Phone Hacking Trial: The Verdicts

Introduction

The phone hacking trial has now concluded. On the 138^th 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