Monday 3 March 2014
Summary | ||
Rebekah Brooks Defence covers more evidence on Count 1 – Hacking | ||
Brooks becomes CEO of News International | ||
Gordon Taylor’s Civil Action | ||
Glen Mulcaire Contracts | ||
Max Clifford Civil Action | ||
Mulcaire Legal Order to name other Victims | ||
Rebekah Brooks Defence moves onto Count 5 and 6 – Concealing Evidence | ||
Brooks question on Email Deletion | ||
The emails that Closed the News of the World | ||
Offices Swept | ||
Arrests and Desk Clearing |
Rebekah Brooks Defence covers more evidence on Count 1 – Hacking | ||
Brooks becomes CEO of News International | ||
Back at the #hackingtrial for day 67: Rebekah Brooks for the seventh day in the witness box | ||
Brooks’ barrister, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, has already question her on Counts 1 & 5. We’re now moving onto allegations of coverup: Counts 6 & 7 | ||
Laidlaw has now arrived at the summer of 2009: when Brooks was promoted to CEO of News International from editor of Sun | ||
“At the end of Count One,” Laidlaw reminds us we’d explored the meetings for DCI Surtees and lunch with Clive Goodman | ||
Brooks married Charlie in August 2009: her promotion was announced in June 2009: in 01/09/09 Brooks took up new role | ||
Brooks talks of Les Hinton’s move from NI in December 2007 – when he became chief executive of the Dow Jones: replaced by James Murdoch | ||
James Murdoch didn’t become executive chair of NI – but CEO in 2007 | ||
“Originally the plan was for me to be made deputy CEO… it’s a big jump from editor to corporate role,” says Brooks of promotion in 2009 | ||
“I reported to James Murdoch: He was executive chair, and I was CEO… he also got a bigger role in News Corp,” says Brooks. | ||
Brooks says she had some training for her executive role: she’d travelled in previous 18 months to Italy, Germany, Australia. | ||
J Murdoch brought in Boston Consultancy to review News Corp: Brooks: “I was sent to LSE in 2008 to do some modules on accountancy” | ||
Gordon Taylor’s Civil Action | ||
We turn Guardian article of 08/07/09 about Gordon Taylor‘s civil action: “phone hacking not limited to Goodman and Mulcaire” | ||
“The article alleged a larger number of people had been hacked,” alleged the Guardian: just after Brooks’ promotion announced. | ||
Laidlaw explains to the jury the role of Gordon Taylor, head of the football players association | ||
BREAKING: Brooks says she didn’t hear of the Gordon Taylor phone hacking suit the day before it appeared in the Guardian. | ||
The Guardian article reported that NGN had paid out £1 million in a civil suit to Gordon Taylor, to prevent wider hacking being made public | ||
At the time Brooks didn’t believe that Taylor settlement was true: she had no involvement “It was a confidential arrangement” says Brooks. | ||
“I’d been told in 06,” says Brooks “by Surtees they felt Mulcaire had listened to voicemails of 100-110 victims.” | ||
Brooks talks about DCI Surtees “needing 5 or 10 (victims); in the trial I think there were only five” | ||
“I think it was thousands,” says Brooks of Guardian article in July 09: “I think it said four thousand.” | ||
Brooks said she thought 4k phone victims number was wrong. | ||
Brooks says that, by 2009, she hadn’t seen Mulcaire notes. | ||
Brooks confirms that Nick Davies made the Gordon Taylor settlement public after his article in July 09 | ||
The “For Neville” is cited in Court 12: “Hello this is the transcript for Neville” | ||
Brooks is asked to look through the ‘For Neville” email: she says she first say it “shortly before they were made public” late July 09 | ||
Laidlaw summarises the corporate position. 2007 Hinton was saying Goodman “a rogue exception” | ||
“I think the term “rogue exception” came from the new editor, Colin Myler,” says Brooks. | ||
Brooks says of phone hacking between May 07 and July 09 “this entire subject went without any conversation” | ||
29/06/05 “For Neville’ email to Mulcaire is explored. | ||
The “For Neville” email has 25 transcripts of Gordon Taylor Messages. | ||
Brooks says of reading ‘For Neville”: “The emphaticness of company position, that no one else was involved in hacking, was looking shaky” | ||
Laidlaw adduces a second bit of evidence the Guardian made public in 2009: “I’m sure I was told about it before it was made public” | ||
Glen Mulcaire Contracts | ||
The second bit of evidence is a Paul Williams (Mulcaire) Greg Miskiw contract for Gordon Taylor | ||
Brooks says it seems to be a side contract, like the one Mulcaire had with Goodman. For “Payment for accessing Gordon Taylor‘s voicemail” | ||
