Hacking Trial Live Tweets – 30 Oct

Wednesday 30 October 2013

Summary
	The Prosecution Opening Statement
		Counsel for the Prosecution Anthony Edis QC
		The Defendants
		The Charges
		Guilty Pleas
		The Prosecution Case on Phone Hacking

The Prosecution Opening Statement
	Counsel for the Prosecution Anthony Edis QC
		We’re off. Anthony Edis QC is opening prosecution case in the historic #hackingtrial – surrounded by 21 other bewigged barristers
	The Defendants
		Edis tells Jury who is who “The defendants are sitting in the order they are in the indictments… Edmondson.. Mrs Rebekah Brooks….”
		Edis names the defendants and their counsel. Andy Coulson… Stuart Kuttner “he will not always be here because of state of health”
		Edis “The next defendant is Clive Goodman… next along defendant Cheryl Carter… next defendant is Mr Charles Brooks… Mr Mark Hannah”
		Edis “A word of reassurance. You won’t remember quite a lot of what I’m going to tell you. It doesn’t matter. This is not a memory test”
		Edis says “I’ve made a terrible mistake, I haven’t introduced my team” and goes on to introduce prosecution team for Crown
		Edis “We go through the case quite slowly…. but everything of any importance is gone over and over again.” #hackingtrial
		Edis “I’m speaking to give you an outline of prosecution case, so you now where the evidence fits in. Quite a long outline…” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “You know what some of this is about because everyone does. This is the phone hacking trial. But it’s not just a phone hacking trial”
		Edis: It’s arisen out of an investigation that began in Jan 2011 into phone hacking at NOTW… That resulted in closure of NOTW.”
		Edis: “Those events were very big news at the time… It doesn’t matter… All that matters is what happens here” #hackingtrial
		Edis to Jury; “You are going to learn a lot. What happens here will be memorable enough and what matters” #hackingtrial
	The Charges
		Edis: “There are 3 kinds of criminal behaviour alleged… 1/ Phone hacking… it became a criminal offence from year 2000” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “Misconduct in a public office….Public officials given confidential, sometimes, secret information… expected to keep secret
		More on Count 2: “It appears public officials have sold these secrets… to the NOTW and the Sun… that is a crime.” ” #hackingtrial
		More on misconduct: “We’re not dealing with a whistleblower.. .but someone who has betrayed public trust for money”
		Edis: “3rd type of criminality we allege in this case…. perverting the course of justice… hiding stuff so the police couldn’t get it”
		Edis goes through the indictments in more detail #hackingtrial “A charge of conspiracy…. indeed they all are….”
		Edis first conspiracy count against “fairly senior people against News of the World.” #hackingtrial
		Edis says “we will be able to show their was phone hacking at NOTW, that Mulcaire, Goodman and Edmondson did it…” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “If others didn’t stop it, you could say, they were party to a conspiracy” ” #hackingtrial
		More on Count 2: “Misconduct in public office involves Goodman and Coulson…. Principally happened in 2003…”
		Edis: “Mr Goodman wanted to acquire royal telephone directories. Mr Coulson agreed to paid a sum of money… that;s what emails show.”
		Count 3: “Short set of emails… Goodman asking Coulson to approve payment for palace policeman… the payments were made by cash.”
		Edis: “When Goodman’s house was searched… 15 Royal directories found.. including 2 from that time.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “The acquisition of phone books with phone numbers… would be useful for doing some phone hacking…. blagging…” #hackingtrial
		Edis on royal directories payments: “This behaviour is associated with phone hacking”…” #hackingtrial
		Edis on Brooks charges “While she was ediotr of the Sun she approved payments to public officials.. quite large payments…” ” #hackingtrial
		Count 5 outlines charges to “Bettina Jordan-Barber… a highly placed ministry of defence official… with developed vetting” hackingtrial
		“Over a long period of time Bettina Jordan-Barber sold a lot of information for a considerable amount of money.” ” #hackingtrial
		“Rebekah Brooks approved over £40,000 in payments to this public official” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “Lastly counts 6 and 7… hiding stuff from police. This brings us bang up to date. Right at the end of the NOTW period” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “The investigation began Jan 11. By July when Milly Dowler was made public… there was a storm of publicity. It wasnt going away.”
		Edis: Between July 6 and 9… we say Brooks and her PA Cheryl Carter would get journallistic notebooks from archive.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “Ms Carter got them out of the archive on the Firday just before NOTW was closed and the building sealed… they have disappeared.”
		Edis: “We will not know what those notebooks contained because they are gone.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis on Charge 7 “prosecuting say….. material police would have wanted were cleared out of Brooks’ country home and taken to NI offices”
