Hacking Trial Live Tweets – 26 Feb

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Summary
	Rebekah Brooks Defence Continues on Count 1 – Phone Hacking
		Brooks questioned on News of the World exclusives
		Brooks asked about Glen Mulcaire
		Soham Murders
		David Blunkett story
		Eimear Cook and the Lunch Meeting
	Rebekah Brooks questioned on Arrests of Goodman and Mulcaire
		Brooks reaction to the arrest of Clive Goodman
		Brooks Phone Hacked
		Coulson Resignation
		Brooks meeting with Clive Goodman after Prison release

Rebekah Brooks Defence Continues on Count 1 – Phone Hacking
	Brooks questioned on News of the World exclusives
		Justice Saunders asks the jury to put their Milly Dowler bundles away. We’ve finished with that part of Brooks’ defence.
		Jonathan Laidlaw QC picks up some remaining Count One evidence from Mr Sweet, Blunkett and Eimear Cook at the #hackingtrial
		We’re now in June 2002: a budget memo from Kuttner to Brooks is adduced.
		Laidlaw is going through the upward revision weekly spending limits at NOTW when Global recession in wake of 9/11 didn’t materialise
		Brooks notices the small increase in the editorial budget in financial year 2002-03
		Brooks email cited to Harry Scott and Greg Miskiw 8pm on a Saturday night cited when rival Sundays – particularly MoS – came in.
		Two more emails in this chain: one from Bill Akass: the bigger the circulation of a rival Sunday the earlier the edition
		Miskiw email to James Morgan in finance about a cheque for Mulcaire: Brooks says she never saw document nor was it brought to her attention
		20/07/02 Brooks writing to Harry Scott, copied to Scott and Miskiw, about “matching all the Shipman stuff” and “good stuff in broadsheets”
		J Saunders asks about copying from others “matches”: do you just write it up? Brooks “depending on which paper it is you check it first”
		A email from Scottish editor of NOTW asking Brooks about PCC is cited at #hackingtrial
		Brooks explains Bob Bird is “asking invasion into privacy is justified in public interest… breaching the misconduct rules….”
		Brooks replies: “No problem with it providing it’s 100% accurate PCC wise…. No need to go off moral highground.” Bird: “Ok, thanks”
		Brooks asks about a redaction from email: Laidlaw says its probably redacted by News International when provided to the police
		Email from Coulson copied to Brooks cited: a draft letter about Heather Mills “a pre notification kind of letter” to agent or some sort.
		Second contract between NOTW and Euro Research signed by Glenn Mulcaire and Greg Miskiw is analysed. Same clauses as previous years
		Brooks “as I said ye…. I can’t remember what day now… the cumulative figure should have been shown to me and Kuttner….”
		Brooks contd: “But the way the week payments were made meant it went under the limit”
		03/11/02 Brooks email complains about Sunday Mirror getting a picture of Maxine Carr.
		“The police have all my diaries and so can check… but it seems odd sending an email on a Tuesday,” says Brooks of 03/11/02 Carr email
		Email 20/11/02 from Brooks to heads of dept at NOTW saying “Come on guys” about a blank page 13
		Another email thread 13/09/02 about two policeman involved in Soham case with some allegations of child porn
		Brooks on child internet porn forum and chat room: “We have to get into illegal websites…. you have to think about it, justify it”
		This email is called “Soham Cops”: Brooks “we may get away with this is website Soham Cops are charged with and so on.”
		Brooks “Surely cops so angry at Soham we should be able to get that out of them… maybe Stuart Kuttner can get from Chief Constable”
		Brooks is talking about an FBI Operation Org (?) into child porn sites. She explains how Kuttner was “helping or criticising” police.
		Brooks added comments to Panther piece: “It was complicated story… She comments on piece “Shouldn’t we tell the police where he is then.”
		“It needs a lot of work. It all seems so strange. Need to explain why he’s talking to us about court cases,” says Brooks email on Panther
		19/09/02 email from Brooks saying Milly Dowler‘s body found: Brooks “he’s getting it from Daily Mail… so I don’t know if it’s right”
		20/09/02 Brooks writes to a number of people for night conference; “information in respect of Milly”
		“I had a lot of questions from the morning conference,” says Brooks about follow up email on Friday: “It’s just normal”
		12/10/02 – we’re approaching the end of Brooks’ editorship – “matter of pride we get a picture of this woman Nadia mustn’t be beaten by MoS”
		Brooks writes to Miskiw and Thurlbeck: “want a thorough readover of the Sunday Mirror”. Brooks explains she’d get S Mirror a bit earlier
		“It was possible to go to Kings Cross where the street editions… possible to get a friendly delivery driver” says Brooks of early copies
		NOTW email from Brooks late 2002 explaining how it seen off threats from rivals and “stopped the MoS in its tracks”
		The email praises Neville Thurlbeck and Mazer Mahmoud among others for setting the agenda with their exclusives in 2002.