“The existence of Mulcaire..working before during and after my editorship of NOTW, I think I’d known before meeting DCI Surtees” says Brooks | ||
Brooks talks of revelation in 2007 that Goodman had a side contract with Mulcaire, paid in cash, to access voicemails of Royal Household | ||
That was in sentencing in 2007: in July 2009 Brooks said the Miskiw Mulcaire contract looked similiar. | ||
Brooks says that these two documents still didn’t change her view their hadn’t been hacking during her editorship of NOTW. | ||
Baroness Buscombe of the PCC writes to Brooks on 23/07/09 about the Guardian’s new allegations | ||
Buscombe talks about the DCMS re-opening its parliamentary hearings in the wake of Guardian revelations and “whether PCC took robust role” | ||
“I’d very much like to point out to Select Committe… further restrictions are not necessary,” says Buscombe in letter, copied to C Milner | ||
02/09/09 reply to PCC by Brooks as newly installed CEO: Brooks says Buscombe might have written to everyone, including James Murdoch | ||
“I think I got corporate affairs dept at NI to talk to all the editors,” says Brooks of reply to Buscombe. | ||
Laidlaw reads out the Brooks reply and how NI has taken measure to prevent phone hacking happening, and the role of contracts. | ||
“Post Goodman editors of NOTW and the Sun wrote to all their employees,” says letter, and breaching PCC would lead to disciplinary measures | ||
Brooks explains the 1998 Data Protection Act: refers to 2003 report of PIs used by “news papers and law firms” and some arrests. | ||
Brooks talks of “collective failure to monitor activities of private detectives vis-a-vis data protection”: nothing to do with phone hacking | ||
Brooks’ letter to Buscombe talks about subterfuge and need for “clear public interest defence… arms dealing… child molestation” | ||
Brooks letter talks of “undercover” investigations at the Sun: managing editor should check with PCC the public interest is sufficient. | ||
Brooks letter also talks of “strict protocols” on cash payments post the Mulcaire/Goodman trial: | ||
“At the Sun no cash payments are made without written approval by editor or editor of the day,” Brooks writes in 2009 to PCC Chair. | ||
Max Clifford Civil Action | ||
Laidlaw turns to Max Clifford | ||
Brooks says she had “Internal confirmation later the next day” that payment had been made to Gordon Taylor but not the amount in 09/07/09 | ||
Brooks confirms Max Clifford was suing NI at this time in 2009: “one of the five” named in Mulcaire conviction in 2007 | ||
Laidlaw cites an email from senior NI executive: Brooks said “I did get this information” | ||
18/11/09 email is addressed to Brooks as CEO. “What we want to achieve… resolve the dispute between you and Max”: | ||
“It’s odd he would say ‘between you and Max'”… I think it’s because I was dealing with Max,” says Brooks. | ||
Email talks about settlement “without using lawyers”: Brooks “I’d dealt with Max seen I was 25 or 26 years old. I’d seen him when I was CEO.” | ||
Brooks talks of “falling out” between Clifford: “Les Hinton decided NGN should not deal with Max again… NOTW had paid him millions” | ||
“He’d been banned basically for working for NGN” says Brooks “Commercial deal with Max would be separate from anything to do with civil case | ||
Email to Brooks explains same lawyers representing Clifford represent Sky Andrew, and pay off to him will encourage them to come forward. | ||
“News International was facing an uncertain exposure… liability was huge. Best policy to protect company were confidential settlements.” | ||
“Max’s objective was to resume his very lucrative relationship with NGN,” says Brooks of 2009. | ||
“There was nothing to suggest the original ruling on that contract wasn’t correct,” says Brooks of Cliffords claim Mulcaire paid for hacking | ||
Mulcaire had told the court of non Royal phone hacking in 2007. “It stands to reason people had worked with Mulcaire,” says Brooks | ||
Email to Brooks over civil suit by Clifford: “Unless Mulcaire testifies he passed it to us, it is not direct evidence and likely to fail” | ||
“This is pretty much the legal assessment… that was conveyed to me,” Brooks says of email about police and NI disclosure in 2009 | ||
Email to Brooks says the Clifford “claim might not amount to that much” because only 8 minutes of phone “accessing” | ||
09/01/10 email to Colin Myler, John Chapman, Frederic Michel (Public Affars News Corp Europe run by James Murdoch) and Julian Pike (Farrers) | ||
Confusingly there is both a Colin Milner and a Colin Myler cited in evidence | ||
Email copied to Brooks talks about Farrer’s meeting on “liability and quantum” in the Max Clifford case. | ||
