politicians, as well as authorising the payment of public officials for information.

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Conspiracy charges: Cheryl Carter, Rebekah Brooks' PA and the former head of security at News International, Mark Hanna, are accused of helping to cover up evidence of hacking



The court heard evidence yesterday that former prime minister Tony Blair apparently offered to be an 'unofficial adviser' to Brooks, days before she was arrested as part of the investigation in 2011.
Mr Blair also suggested she should set up an independent inquiry and publish a Hutton-style report' an apparent reference to the 2003 inquiry into the death of weapons inspector David Kelly.
He also told her to take sleeping pills and advised her to 'tough up', according to an email she sent to James Murdoch, apparently informing him of the hour-long conversation she had with the former Labour leader.
Brooks, 45; Coulson, 46; former NotW royal editor Clive Goodman, 56; Brooks's former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49; Brooks's racehorse trainer husband Charles Brooks, 50; head of security at News International Mark Hanna, 50; and ex-NotW managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, deny all charges.


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Chain: The hacking trial was read this email from Brooks to James Murdoch, where she outlined an hour long conversation she had with the former prime minister

'I swept floors and made tea': How Rebekah Brooks rose from work experience girl to the top of the Murdoch empire

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In the witness box: Rebekah Brooks arrived at the Old Bailey to begin her defence after three-and-a-half months of trial

The Old Bailey heard from Rebekah Brooks for the first time today, who told jurors she knew as an eight-year-old she wanted to be a journalist.
Sitting in the witness box wearing a white cardigan over a blue dress with her red hair pinned back, Brooks told the jury: 'My grandmother wrote a poetry column for a local newspaper. The idea probably stemmed from her.'
She said she had 'swept the floors and made the tea' at the local newspaper. Brooks said she got her first full-time job in journalism in 1988, when she was around 20.
Brooks told the jury that her father was a gardener and her mother a personal assistant.
Her parents split up when she was aged 21 and her mother went to London where Brooks was then living. Her father is now dead.
She told her mother at the age of eight that she wanted to be a writer, Brooks said.
Brooks recalled getting work experience at a local newspaper, the Warrington Guardian, at the age of 14.
As Brooks described her early days in journalism, her husband and co-defendant Charlie Brooks sat with his left hand resting against the side of his head, smiling.
Mrs Brooks said The Post newspaper, where she got her first job, proved to be a 'short-lived' publication. But while there, she started to do research for senior journalists when they were going out on a story, such as checking cuttings, and said she was 'bit by bit allowed to write a paragraph'.
The court heard that she next went to work for the News of the World's Sunday magazine, starting in April 1989.

She later got her job as a features researcher and while working, Brooks took a course at the London College of Printing but she added: 'Learning on the job was more informative.'
Brooks told the court that she was made aware very early on of the importance of contacts because she met 'journalists who seemed to have contacts everywhere and sources everywhere'.



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Young: By 2000 Brooks, then Rebekah Wade, was editor of the News of the World after a series of promotions, where she was Britain's youngest tabloid editor at 31

The court heard that when her then-editor moved to be deputy editor at the News of the World newspaper, Brooks asked if she could move with her to work on the newspaper's features desk.

In September 1989 Brooks was promoted to feature writer for the magazine supplement.

Describing her work for the magazine, she said: 'What I ended up doing was interviewing people. The magazine, it was a mixture of celebrity interviews, or we did a lot of human interest stories, or a combination. If you could get a celebrity in a human interest story that was pretty good'.

In 1992 Brooks moved over to the features department for the main paper and became deputy features editor in 1994.

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Key contact: Brooks said publicist Max Clifford helped her with a string of exclusives for her at the News of the World

Features was responsible for 'the furniture' of the newspaper including motoring, travel, gardening and agony aunt. She described it as 'back of the book' content.

But news and features also competed for front page stories too, she said.
After becoming deputy features editor in March 1994, Brooks became features editor in June that year. Just over a year later, in September 1995, she became acting deputy editor of the NotW under then-editor Phil Hall.

Brooks told the court she used her contact with PR guru Max Clifford to get on as deputy editor of the newspaper despite her relative inexperience and age - she was just 27 at the time.

She said: 'I kept hold of running the (features) side of things. Particularly the NotW had a very strong relationship with someone called Max Clifford who basically brokered stories and I dealt with him a lot and stories around that, so by Christmas I passed my trial.'
Brooks told the court that a key story that she managed to secure for the tabloid was footballer Paul Gascoigne talking about domestic violence.

She had already interviewed him several times before 1994, but that year paid around £50,000 to £80,000 to secure the story about 'a sensitive subject'.

Brooks said: 'It was the fact that I got Paul to talk to me about such a sensitive subject. It set out the ground work for me doing that time and time again with other high-profile people who were having difficult circumstances.'
Asked about any personal attacks on her, Brooks said she once found a file compiled on her 'perceived mistakes or stupid stories', called 'T*** 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6'. 'It was a difficult world,' she told the jury.

