Introduction
The phone hacking trial has now
concluded. On the 138th day of the trial the jury returned the
majority of its verdicts, convicting former News of the World editor Andy
Coulson of conspiring to hack mobile telephones. Meanwhile, Coulson’s
predecessor, Rebekah Brooks, was cleared of all charges.
The following day the judge, Mr
Justice Sweeney, discharged the jury from considering its final verdicts after
it became clear the jury would be unable to make a decision. The judge also criticised
the Prime Minister, David Cameron, for making potentially prejudicial comments
following the initial verdicts while the jury was still deliberating on other
charges. It
was announced today that there will be a retrial of the charges the jury was
unable to decide on.
The prosecutions followed the
investigation into the News of the World newspaper before its closure in 2011. The
newspaper was closed by its parent company, News International, in July 2011
after the revelation that in 2002 the tabloid has instructed a private
investigator to ‘hack’, or intercept, voicemails left on the mobile phone of
Milly Dowler, a teenager who was abducted and murdered.
The hacking was possible because
mobile phone operators gave customers default PIN codes to access their
voicemail by either using another phone or dialling a separate number.
Who was on trial, for what, and
what were the verdicts?
Defendants and Charges
There were eight defendants
standing trial who were charged jointly with various offences. I shall deal
with each defendant in turn.
Rebekah Brooks
She was the former editor of the
News of the World. She was charged with five offences.
She was charged, firstly, with
conspiracy to intercept communications in the course of their transmission.
This is an offence under
section 1(1) of
the Criminal Law Act 1977. Section 1(1) of the 1977 provides it is an offence
for a person to agree with others to follow a course of conduct which, if it is
carried out as they intended, would involve an offence being committed. In
essence, it is planning to carry out another offence.
The offence that was allegedly
planned and committed was the unlawful interception of communications, or
‘hacking’, under
section
1 of the Regulation of the Investigatory Powers Act 2000. This provides it
is an offence for a person to intentionally intercept communications in the
course of their transmission without lawful authority.
Under
section 3 of the
1977 Act, the maximum sentence for conspiracy is the maximum sentence of
the offence planned. The maximum sentence for unlawful interception is two
years imprisonment under
section 1(7) of
the 2000 Act. Therefore the maximum sentence for conspiracy here was two
years imprisonment.
The nature of this charge was
that Brooks was alleged to have agreed with a number of other individuals
(including Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman who have already been convicted of
phone hacking) for them to hack the voicemails of a number of people.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Brooks was charged, secondly,
with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
Again the conspiracy is charged
under section 1(1) of the 1977 Act. It is alleged the offence planned was
misconduct in public office. This is an offence under the common law (for more
information on what the common law is, see
this
article). The elements of this offence are set out in the case of
Attorney General’s Reference No 3 of 2003
(2004). The offence is committed when a public officer wilfully neglects to perform
their duty, or misconducts themselves, to such a degree as to amount to an
abuse of the public’s trust in the office holder, without reasonable excuse or
justification.
The maximum sentence for this
conspiracy is life imprisonment because the maximum sentence for misconduct in
public office is life imprisonment.
The nature of this charge was
that Brooks allegedly agreed with a number of public office holders, such as police
officers, to pay them for confidential information which would later be used in
newspaper articles. By acting in this way the office holders would be committing
misconduct in public office. Brooks was charged with two counts of this offence
because it was alleged she agreed with two different groups of people to make
these payments.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Brooks was charged, thirdly, with
conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.
Again the conspiracy is charged
under section 1(1) of the 1977 Act. It wass alleged the offence planned was perverting
the course of justice. This is an offence under the common law. This offence is
defined in the case of R v Vreones (1891)
as doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice.
The maximum sentence for this
conspiracy is life imprisonment because the maximum sentence for perverting the
course of justice is life imprisonment.
The nature of this charge was
that it was alleged Brooks agreed with others to permanently remove seven boxes
of archived material from the archive of News International. Brooks was charged
with two counts of this offence because it was also alleged she agreed with
others to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from
police officers.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Andy Coulson
He was also a former editor of
the News of the World. Additionally, he served as David Cameron’s government
director of communications. He was charged with three offences.
He was charged, firstly, with
conspiracy to intercept communications in the course of their transmission.
The law is the same as above. The
nature of this charge was that Coulson was alleged, along with Brooks, to have
agreed with a number of other individuals (including Glenn Mulcaire and Clive
Goodman, who have already been convicted of phone hacking) for them to hack the
voicemails of a number of people.
Verdict: Guilty.
Coulson was charged, secondly,
with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
The law is as before. The nature
of this charge was that Coulson allegedly agreed, along with Goodman, with a
number of public office holders, such as police officers, to pay them for
confidential information to be used in newspaper articles. Coulson was charged
with two counts of this offence because it was alleged he agreed to make
payments on two different occasions.
Verdict: Jury discharged. To be retried.
Ian Edmonson
He was the former news editor of
the News of the World. He was charged with one offence.
He was charged with conspiracy to
intercept communications in the course of their transmission.
The law is the same as above. The
nature of the charge was that Edmonson was alleged, along with Brooks and
Coulson, to have agreed with a number of other individuals (including Glenn
Mulcaire and Clive Goodman, who have already been convicted of phone hacking) for
them to hack the voicemails of a number of people.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Stuart Kuttner
He was the former managing editor
of the News of the World. He was charged with one offence.