		Edis: “Material was collected from their London flat and taken to the same place.’ (NI offices at Thomas More Square ” #hackingtrial
		Edis “This was material in possession of CEO of the company…. and would have been relevant to police inquiry.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis “This was discovered as a result of an accident which was rather bad luck for the conspirators.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis on Conspiracy “An agreement between two or more people that an offence shall take place… The agreement is the offence.” #hackingtrial
		Edis outlines crime of conspiracy (e.g. hitman – the hit doesn\t have to go ahead) #hackingtrial
		Edis “But in fact in case of count 1… prosecution say they can prove their was phone hacking and quite a bit of it
		Edis: “Mulcaire pleaded guilty to phone hacking in Nov 2006…. in quite a restricted inquiry. We’ll say more about that later.”
	Guilty Pleas
		BREAKING: Edis: “Mr Mulcaire has also pleaded guilty this year in these proceedings to three counts of phone hacking..”
		BREAKING: Miskiw, Thurlbeck, Weatherup – News Editors have all pleaded guilty to count one ” #hackingtrial
		Edis “That explains why you’re not trying anyone in that first count list… and this is proof of a conspiracy” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis is told to speak up: “What I’ve just told you… three newsdesk editors at NOTW have pleaded guilty to count one.” ” #hackingtrial
		“This prosecution is not an attack on freedom on the press … but journos no more entitled to break the law than anyone else” #hackingtrial
		“The prosecution says there’s no justification for journalists to get involved in phone hacking” ” #hackingtrial
		“The prosecution says it is not right for newspapers to corrupt public officials by paying them money… not the same as whistleblower”
		“There can’\t be any justification for anyone interfering with police inquiry” Edis on perversion of course of justice ” #hackingtrial
	The Prosecution Case on Phone Hacking
		Edis; “Phone hacking started when Brooks took over as editor (of NOTW) and continued when he took over (he had been her deputy)
		Edis: “During that period newdesk ed changed hands – Miskiw, Thurlbeck, Weatherup (all pleaded guilty) and Edmondson. you still have to try
		Edis; “The balloon goes up when Mulcaire and Goodman arrested in 2006… ” Edis then talks about cash payments by Brooks at Sun
		Eds: “The arrest of Mulcaire and Goodman at sister paper of the Sun, the NOTW, ..caused ripples. The PCC… is involved.”
		Edis: “There is a document..” SHOWS DOC ON SCREEN “this is a letter from 16 March 2007 to Brooks from PCC:
		Edis read out letter from PCC. “The commission deplores the kind of snooping revealed by Goodman case…” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: Brooks response to PCC letter 27/03/07 “The Sun deplores the kind of snooping revealed by the Goodman case….” ” #hackingtrial
		Brooks letter to PCC: “Any breach of code liable to be instantly dismissed by company”. Edis points out during Bettina Jordan-Barber period
		Brooks PCC letter: “Cash payments must be approved by me or editor of the day.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: on Goodman/Mulcaire case in 2005/6: “Mr Mulcaire was being paid 100k a year as a regular weekly retained… required high up approval”
		Edis: “Goodman arranged an extra payment sanctioned by Coulson in late 2005” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “We suggest you need to remember when you consider how Brooks approved these payment to Jordan-Barber,” ” #hackingtrial
		PCC letter seems to be drafted by someone else but sent out and signed under Brooks’ name
		Edis: “NI was keen to say phone hacking in NOTW limited to Goodman…. this inquiry proved conclusively not true…”
		Edis: “It has secured the convictions of Miskiw, Thurlbeck and Weatherup…. News International did ultimately admit that.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: brings up NI statement on Phone Hacking “We are saying it had been going on much longer that that” ” #hackingtrial
		NI letter “Past behaviour in relation to phone hacking is a matter of regret, and investigaitons… not sufficiently robust” #hackingtrial
		Brooks was CEO at time of that NI letter and approved it ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: Droppng “single rogue reporter… came about when civil litigation was going on … legal documents came to light” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis produces a humungous white file of documents with a chronology #hackingtrial
		Edis goes through chronology of Brooks and Coulson at NOTW: a lot of emails about budgetary constraints. ” #hackingtrial
		Edis goes to Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills timeline: mentions Sienna Miller Jude Law. “Tmelines deal with each bit of phonehacking”
		Edis goes to a page 13th Jan 2003 – “thats when Brooks leaves the NOTW and goes to the Sun.” 6th Jan 2004 ‘Army Bonking in Congo”
		Edis: this is to demonstrate timelines illustrating charges related to Bettina Jordan-Barber.
		Edis on Operation Sacha: “investigation into coverup” and shows the working of enormous binder.
		Edis on important Glenn Mulcaire “notebooks…. thousand and thousands of pages…. a schedule that lists Mulcaires notes.” #hackingtrial