		Brooks invites them all for champagne in her office for this Xmas 2002 email to NOTW staff
		Memo from Brooks to Les Hinton around Xmas 2002 is cited by Laidlaw
		Brooks: “the whole document is me asking for more marketing, a price cut, and outlining the case for it…. comparing it to Saturday Sun”
		Brooks: “was told very early in the morning I had to met Les for breakfast, I was told 5 in the morning I was going to be editor of the Sun”
		Brooks says she thinks she didn’t actually start till the next day at the Sun.
	Brooks asked about Glen Mulcaire
		Laidlaw asks about Geoff Sweet’s evidence given previously at #hackingtrial
		Geoff Sweet had previously spoken about 18/08/02 article in NOTW which mentioned Mulcaire and previous footballing prowess
		Geoff Sweet had previously told jury, in Laidlaw’s words, “it was known at the office Glenn Mulcaire worked for the News of the World”
		Laidlaw points out this Geoff Sweet article was on p 82, and the mention of ‘Trigger’ being part of our “special investigations team”
		“I don’t remember that,” says Brooks of Mulcaire article in NOTW. “I first heard of him in 2006…. there were 18 pages of sport that day.”
		“The only unit you could say existed was Mazer Mahmoud’s Fake Sheikh operation, but it had lots of people in it.” says Brooks. “3 to 4”
		Brooks: “I know one of them I think. He used to appear as the Fake Sheikh’s assistant” Saunders: “It was all too secret for you to know”
		Brooks says of Sweet: “Most sports reporters didn’t sit in the office… getting to know managers and players.” Sport had big production
		“Occasionally they’d come in just to do their expenses,” says Brooks of Sports Reporters
	Soham Murders
		Brooks is asked about her whereabouts during Soham story on 18/08/02 “though it may be particularly difficult for you”
		11/08/02 two girls gone missing in Soham – search for them.
		Brooks remembers flying home for the investigation of the Soham missing girl: “it wasn’t like with Sarah Payne”.
		A joint reward is offered by Sun and NOTW: Sara Payne writes article. NOTW retrace steps of Holly and Jessica in Soham
		NOTW for 18/08/02 has the discovered of the bodies of Jessica and Holly. Brooks was back in office by then.
		Brooks explains how there would have been a lot of coverage that would need to be changed when bodies found on Saturday
		Brooks explains this edition was an important for the beginning of the football season. “I think there were 50 pages of sport” that weekend
		Brooks says she would have focused on stuff discovered in conference “and not just piece by Geoff Sweet on page 82”
		“On the 18th we were obviously confident enough to launch Sarah’s Law again…” says Brooks of Soham coverage after bodies discovered
		NOTW article with allegations against two Soham policeman cited. Another edition has references to Maxine Carr.
		This takes us 20/10/02 and stories about a fellow prisoner on remand with Huntley
	David Blunkett story
		Laidlaw moves onto David Blunkett in August 2004
		This concerns Andy Coulson‘s visit to Sheffield to see Blunkett and Sun’s relationship with Kimberley Quinn.
		NOTW article did not name Quinn as Blunkett’s lover. But the Sun did the next day on its front page.
		The following Tuesday in August 04 the Mirror broke the story that Quinn was pregnant: “we matched it from the Mirror” says Brooks.
		“It’s suggested,” says Laidlaw, “which looks at patterns of calls between you and Coulson…. NOTW and the Sun working together”
		“Producing a story which is the result of a hack made at NOTW,” says Laidlaw of prosecution case on Blunkett.
		Laidlaw asks about state or relationship with her and Coulson – the break up unsent love letter written by Brooks in Feb that year
		April 2004 NOTW covered a David Beckham story – Brooks and Coulson were rivals.
		“As you can tell by reading the letter things weren’t great,” says Brooks of letter.