He was charged with conspiracy to
intercept communications in the course of their transmission.
The law is the same as above. The
nature of the charge was that Kuttner was alleged, along with Brooks, Coulson
and Edmonson, to have agreed with a number of other individuals (including
Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman, who have already been convicted of phone
hacking) for them to hack the voicemails of a number of people.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Clive Goodman
He was the former royal editor of
the News of the World. He was charged with two offences.
Goodman was charged with
conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office.
The law is as before. The nature
of the charge was that Goodman allegedly agreed, along with Coulson, with a
number of public office holders, such as police officers, to pay them for
confidential information to be used in newspaper articles. Goodman was charged
with two counts of this offence because it was alleged he agreed to make
payments during two different periods.
Verdict: Jury discharged. To be retried.
Cheryl Carter
She was Brooks’ former personal
assistant. She was charged with one offence.
She was charged with conspiracy
to pervert the course of justice.
The law is as before. The nature
of the charge was that it was alleged Carter agreed, along with Brooks, with
others to permanently remove seven boxes of archived material from the archive
of News International.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Mark Hanna
He was the former head of security
at News International. He was charged with one offence.
He was charged with conspiracy to
pervert the course of justice.
The law is as before. The nature
of the charge was that it was alleged Hanna agreed, along with Brooks, to
conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from police
officers.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Charlie Brooks
He was Brooks’ husband. He was
charged with one offence.
He was charged with conspiracy to
pervert the course of justice.
The law is as before. The nature
of the charge was that it was alleged Brooks agreed, along with Brooks and
Hanna, to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from
police officers.
Verdict: Not guilty.
Final Comments
The trial was one of the
costliest trials in legal history, with the total costs estimated at nearly
£100 million. Details about the costs involved can be found
here. The original indictment (the document formally charging the defendants) appears
below.
The Indictment
INDICTMENT
REGINA v Ian
Edmondson, Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Clive Goodman,
Cheryl Carter, Charles Brooks and Mark Hanna
The charges are as
follows:-
Count 1
STATEMENT OF
OFFENCE
Conspiracy to
intercept communications in the course of their transmission without lawful
authority, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal law Act 1977.
PARTICULARS OF
OFFENCE
IAN EDMONDSON,
REBEKAH BROOKS, ANDREW COULSON and STUART KUTTNER between 3 October 2000 and 9
August 2006 conspired together, and with Glenn Mulcaire, Clive Goodman, Greg
Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck, James Weatherup and persons unknown, to intercept,
without lawful authority, communications in the course of their transmission by
means of a public telecommunications system, namely mobile phone voicemail
messages.
Count 2
STATEMENT OF
OFFENCE
Conspiracy to
commit Misconduct in Public Office, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal
Law Act 1977.
PARTICULARS OF
OFFENCE
CLIVE GOODMAN and
ANDREW COULSON, between the 31st August 2002 and the 31st January 2003,
conspired together and with persons unknown to commit misconduct in public
office.
Count 3
STATEMENT OF
OFFENCE
Conspiracy to
commit Misconduct in Public Office, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal
Law Act 1977.
PARTICULARS OF
OFFENCE
CLIVE GOODMAN and
ANDREW COULSON, between 31 January 2005 and 3 June 2005, conspired together and
with persons unknown to commit misconduct in public office.
Count 4
STATEMENT OF
OFFENCE
Conspiracy to
commit Misconduct in Public Office, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal
Law Act 1977.
PARTICULARS OF
OFFENCE
REBEKAH BROOKS
between 1 January 2004 and 31 January 2012, conspired with John Kay, Fergus
Shanahan, Geoffrey Webster and Bettina Jordan-Barber and persons unknown to
commit misconduct in public office.
Count 5
STATEMENT OF
OFFENCE
Conspiracy to
commit Misconduct in Public Office, contrary to section 1(1) of the Criminal
Law Act 1977.
PARTICULARS OF
OFFENCE
REBEKAH BROOKS,
between 9 February 2006 and 16 October 2008, conspired with Duncan Larcombe,
John Hardy and Claire Hardy and with persons unknown to commit misconduct in
public office.
Count 6
STATEMENT OF OFFENCE
Conspiracy To
Pervert The Course Of Justice, contrary to Section 1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977
PARTICULARS OF
OFFENCE
REBEKAH BROOKS and
CHERYL CARTER between 6 July 2011 and 9 July 2011 conspired together to do a
series of acts which had a tendency to and were intended to pervert the course
of public justice, namely permanently to remove seven boxes of archived
material from the archive of News International.
Count 7
STATEMENT OF
OFFENCE
Conspiracy To
Pervert The Course Of Justice, contrary to Section 1(1) Criminal Law Act 1977
PARTICULARS OF
OFFENCE
REBEKAH BROOKS,
CHARLES BROOKS and MARK HANNA, between the 15 July 2011 and the 19 July 2011
conspired together and with Lee Sandell, David Johnson, Daryl Jorsling, Paul
Edwards and persons unknown to do an act or a series of acts which had a
tendency to and were intended to pervert the course of justice, namely to
conceal documents, computers, and other electronic equipment from officers of
the Metropolitan Police Service who were investigating allegations of phone
hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World
and The Sun newspapers.
INDICTMENT
ENDS
