R v Coulson, Brooks and others
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''R v Coulson, Brooks and others'' was a trial at the
Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, arising from the
News International phone hacking scandal The News International phone hacking scandal was a controversy involving the now-defunct ''News of the World'' and other British newspapers owned by Rupert Murdoch. Employees of the newspaper were accused of engaging in phone hacking, police b ...
. At the start,
Glenn Mulcaire Glenn Michael Mulcaire (born 8 September 1970) is an English private investigator and former non-league footballer. He was closely involved in the News International phone hacking scandal, and was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for his role i ...
, Neville Thurlbeck, James Weatherup and Greg Miskiw all pleaded guilty to various charges. The accused who pleaded not guilty and went to trial were Rebekah Brooks,
Andy Coulson Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968) is an English journalist and political strategist. Coulson was the editor of the ''News of the World'' from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's repo ...
, Charlie Brooks,
Clive Goodman Clive Goodman (born 17 September 1957, in Hammersmith, London) is an English journalist, former royal editor and reporter for the ''News of the World''. He was arrested in August 2006 and jailed in January 2007 for News International phone hacking ...
, Ian Edmondson,
Stuart Kuttner Stuart Kuttner (born 1939/1940) is a former newspaper editor. He worked as the news editor for the ''London Evening Standard'' before joining the '' News of the World'' newspaper in 1980 first as a deputy editor, then as managing editor. He held ...
, Cheryl Carter and Mark Hanna. The trial began on 28 October 2013. At the start of the trial, the court was told by counsel for the crown,
Andrew Edis Sir Andrew Jeremy Coulter Edis PC (born 9 June 1957), styled The Rt Hon. Lord Justice Edis, is a Lord Justice of Appeal ( Judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales), having previously served as a High Court Judge. Edis studied at Live ...
QC, that Rebekah Brooks and
Andy Coulson Andrew Edward Coulson (born 21 January 1968) is an English journalist and political strategist. Coulson was the editor of the ''News of the World'' from 2003 until his resignation in 2007, following the conviction of one of the newspaper's repo ...
had an affair over a period lasting at least six years from 1998 to 2004, the period when much of the alleged conspiracy is claimed to have taken place. On 12 December 2013, the judge announced that Ian Edmondson was ill and unlikely to recover for several weeks, so the trial would proceed without dealing with the charges against him, they would be dealt with at a later trial. On 24 June 2014 the jury found Coulson guilty of one charge of conspiracy to hack phones; it failed to agree a verdict on two other charges of conspiring to cause misconduct in public office in relation to the alleged purchase of confidential royal phone directories in 2005 from a palace police officer. Brooks and five other defendants were found not guilty. Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...
was criticised in court by the trial judge for public remarks he made in response to the guilty verdict while the jury was still considering the outstanding charges against Coulson and Goodman. On 30 June 2014 the trial judge, Mr Justice Saunders, announced that Coulson and the News of the World's former royal editor, Clive Goodman, would face a retrial on the outstanding charges. On 4 July 2014 Coulson was one of four ex-journalists at the ''News of the World'' to be sentenced, along with private investigator
Glenn Mulcaire Glenn Michael Mulcaire (born 8 September 1970) is an English private investigator and former non-league footballer. He was closely involved in the News International phone hacking scandal, and was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for his role i ...
. The sentences were: Coulson - 18 months, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and news editor
Greg Miskiw Greg Miskiw (born Ihor Miskiw; December 1949 – 25 September 2021) was a British journalist and news editor of the defunct tabloid newspaper the '' News of the World''. Career Miskiw was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in December 1949 and is of Ukr ...
- six months each, former reporter
James Weatherup James Weatherup (born 1961) is an English newspaper journalist, news reporter, newspaper editor and PR Director. After starting out in regional newspapers, he joined the '' News of the World,'' serving in two stints over 25 years for nine edi ...
- four-month suspended sentence, former private investigator
Glenn Mulcaire Glenn Michael Mulcaire (born 8 September 1970) is an English private investigator and former non-league footballer. He was closely involved in the News International phone hacking scandal, and was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for his role i ...
- six-month suspended sentence. Weatherup and Mulcaire also received 200 hours of community service. A court hearing in July 2014 established that Ian Edmondson was fit to continue. On 3 October 2014, Edmondson changed his plea to guilty, becoming the eighth person to be convicted of phone hacking at the now-defunct News of the World. He admitted conspiring with colleagues and private detective
Glenn Mulcaire Glenn Michael Mulcaire (born 8 September 1970) is an English private investigator and former non-league footballer. He was closely involved in the News International phone hacking scandal, and was imprisoned for six months in 2007 for his role i ...
to intercept private voicemails between 3 October 2000 and 9 August 2006. These included the voicemails of two home secretaries, also, Sir
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
and the actors
Jude Law David Jude Heyworth Law (born 29 December 1972) is an English actor. He received a British Academy Film Award, as well as nominations for two Academy Awards, two Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards. In 2007, he received an Honorary Césa ...
and
Sienna Miller Sienna Rosie Diana Miller (born December 28, 1981) is an American-British actress. Born in New York City and raised in London, she began her career as a photography model, appearing in the pages of Italian ''Vogue'' and for the 2003 Pirelli cal ...
. The court heard that Edmondson tasked Mulcaire with hacking some 344 times. On 7 November 2014, Mr Justice Saunders jailed Edmondson for eight months, saying that he only had himself to blame.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coulson Brooks 2013 in London Trials in London Trials of political people