		“The two newspapers were… pretty strong rivals,” says Brooks. “Andy and I had been v good at keeping that Chinese wall”
		“Co-operating a bit more on promotions compared to other editors,” says Brooks. “He was on a weekly – I was on a daily”
		Brooks talks about being a “hostage to fortune”: “I knew the Beckhams a bit socially… always trying to get Victoria or David to write”
		“Andy would have known I had a direct line to David,” says Brooks. On the affair, it would be dangerous to even mention to her
		“Things were difficult – it was strange for a while,” says Brooks of rivalry with Coulson.
		“Would you have any hesitation in stealing that story?” asks Laidlaw. “Probably not, no,” says Brooks.
		“I might be holding the story… to hold it for an interview with David and Victoria… a bit like the Countess of Wessex,” says Brooks.
		“Had I known the NOTW were running, I would have run it earlier. It caused unnecessary angst in an already complicated story,” says Brooks
		In April 2004 NOTW did a “spoof edition” hiding the splash on David Beckham’s affair. “It was much harder to do,” Brooks says with online
		“Holding onto an exclusive became much more difficult in the Sunday market,” says Brooks of 2004 and growing online presence.
		“No one at NOTW or Andy had discussed with me,” says Brooks of Beckham affair expose. But Daily Mirror and Mail heard.
		“The Mail and the Mirror had a march on us,” says Brooks. “I was not best pleased at that situation” she adds as editor of the Sun.
		Brooks speaks of her relationship with Blunkett: she first got to know him when she was at NOTW: “He’d been really good at Sarah’s Law”
		“He took the public opinion… and gap with public policy, very seriously,” says Brooks. “We started to work together on campaigns”
		“I got to know his special advisers well,” Brooks says of Blunkett 2001. By 2004 “we would have dinner a couple of times a year on our own”
		The Sun would sponsor the Police Bravery Awards, Brooks explains, where she’d met chief police officers
		Brooks says one of Blunkett’s special advisors became a friend of hers: she’s now married to Les Hinton.
		“I introduced them to each other,” says Brooks of Les Hinton and Blunkett’s special advisor
		“Things are better,” says Brooks of relationship with Coulson around Aug 04. She says she had no idea that Coulson had a story on Blunkett
		BREAKING: Brooks says “absolutely” did not know of the hacking of Blunkett’s voicemails
		“Like the Beckham incident,” says Brooks: “I think Andy told me he had the Blunkett story late on Saturday… very late.”
		“I don’t know if he did a spoof edition,” says Brooks of NOTW Blunkett sotry. She was told late after “they had made all the decisions”
		“As it became more difficult to hold onto exclusive, became the pattern to give big exclusive to news channels on Sat night,” says Brooks
		Brooks “best recollection” was that Blunkett story was “out there” and was told on Saturday. “Definitely not” told of source of story.
		Brooks on Coulson on Blunkett’s lover: “he must have told me he was not naming her… he might not have known her name”
		BREAKING: Brooks says she named Kimberley Quinn as Blunkett’s lover at Sun through a “brief check of cuttings… gossipy items”
		“I think in the end it was a simple as me getting one of his special advisers to confirm it,” says Brooks. She names Huw Evans.
		“The Home Secretary’s office had not denied it,” says Brooks of Blunkett’s lover. “It was leading the BBC news on the Saturday night”
		“I think it was inevitable her name was going to come out,” says Brooks of Quinn
		“I heard what Huw said here, ” says Brooks “But I was very friendly with him.”
		According to memory Brooks says she said to to Evans: “We’re going to run Kimberly tomorrow… and he didn’t reply.”
		17/08/04 The Sun writes about Quinn’s pregnancy only in subsequent editions, by matching the Mirror which had revealed it.
		15/08/04 billings from Coulson’s phone are all that are available. “Only half the picture,” says Laidlaw. Brooks’s billings not available.
		Three or five calls or texts a day from Coulson to Brooks in early August 2004: “we were definitely speaking every day,” says Brooks
		“I think we were back to being very close again… I don’t think my call data would be very different to this,” says Brooks of contact
		13/08/04 Coulson makes the trip to Sheffield. Day before “a lot of texts” from Coulson to Brooks.
		“My diary says I was was at my girlfriend’s dinner… Judy McGuire,” says of that evening before Coulson’s trip to Blunkett
		The texts “every minute” during the night. “My guess would have been these were very personal” says Brooks of texts to Coulson that night
		“It would be highly likely I would ask somebody,” says Brooks of Coulson’s trip to see Blunkett.
		“I can’t see how he could have told me he was seeing David Blunkett without me being intrigued,” says Brooks of Coulson meeting.
		“I was either in London or Oxfordshire that weekend,” Brooks says of the NOTW expose of Blunkett’s lover.