The court heard that the first occasion Brooks edited the paper was on February 11, 1996 - after the bombing by the Provisional IRA at Canary Wharf - when editor Phil Hall was on holiday.

'It was the first time I had been left in charge, so a big, serious news story like that, I was obviously on edge and wanted to do it well. Despite my inexperience we managed to pull it together.'

Asked about former prime minister Tony Blair - who the court yesterday heard allegedly later offered to be an 'unofficial adviser' to Brooks days before she was arrested in 2011 - she said she first met him and the 'new Labour crew' in 1996 when she accompanied then-partner Ross Kemp to an education rally in 1996.


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Close: Then Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks to Rebekah Brooks, then Wade, when she was editor of The Sun. He told her to stay calm and take sleeping pills

'I went with him and that's when I met, for the first time, the New Labour team,' she said, naming Mr Blair and wife Cherie, former spin doctor Alastair Campbell and partner Fiona Millar, as well as Peter Mandelson, describing them as 'the original sort of New Labour crew'.

Describing The Sun and News of the World's switch to support Mr Blair in 1997, she said: 'The Sun had supported the Tories for a long time and they supported Tony Blair in favour of John Major very early on.

'It was a big thing.'

$250,000 world exclusive for Hugh Grant's LA prostitute: Brooks used private jet and hid Divine Brown in the desert

Rebekah Brooks spent £250,000 hiding a prostitute caught performing a sex act on Hugh Grant to protect her exclusive story, the court heard today.

The then 27-year-old features editor of the New of the World relocated Divine Brown and her large family to an expensive house in the Nevada desert to stop others finding her.

Brooks paid Ms Brown £100,000 for her story, in July 1995, and spent another £150,000 on expenses, including chartering a jet and renting several houses.



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Exclusive: After Divine Brown was caught performing a sex act on Hugh Grant on Sunset Boulevard in 1995 Rebekah Brooks paid £250,000 to hide her and her family in the desert


'When the News of the World got there first, she agreed to do a deal with us there and then', she said.

'I think the deal with Divine Brown was around £100,000, give or take, directly to her.


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Impact: Brooks said she went to great lengths to secure the story linked to Hugh Grant (pictured with Liz Hurley, his partner at the time)

'There was a huge cost in, once we had found Divine Brown, there was an expectation that the Mail and the Sun wouldn't be far behind.

'We asked Divine Brown if she would move from her home to a different location.

'From memory, she must have taken quite a lot of her family with her.'

Brooks was features editor at the News of the World at the time, and had to explain the 'huge cost' to the editor and managing editor.

Ms Brown had been traced to her family home by one of the paper's reporters, a former private investigator, after her arrest with Mr Grant in Los Angeles.

'We flew them to a place in Nevada - the desert', she said, breaking into a slight laugh.

'It seems silly now, but it was really important.

'She (Ms Brown) was very smart, she wanted all her family relocated to this place in Nevada, we had to hire a plane.

'That was a huge cost because of the location we chose.'

Brooks said they were so worried about rivals finding them in the desert that the Brown family were relocated once again before the Sunday newspaper came out.

'It certainly blew the weekly spending limit - I think the total was about £250,000.

'It was probably one of the biggest expenses I had done, which is why I have a relatively clear memory of it.'

The trial continues.

Sabotage at News International: Rivals cut Brooks' phone and compiled 't**t' dossier to discredit her

The intense competition for exclusives at the News of the World was laid bare today as Rebekah Brooks said colleagues regularly tried to sabotage her stories and savage her reputation.

The 45-year-old said there was a 'deep competitiveness' at the tabloid, even between the news and features desks.

'Sometimes it was like they'd rather the Sun or Mirror had the story,' she said.

On one occasion she said the phone lines on her desk were cut.



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Stablemates: Rebekah Brooks said that the rivalry at News International's Wapping offices was so intense that staff would regularly sabotage eachother to get ahead

She said: 'No one owned up to it, but I always suspected it was the news desk.'

She added: 'As part of the internal competition there were compiled files of your perceived mistakes or stupid stories I'd done.

'I found mine one day and they were all called t**t. T**t 1, 2, 3 and so on.. It was a tough world.'

News International papers were like 'four separate kingdoms,' she added.

She said The Sun, News of The World, Times and Sunday Times, were so 'paranoid' about keeping their stories to themselves the print room would be 'locked down' so rival journalists couldn't steal their exclusives.

She told the Old Bailey: 'They were very separate. We had swipe cards and frosted windows.

'Management once planned a route into the canteen for the NoTW and The Sun had their windows frosted so the NoTW couldn't look in.

'It sounds paranoid, but the Sunday Times were just the same and kept themselves locked away like the rest of us.

'The print room would have to be locked down so journalists couldn't get through to the copy.

'It was four separate kingdoms really.'
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