15/01/10 another email after the Clifford hearing to same addressees including Brooks and corporate lawyer for News Corp Europe. | ||
Mulcaire Legal Order to name other Victims | ||
Email explains legal order requiring Mulcaire to name further victims in early 2010. | ||
Brooks: “We were opposing the order… to force Mulcaire to name anyone he worked with at NOTW… he was an unreliable witness, naming names” | ||
“The view was he was he could say anyone or anything” says Brooks of NI’s opposition of legal order forcing Glenn Mulcaire to speak out. | ||
BREAKING: email in 2010 confirms News International “underwrote” Mulcaire funded his legal costs opposing disclosure of hacking at NOTW. | ||
Brooks says this decision to underwrite Mulcaire’s legal costs did not come from her but legal team. | ||
Re last BREAKING – it is known NI funded Mulcaire in 2007 and 2011: but that that they ‘underwrote’ costs in 2010 is new | ||
15 min break | ||
Back with Laidlaw, who wants to go back and correct a piece of evidence. | ||
Attendance note from NI/NGN/Farrers Max Clifford claim from Feb 2010: legal privilege has been waived. | ||
Not observes Brooks no longer required by DCMS committee. Sky Andrews and other claimants have same counsel Charlotte Harris and Jeremy Reed | ||
“The original five were pursuing civil proceedings… their disclosure from police from Mulcair notes… other names were on there,” Brooks | ||
“The list of potential civil claimants was growing sideways,” says Brooks of civil disclosures revealing more hacking victims. | ||
Legal note talks of Mulcaire “popping up out of the blue” and the judgement forcing him to reveal “who he was dealing with at NGN” | ||
Correction: this must be a Jan 10 meeting because it talks of a hearing at the end of the Jan or early Feb | ||
John Chapman asked why it was relevant to ask these questions of Mulcaire: Pike “they do not have anything direct” Clifford hacking at NOTW | ||
Legal note talks of Brooks getting Clifford to agree £200k per annum for providing material for the Sun on 20/01/10 | ||
Brooks talks about a “successful commercial relationship with Max Clifford to prevent him continuing with a civil procedure” | ||
Legal note says Brooks “should not put anything in writing” about deal with Clifford to pay him £200k | ||
Advice not to put anything in writing could have come from internal legal team or outside counsel: “to keep the two things separate” | ||
Legal note says Brooks was informed by Gordon Brown/DCMS she would now have to attend select committee. | ||
Brooks explains note which says of Clifford in Jan 2010 she “could not be seen to be doing business with him” | ||
“I was advised, or felt myself, if I was going to appear before Select Committee, I shouldn’t be doing business with Max,” says Brooks. | ||
“Max wanted to deal to be confidential so did we. If you’re under oath in the select committee,” Brooks explains of problems of DCMS hearing | ||
Brooks confirms of this note “this is Julian Pike talking” | ||
“There was concerned that if Mulcaire was forced to give evidence, other people might be named,’ says legal note. | ||
“We didn’t know what we didn’t know. We had no visibility on what Mulcaire might say,” says Brooks of this legal moment. | ||
“You have to decide what is worth: doing a deal with Max that might look like a coverup: or indemnify Mulcaire” says legal note. | ||
Brooks is asked about ‘coverup”: “it’s the unknown discloure.. financially and reputationally…” | ||
“That’s the strategy I inherited,” says Brooks of the plan to settle civil claims confidentially and prevent more reputational damage. | ||
02/02/10 Brooks diary shows a meeting with Max Clifford at 5pm | ||
“Just me and Max,” says Brooks of this meeting: “We came to a commercial deal just the two of us.” | ||
Brooks says “absolutely not” to any concern during Max Clifford settlement any allegations personally affected her or her editorship | ||
Fred Michel to Brooks 03/02/10 about Mulcaire’s appearance in court | ||
“He had been absent from News International for four maybe five years… because ban was made public… he had lost out,” says Brooks | ||
Brooks says by this point Max Clifford had “brought a story to NGN. When I became CEO I lifted the ban on using him” | ||
Michel email confirms Mulcaire would have named names if forced to | ||
Brooks says deal with Clifford had to reflect those years Clifford had lost out in bidding war with Mirror and Mail because of NI ban. | ||
Last tweets a catchup when iPad froze. | ||
We’re now onto the NYT article from 2010 which reference the For Neville email released by Guardian the previous year. | ||