		NOTW edition on 15/04/04. “I can’t see now a reason I wouldn’t have called Andy to see if he knew it [the name of Blunkett’s lover]
		“Hopefully we’ll be able to recycle everything and turn them into trees again,” says Justice Saunders of mounting bundles at #hackingtrial
		Brooks explains that naming Kimberley Quinn: “I think it was our exclusive” at the Sun.
	Eimear Cook and the Lunch Meeting
		Laidlaw turns to the Eimear Cook evidence heard previously at #hackingtrial
		Brooks had attended lunch at the Manoukians and Eimear Cook in 20/09/05 – she was in third year of editorship of Sun
		“Yes, they are,” says Brooks of being friends with Manoukians. She had met Joe Manoukian in 2000/01. She’d see them 3 or 4 times a year
		“This is a Tuesday,” notes Laidlaw. Brooks confirms it would be unusual to go out for lunch. “Les’ Dining Room” was mostly used at Wapping
		Sorry “Jo” Manoukian was Brooks’ first contact. Rafi Manoukian called Brooks about Eimear’s problems “with profile and the media”
		Brooks had not met Eimear Montgomery before: “Obviously I’d heard of her… more of interest to Daily Mail, Hello… not a Sun type person”
		Brooks says “I’m pretty sure Rafi.. asked me to do it as a favour for a friend of his. By that very nature.. right to assume off the record”
		“Things I do really remember from the lunch,” says Brooks. “There was some kind of discussion… getting across her side of the story.”
		“Imbalance of the coverage was very unfair,” says Brooks of Eimear Cook (now) formerly Montgomerie. “She felt he was getting good coverage”
		“She wasn’t addressing the Sun newspaper coverage,” says Brooks “more criticising Mail and Mail on Sunday coverage.”
		“I was very surprised, she was a complete stranger to me,” says Brooks of Eimear Cook’s description of an incident in her marriage then.
		“An official was called to an incident in a hotel,” says Brooks. “I remember being very surprised.”
		“Also in 2005 we’d done quite a big campaign on domestic violence,” says Brooks “The Sun was working with Harriet Harman to get law changed”
		Brooks speaks about the changes in domestic violence law in 2005 – so that police could prosecute if they saw evidence.
		“The idea of a high profile woman talking to the Sun about this issue is something I remembered,” says Brooks of Eimear Cook lunch.
		“I took out of the lunch that she was asking me… giving me information on that incident, for the Sun to follow up,” says Brooks of lunch
		“Even if we found this official, to run a story about a sporting hero,” says Brooks “my instinct would have been to ask her join campaign”
		“I think we had a brief email exchange, and I think she declined” says Brooks of conscripting Eimear Cook to a Sun campaign
		“Since this case I’ve read and heard a lot,” says Brooks of that lunch with Eimear Cook: “I went there to help her improve her profile.”
		“I’ve only got her word for this incident, so I’ve no idea of her accuracy,” says Brooks. “Part of my campaign was to get women to speak out
		Laidlaw cites Eimear Cook’s witness statement – Brooks arriving late in a chauffeur driven car appearing a bit ‘grumpy’ – amended in court
		“I thought that didn’t ring true,” says Brooks of original grumpy description.
		Cook’s witness statement says Brooks was laughing while regaling the story of domestic incident with Ross Kemp.
		“No truth in that,” says Brooks. “When I first read it, it didn’t occur to me about dates… At the time it happened, it was end of marriage
		“It was a terrible incident in my life… I would not be laughing at this,” says Brooks. “The coverage was light hearted.”
		“The actor who played the brother in his show had had a similar incident that night,” Brooks says of publicity.
		“I don’t want to add to the humiliation,” says Laidlaw citing Sun piece. “Don’t worry,” says Brooks.
		Laidlaw refers back to Cook’s description of a phone hacking conversation: why people of wealth didn’t change factory PIN numbers.
		“It just doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I’d say,” say Brooks. “I did know from way back when there was a security fault on PINs”
		“I just wouldn’t say ‘stupid wealthy people'”, says Brooks: “It just doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I’d say.”
		Brooks on Eimear Cook’s account of a story about Heather Mills and Paul McCartney from voicemails: “Absolutely not, no”
		“I would never publish stories from phone hacking,” says Brooks of the McCartney/Mills allegation.
		“It’s a page 7 story in 2002: it’s only in the course of the case I’ve seen it again,” says Brooks of McCartney Mills ring story.