		Mulcaire used top left hand corner to note journalists who tasked him “early on it was Greg… Greg Miskiw… his first contact” “
		Edis on the electronic reference and doc IDs. Less fascinating stuff here. Thank goodness. Fingers need rest
		Edis on GM notebooks: 25/05/01 “Greg tasking.. subject of investigation… Will Young… phone numbers… NOTW story identified”
		Basically EDIS explaining the cross referencing between Mulcaire stories and published NOTW stories. ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “Chronology sometimes difficult because Mulcaire gets things wrong… sometimes other evidence… a story in NOTW” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “Number of tasking between Nevill and Greg, 2001-2002.” Mentions “Louise Woodward.. nanny accused of murder.” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “Nine of Woodwards voicemails were found recorded at Mulcaire’s house… so no doubt about phone hacking” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “Sometimes Mulcaire wrote down what he call as ‘hacking narrative’… numbers, UVNs, DDMs, other numbers” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “The absence of that information doesn’t mean someone wasn’t hacked. We know Woodward was hacked…. we see GM calling other numbers”
		Edis: “This is a great long document because there was an awful lot of tasking of Glenn Mulcaire” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis goes to p59 to illustrate how in later period further information became available about phone hacking later
		Edis; Page 2005 “tasking by Ian” appears in top left. “The prosecution say the only news desk editor called Ian is Ian Edmondson“
		Edis shows more tasking: “Chloe Straighter, friend of Nicholas Mosse, brother of Kate Mosse”
		Edis “Though they were giving Mulcaire 100k a year, there is very little paperwork on what NOTW were paying him for” #hackingtrial
		“NOTW records conspicuously silent about what they were getting for their money.” Edis on Mulcaire #hackingtrial
		“I”m sorry if it’s tedious…” Edis on introductory process. Justice Saunders “I never intended or implied it was”
		Edis shows a schedule of Edmondson’s use of Mulcaire “an undoubtedly large number of phone hacks.” Some tape recordings, passwords…
		Edis “Passwords to someone connected to Joanne Lumley…. recording of Lord Windsor… Voice mails of Blunkett leaving messages for…”
		Edis: “Recordings of Blunkett leaving messages for Sally Anderson” He then shows the Non Royal Audio Schedule of recording “It’s a big list”
		Edis “All I need to tell you now is that there really is a lot of material of recorded voicemails recovered from Mulcaire” #hackingtrial
		Edis: “How someone coming into the job know it was OK to hack if senior management didn’t know?” ” #hackingtrial
		Edis on Phone Data provided by NI: Private Wire Line. “We don’t know which member of staff at NI were making this calls.”
		Edis; “NI private line – (Royal Aide) Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton apparently calls his own phone…. but no, this was Glenn Mulcaire Oct 2005
		Edis draws jury’s attention to page 11: “this is all Royal Hacking… except we suggest Mr Edmondson was going his own hacking” April 2006
		Edis: “Im going to talk a lot about Dennis Rice and Seb Hamliton… Edmondson hacking the phones of Mail on Sunday journalists #hackingtrial
		Edis going to talk more about Rice and Hamilton tomorrow. But no we’re going to Tessa Jowell and Lord Frederick Windsor
		Edis “Perhaps this evening i can leave you with a single thought… Edmondson was newsdesk editor, but not as senior as managing editor”
		Edis: “How much did much did the management know what was going on their newspepers?”
		Edis “The NOTW was a Sunday paper. Publishes once a week. It wasn’t War and Peace. It wasn’t an enormous document.. they must have known”
		Edis reiterates; “NOTW was only publishing once a week… the mangements job to know what was in the paper.”
		Back 10 am tomorrow
		Word of warning to followers tweeting about Brooks/Coulson trial. Prejudicial tweeters have already received contempt of court notices
		Thanks to all following over #hackingtrail. More next 2 days. Meanwhile for more backround info http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fall-House-Murdoch-Peter-Jukes-ebook/dp/B0091US5MU/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top … #FOTHOM
		Just to clarify the contempt of court notices I mentioned were not sent to me! #hackingtrial
		The power of Twitter. Various journalists including @lisaocarroll locked in Old Bailey after #hackingtrial. @JudiciaryUK call security
		MT @MarkLewisLawyer “All political parties let public down. No state controlled press and no press controlled state” #hacking #royalcharter
		(PressBoF) v Culture Secretary “I felt I was watching a highly skilled player bluff with a weak hand” http://www.headoflegal.com/2013/10/30/r-pressbof-v-culture-secretary-todays-hearing/ … @carlgardner
		Murdoch’s News of the World Editors Admit To Phone-Hacking http://thebea.st/1f4Il0z via @thedailybeast
		The News of the World wasn’t War and Peace… The management’s job to know what was in the paper.” http://thebea.st/1f4Il0z

Note: All the defendants deny all the charges. The trial continues.

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