Rebekah Brooks Defence moves onto Count 5 and 6 – Concealing Evidence | ||
Brooks question on Email Deletion | ||
Laidlaw wants to talk now about email retention and deletion, but will “step out of chronology” to explain it. He takes to jury forward | ||
Email thread cited by Laidlaw 16/12/10 Matthew Anderson to Brooks about “announcing suspension” of NOTW employee and Sheridan case | ||
Anderson, Michel and Polker were a News Corp executives under Europe and Asia: “umbrella for James Murdoch’s responsibility” | ||
“Matthew Anderson was head of public affairs for News Corp Europe and Asia,” Brooks says of this email about suspension of NOTW employee | ||
Brooks says this NOTW employee joined after her editorship. | ||
This disclosure reported in Guardian because “of a new civil claim from Sienna… various other people who had their voicemails listened to” | ||
Brooks talks of Guardian article: “Miller had gone to the police for her disclosure… ” this had revealed the ‘upper left’ Mulcaire tasking | ||
“I probably hadn’t ever seen Mulcaire’s notes,” says Brooks of this December 2010. She had seen “nothing except what was in public domain” | ||
“I don’t feel I’m getting the right advice” Brooks replies to News Corp exec Anderson. Brooks explains what she meant then, | ||
“To my knowledge there were 110 victims, I don’t think I’m getting the right advice… how to react to documentation,” says Brooks | ||
“All I’ve ever seen of these docs is on the Guardian website: what am I supposed to do?” says Brooks. | ||
“The Guardian had made the inference – as it turned out rightly” about Guardian 2010 reports of Glen Mulcaire taskings. | ||
Saunders asks about “Sheridan”: Laidlaw says “litigation elsewhere.” | ||
“It’s not going to change Cable view of us,” says Brooks emails about Sienna Miller revelations “Nick Robinson rubbished the whole thing” | ||
Brooks email says FT attacking them because News Corp buying Sky. | ||
Brooks explains about the BSkyB bid to “take Sky privately” and buy remaining shares. “A controversial bid,” says Laidlaw | ||
Brooks says BSkyB bid was well received “by nobody” in Summer 2010 | ||
Brooks explains line in email: “We’ve spent months moving from rogue reporter to zero tolerance” | ||
“It was company policy to state emphatically in 2007 only Mr Goodman had been involved in phone hacking activities,” says Brooks. | ||
“If any evidence comes to light other employees have been hacking voice mails, there would be zero tolerance,” explains Brooks. | ||
The allegations of new employee hacking “very damaging” if they don’t act says Anderson to Brooks in 2010 | ||
Brooks can’t remember if she saw or just heard reports of top left taskings of Mulcaire in December 2010 | ||
“All I have is one Guardian article,” Brooks explains of suspending an employee and her queries to Matthew Anderson at News Corp. | ||
“We can be confident the allegation will be made in court,” says Anderson: “we’re aware of other circumstances where he could be named” | ||
“The Guardian can’t be used as formal evidence” notes Saunders of discussion about ‘papers’ mentioned in Anderson email | ||
Brooks says that Colin Myler had probably alerted NOTW employee beforehand that they were about to be suspended. | ||
All these events happen 16/12/10 – Laidlaw now goes back to email retention and deletion policy. | ||
Laidlaw reads email deletion admissions: 90 million retrieved generally up to 2011. | ||
These admissions – agreed by both sides – have been heard a couple of times already in Court 12. | ||
The admissions speak of archiving options introduced in 2005: which was locally controllled: of 8k users 7k weren’t archived. | ||
“Mrs Brooks never opted in to using NI’s original email archive system installed in 2005” says admission heard previously | ||
Only email sent to the users who archived their accounts has been retrieved the admissions say. | ||
Brooks says she “wouldn’t particularly” have know at the time what email archiving meant. “I don’t remember particularly opting out” | ||
“I do remember the email system was a nightmare,” Brooks: “That was the reason given we couldn’t have blackberries: the servers could’t cope | ||
“I use my inbox… unless I’ve deleted them, to manage my email system,” says Brooks and speaks of ‘grouping’ emails in MS Outlook | ||
“I did all my work myself,” says Brooks of email. “It was all in my inboxes”: groups named ‘Mum” or “KRM’ | ||
“Wasn’t the best managed email box… as I said there were 11k emails in there,” says Brooks | ||
Brooks explains how email would “freeze…. or take ages to log on. I would tell Cheryl or Debs and someone from IT would come up & fix it” | ||