		We’re now turning to the hacking of Brooks’ phone
		Before that Laidlaw turns to the other campaigns Brooks was involved with
		Quick run through of Brooks’ NOTW editorials 29/12/02 edition moves onto domestic violence and men preying vulnerable women.
		“This is another thing I worked with David Blunkett on,” says Brooks of domestic violence.
		18/08/02 Deep Cut campaign is cited by Laidlaw: Brooks talks about “huge readerships with different consituencies”
		“NOTW and the Sun always campaigned for the welfare and treatment of the armed forces… this was me campaigning against bullying” Brooks
		Leticia Shakespeare’s death and gun crime cited: “this is us working with the police and a reward”
		President Clinton wrote a leader: “Most politicians would write for News of the World…. all the cabinet and shadow cabinet” says Brooks
		Damilola Taylor and Stephen Lawrence murder in NOTW: “Daily Mail deserve all the credit on Stephen Lawrence… we were doing same thing:
		Laidlaw introduces bundles of Counts 6 and 7 – allegations of coverup. “I’d like to deal with events of 2006,” says Laidlaw.
		“We’ll deal with them next before we turn to the Sun and Elveden charges,” says Laidlaw. Back after lunch
		Breakaway group – Southeast Alliance – getting kettled outside the Old Bailey pic.twitter.com/2IZsG9Rf84
		Back at the #hackingtrial after a noisy lunch: EDL and breakaway groups protesting outside.
		Justice Saunders explains to the jury the absence this afternoon of Mark Hanna who has other business related to the case.
Rebekah Brooks questioned on Arrests of Goodman and Mulcaire
	Brooks reaction to the arrest of Clive Goodman
		Laidlaw is not looking at the arrest of Mulcaire and Goodman: “You have long since left the editorship of the NOTW.”
		“I think I heard first from (employee) at the Sun,” says Brooks of arrest. “That’s because I read it in an email here.”
		“I had to go away a lot for News Corp conference and the like…. There’d been a conference in America… flown there to Italy,” says Brooks
		“I seem to remember the original information coming from… newsdesk, who’d be getting it from colleagues or the police,” says Brooks.
		“Because it was so confused I think it was just surprise,” says Brooks of initial information. Later heard raid by anti terrorist force
		“I would have almost certainly rang Andy Coulson,” says Brooks of arrest of Goodman and Mulcaire in August 2006
		“I’m sure more than once as the picture developed,” says Brooks of her calls to Couslon after arrests. “It was a huge news story”
		“It was my old newspaper, and an old colleague involved,” says Brooks. There was shock and confusion.
		“Definitely, Clive had been arrested for intercepting the voicemails of Royal Household,” is Brooks non verbatim recollection of Coulson call
		“He sounded very shocked and concerned,” Brooks says of Coulson’s reaction.
		“It was almost the enormity of a raid at NOTW and the counter terrorism squad… never happened in the history of newspapers,” says Brooks
		“I think it was known quite early on another person had been arrested… I think I remember “two people arrested – that can’t be right”‘
		Brooks says there was “uncertainty at the beginning to the veracity of the allegations” over phone hacking in 2006
		On Goodman’s guilt Brooks says it was in November Goodman pleaded guilty: “I think I knew that when I went to see the police” (in September)
		Brooks: “I know I was away for the first few days of this developing news story… so I was told private detective… within first week”
		Brooks says she didn’t cut her holiday short in Italy because of the arrests.
		“Les Hinton… was also away,” says Brooks: “He’d also been at this News Corp event…. Les had taken a break too at that time.”
		“I remember having difficulty getting hold of him, (Les Hinton)” says Brooks. “But he returned to the country pretty quickly”
		Brooks says that Les Hinton took control as CEO, his deputy, Coulson and Kuttner and others managed the crisis.
		Asked if she was involved in managing post arrest crisis at NI, Brooks says to her counsel Laidlaw: “No, not at all”
		Brooks said Goodman Mulcaire arrest “felt like” headline news: “Sun newsdesk as interested as anyone else”
		Brooks says she was now hearing things “more informally” from Hinton and Coulson about arrests.
		“Our point of view at the Sun,” says Brooks “there was disbelief at first… shock and surprise at Clive.”
		Brooks says “there was a certain amount of grumpiness at the Sun” about the use of private detectives by NOTW “not used much at the Sun”
		Brooks talks about the collective failure over use of private investigators “not only at the Sun but among lawyers etc and other industries”
		Brooks said she asked her Sun staff about use of private detectives: “We don’t use these kinds of people do we?”
		“The Sun was always very low in its use of private detectives compared to other papers,” says Brooks of Mulcaire arrest.
		Brooks said she continued speak to Coulson and Les Hinton “but not in any formal way…. I’d see Les two or three times a day.”
		“Andy and I would speak regularly anyway,” says Brooks. She spoke to other staff shared by News International
		Brooks is asked about “corporate reaction”: “a great deal of concern was everyone’s reaction”
		Brooks “Initially there was certainly concern about the investigation… where it was going, was the counter terrorism squad was doing.”
		“It had come out that Counter Terrorism was looking at Mulcaire for quite a long time before the arrests,” says Brooks at #hackingtrial
		Asked about “periods of time” involved in the investigation, Brooks says initially about 2005/06
		Brooks says that that nine months the police were looking at before arrest were thought to be the area of investigation.
		“Between the story breaking and me going to see the police,” is when Brooks said she got to know Mulcaire’s name: 04/08/06 to 14/09/06
		“I think his name came out quite quickly,” says Brooks of Mulcaire.
		BREAKING: Brooks says she didn’t know Mulcaire was employed by NOTW “for a long time” until an internal investigation after his arrest
		“I think I had that knowledge before I went to see the police,” says Brooks of Mulcaire employment for NOTW.
		Brooks says she cannot remember who told her about Mulcaire working for NOTW: various informal discussions with NI execs.
		“I certainly informed him I was going to see counter terrorism group” says Brooks of NI exec.
		“It stands to reason if a Royal Editor…and private investigator also arrrested, NOTW would have done some checks,” says Brooks.
		“I know so much now,” Brooks says of Mulcaire contract. “The retainers must have come to light pretty quickly.”
		Brooks is asked whether she had any “anxiety” about Mulcaire revelations: “Not from a personal point of view”
		“It was more reflective… of the private detective situation… nothing to do with intercepting voicemail… was a collective failure”
		“I certainly had no personal concern,” says Brooks of Mulcaire revelation
		Brooks met DSupt Surtees in Sept 06 – she says he rang her and they organised a meeting: “I remember two people being there”
	Brooks Phone Hacked
		“The conversation was… along the lines, he wanted to talk to me about my voicemail. Because they had evidence been accessing” Brooks.
		“I seem to remember 18 months being said,” Brook recalls of how long she had been hacked. “They wanted me to be a prosecution witness”
		“They were investigating a sister newspaper… naturally they didn’t want to come to the office,” says Brooks of meeting with Surtees
		BREAKING: Brooks says her reaction to being hacking “I was pretty shocked… certainly surprised. I had a personal PIN code”
		“You natural reaction would be “how” “why”…. I’d changed my PIN code years ago. I thought it would be secure,” says Brooks
		“I probably didn’t want to go to the police station,” says Brooks: “So we met at the RAC club in Pall Mall.”
		Brooks said she informed Les Hinton, Coulson and others straight away about police calls. Then told Rupert Murdoch what police had said
		“I seem to remember Andy Coulson was pretty startled, and Les Hinton the same,” says Brooks of telling them of counter terrorism
		“I had a natural curiosity to find out what happened to my phone… how he done it for how long, and who for” says Brooks of her own hacking
		“I wanted to know what the police could tell me,” Brooks says of meeting phone hacking investigating officer.
		Jury shown again handwritten notes of the meeting between Brooks and Dept Supt Surtees at RAC club, transposed into an email.
		“They tend to go in pairs,” says Justice Saunders of the memory of two police officers at RAC club.
		Brooks said she would have told her senior Sun team, Hinton, Coulson and another senior NI exec.
		15/09/06 email to Coulson from NI exec appears to be a record of Brooks’ meeting with police.
		Brooks says the meeting with police at the RAC club would have lasted “an hour and a half…. I think we met for coffee.”
		Brooks says the detective chief superintendent explained the practice of phone hacking to her. She knew of security flaws and had pin code
		Brooks; “Their belief was that Glenn Mulcaire had my personal pin code. The asked,,, Had I given him permission to access my voicemails?”
		“One of the reasons they wanted me to be a prosecution witness was because one of my new voicemails had been accessed,” says Brooks
		“I still don’t quite understand the law,” says Brooks about phone interception law.
		“Cheryl might have had my mobile on charge when I was editing the Sun,” says Brooks
		“They asked me if anything that came from my voicemail might have made it into the public domain,” says Brooks of phone hacking.
		The only occasion Brooks can think of was a trip to Paris and a report “I had a new boyfriend”: female friend had left jokey message.
		“I think they explained to me they needed… enough victims to come forward as prosecution witnesses, to get the quantum” says Brooks.
		“It was a very casual information conversation,” says Brooks of meeting with Chief Super: “We had good relationships with counter terrorism”
		“I know I would have gone to that meeting to discover the latest from the horse’s mouth, so to speak” says Brooks.
		“It was a sister newspaper, they were close colleagues,” says Brooks of her curiosity of police investigation.
		Laidlaw points out that in neither of these executive records of that RAC club meeting is there any mention of Brooks’ personal position
		Brooks addresses previously seen email to Coulson on Mulcaire and Goodman “bang to rights on palace intercepts”
		The email speaks of raids obtaining 100-110 victims from Mulcaire’s notes and voicemails.
		Email also speaks of NOTW payment records “going way back…. over one million of payments” to Mulcaire.
		“I think I knew before I went to see DCI Surtees… Mulcaire had been working before, after and during my editorship,” says Brooks.
		“The amount was a surprise,” says Brooks; “though not the fact he was a private detective”
		NB; Surtees sometimes called a Detective Chief Inspector and others a Detective Superintendent: don’t know which is accurate
		“It’s hard to remember if consistency or frequency” was the main interest of investigating police Brooks says of the email note.
		Email to Coulson speaks of “not widening the case” unless they had NOTW journos directly accessing voicemails.
		Email talks of Hugh Grant and Jemima Khan story directly reflecting a hacked voicemail.
		“I think you had to… make a formal complaint before they could use your evidence in a court case,” Brooks says of going back to police.
		Brooks assumes she briefed exec face to face rather than on the phone.
		Brooks confirms Surtees never told her of “evidence of criminal wrong doing under her editorship, or that it was of interest to him”
		“I would have reported back a version of the conversation with the people I told,” says Brooks: “more detail with Les Hinton”
		Brooks said she told Coulson her own phone had been hacked immediately after initial call from police.
		“Did Ross feature in anyway in your discussions with police,” asks Laidlaw. “Not really,” says Brooks.
		“I think Ross came up in the context of him asking me some formal questions… well I have a pretty disastrous time,” says Brooks.
		“There was stark competition between the two papers, but the NOTW wouldn’t run something personal stories about me and Ross” says Brooks
		Brooks says she wasn’t shown any records at this point: she wasn’t told Ross Kemp’s name was also in Mulcaire’s notes.
		Brooks “We all agreed it would not be right to make a formal complaint and be a witness with the complexities it would cause on corp level”
		Laidlaw for the defence has put the hacking of Brooks’ phone in a similar timeline to other phone hacking victims
		This timeline actually relates to the hacking of both Brooks and Coulson.
		Ten minute break
		Brooks says she assumed the £1m to Mulcaire was for checks and tracing people,
		“I suppose if I thought about it logically it wouldn’t have been a million pounds for that,” says Brooks of Mulcaire payments.
		In 29/11/06 both Goodman and Mulcaire pleaded guilty to various phone hacking counts: Goodman to Royal Household.
		“I think there were about five victims,” says Brooks of initial Mulcaire conviction.
		“Nothing really changed from that initial meeting” Brooks says of Goodman and Mulcaire guilty pleas.
	Coulson Resignation
		Brooks spoke to both Andy Coulson and Les Hinton about Coulson’s resignation: “it happened under his watch”
		“Though there was never any suggestion he knew what these two people were doing, it was his responsibility” says Brooks of Coulson resigning
		“There were quite a few things being talked about after sentencing,” says Brooks of NI at the time.
		“It had confirmed GM’s payments going way back were for what PIs did, and not for voicemail hacking,” says Brooks.
		“That was the end of criminal proceedings,” says Brooks. “I can’t remember when the police said ‘nothing more to see here: time to move on”
		Brooks talks about Hinton public statement “voice mail interception limited to Clive Goodman” a “vigorous internal investigation” by NI
		“There were public statements of this being a “rogue exception”.. and Andy Coulson not being involved,” says Brooks of 2007
		“It wasn’t just said publically, but said internally aswell,” Brooks says of this first investigation being complete.
		Brooks says she was not concerned at this point about her own role.
		Saunders asks if Brooks was concerned, like Andy Coulson, that “something was going on under our shift”
		“I still believe that now as I did in 2006,” Brooks says of stories being sourced from phone hacking at NOTW during her editorship
		“I don’t remember feeling that” says Brooks to Saunders question as to whether she might have resigned even if she didn’t know.
		Brooks is asked about PCC statement after arrest of Coulson and Mulcaire.
		“From this position the PCC still seemed confused about it,” Brooks says of PCC letter
		Laidlaw turns to a draft letter adduced by the prosecution: “I remember thinking I don’t remember writing that”
		Brooks explains that the original letter might have come from her, but the PCC issues were dealt with another executive.
		The PCC letter from NI reflects the language of initial PCC inquiry. It also talks about cash payments – Laidlaw says he’ll examine tomorrow
	Brooks meeting with Clive Goodman after Prison release
		Laidlaw now turns to Brooks’ lunch with Goodman 12/04/07 – again at the RAC club. Expenses and diary adduced.
		Brooks had lunch with Goodman at RAC club shortly after he was released. Brooks confirms she offered him a job.
		BREAKING: Brooks says the idea of offering Clive Goodman a job post release from jail came from both her and Les Hinton.
		“A week or so before the lunch… Goodman had launched an employment tribunal appeal… ” says Brooks.
		“I think Clive Goodman had been expecting to return to his job when he came out of prison,” says Brooks.
		“He had discovered on home leave that his contract had been terminated,” says Brooks. Letter from head of HR or CEO.
		“That had not been his understanding, I don’t know how or why,” says Brooks of Goodman’s expectation he would keep his job.
		“He wanted I think a financial settlement or his job back… his anger at being dismissed when on home leave,” says Brooks.
		“He wanted a financial settlement… the company hadn’t agreed to his terms.. he was going to allege other people at NOTW knew,” says Brooks
		“Certainly that others were involved in that practice,” says Brooks of Goodman allegations.
		“There was concern at NI that… though a line had been drawn… to go through an embarrassing employment tribunal… damaging headlines”
		BREAKING: Brooks says she thinks Goodman was alleging “pretty much everybody” was involving in phone hacking at NOTW
		Brooks says that the NOTW editor, deputy editor and managing editor were all involved in Goodman’s tribunal allegations.
		Brooks says she’s sure the allegations didn’t involve her. And this was only a baseless allegation because of Goodman’s employment tribunal
		“The corporate side of the business had received this tribunal claim” says Brooks. John Chapman and Daniel Cloke were involved with Hinton
		Laidlaw: “Do you believe the truth of these allegations: Brooks: “I had no reason to… I had it from counter terrorism…from horse’s mouth
		“I probably had a lot of my reassurance from my initial meeting with the police, ” says Brooks. “The police closed the investigation”
		“The judge had said the cash payments part of Mulcaires deal… were for private detective work,” says Brooks
		“At that time I have a firm basis of belief there was no foundation for these allegations,” says Brooks. “This happens in tribunals”
		“I saw Les Hinton two or three times a day… he gave me all my promotions, except the last one,” says Brooks.
		Brooks:”I don’t know if he knew I knew Fran, or that I’d worked with Clive way back when… but I was the right person to find a middle way”
		“It’s a delicate situation… two sides to every story… Clive was angry… felt unfairly treated,” says Brooks of meeting Goodman.
		“A line had been drawn under this, for the company to then have to go through this allegations, though unfounded, it was delicate situation”
		“When I went to see Clive he wasn’t best pleased as to what had happened to him… my offer was of another way to solve it” Brooks says
		“I don’t know who came up with the idea…. Let’s just say it was my idea, It wouldn’t have been right for him to return to Royal Editor.”
		“It was the tenth anniversary of Diana’s death and we were doing a tribute magazine. So that’s one of the thoughts I had” says Brooks
		Brooks says Goodman’s response was “muted…didn’t give me impression that he was particularly interested… he was very civil”
		“It was quite formal discussion,” says Brooks of Goodman lunch. She says they had not seen much of each other since she left NOTW editorship
		Brooks says of Goodman lunch: “I didn’t get the impression a backroom job… was of interest”
		Brooks comments on the email she sent to Goodman after the lunch. “About four weeks on from then,” notices Justice Saunders.
		“I assume I’m just chasing him up,” says Brooks. Laidlaw reads out her email: “I just need a decision on the Diana project.”
		18/05/07 Brooks writes again to Goodman about a position at the Sun. He did not take up offer of job.
		“I’m sure I’d been told it had been settled, but the details I did not know at the time,” Brooks says of Goodman tribunal against NI
		Brooks says until she appointed to CEO in 2009, she had nothing else to do with corporate response to phone hacking. Back tomorrow.

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

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