BREAKING: Brooks says she wasn’t aware he emails were not being archived centrally after 2005 | ||
Laidlaw talks of “purge events” in 2010 deleting 9 million emails: first a disc failure deleted a million. | ||
In Sept 2010 IT email contractors purged emails dated before 2005 – 4.5 million emails deleted. | ||
Brooks says she knew nothing about the purging task in September 2010 | ||
“Sky is uber good at this area… He (James M) couldn’t believe how antiquated our systems were,” says Brooks of these purges. | ||
“This disc failures and purges were happening because we didn’t have a proper system,” says Brooks of 15 million of deletions until 2010 | ||
“Everyone was aware of the system problems,” says Brooks of email which would cause expensive delays to publication of the Sun on occasion | ||
“We wanted to design a completely new system and come bang up to date,” says Brooks of her arrival as CEO of News International | ||
Mr Hickey was the predecessor to Cheeseborough, who eventually became Chief Information Officer in summer 2010. | ||
Break till 2.05 PM | ||
Back after lunch at the #hackingtrial | ||
Laidlaw adduces an email – seen before by the jury – from 14/05/10 from Brooks to Chapman about email deletion policy | ||
Policy was to delete all emails up to 2007 in move to Thomas More Square (TMS). | ||
“I probably just wanted to know what was going to happen to my inbox,” says Brooks of this May 2010 query about email deletion | ||
“I just assumed all my emails were there… that email archive is what I can see,” says Brooks about her understanding of email retention | ||
In a previous email policy the deletions were supposed to go back to December 08, but now seems to be only till December 07 | ||
“December 07 seems an odd date except around that time James Murdoch started at News International,” says Brooks | ||
“At the same time as this we were going to move from Windows Outlook to Apple, the decision not to do anything while still in Wapping made” | ||
18/05/10 Mr Hickey (former CIO NI) emails across the titles, copied to Brooks and Chapman, about “legal and technical” probs of retention | ||
“The entire business was going to be in the email policy,” Brooks observers of recipients of this email about retention/deletion | ||
“I think we secured any emails related to any ongoing legal actions,” says Brooks about email retention in May 2010. | ||
“Emails have to be retained… however compromising they may be” says the memorandum on email deletion policy in 2010 | ||
29/07/10 Brooks writes to Chapman copied to Pannuccio asking about delay in email deletion policy, delayed because of move to Apple system | ||
“He was an enormous fan of Apple, Google and the cloud,” says Brooks of new NI Chief Information Officer Paul Cheeseborough | ||
“As CEO I had a list of a 100 things that were ongoing projects for the business, and this was one of them,” says Brooks of email interest | ||
04/08/11 email (seen before) by Brooks to Hickey, Chapman and Cheeseborough, Anderson about email deletion for TMS move. | ||
“Anything before Jan 2010 will not be kept” says new policy with her executive assistants going through emails for Brooks and James Murdoch | ||
Laidlaw asks about this news to Hickey the date seemed to have changed for deletion from 2007 to 2010. | ||
Brooks talks about how the email deletion policy keeps slipping: “move wouldn’t complete till 2011…. let’s keep to a year.” | ||
Brooks is saying that the new deletion day of Jan 2010 decided in August that year was a result of “year long retention” policy. | ||
Reply to Brook talks of this deletion “could be misconstrued if reported externally” and asks about shift from Jan 2007 to Jan 2010. | ||
Brooks replies “Yes to Jan 2010. Clean sweep. Thanks” | ||
Brooks asked if “anything sinister to be attached” to her phrase “clean sweep”: Brooks says “no”. It related to keeping stuff for 1 year | ||
01/10/10 Brooks asking Chapman again about TMS deletion policy: “I was about to move physically from Wapping to Thomas More Square” | ||
08/10/10 Chapman reply (previous should have been 07/10/11) about “current interest in NOTW phone hacking…. all emails should be preserved | ||
The internal email names several NOTW journos whose email archives should be retained: plus Brooks, J Murdoch and Clive Milner. | ||
The retention of Brooks, Murdoch and Milner emails were over “proposed transactions” because of commercially sensitive mergers. | ||
“Important that all my emails kept from Jan 09 ongoing,” says Brooks because of potential referral to regulatory authorities over mergers | ||
Email from Will Lewis cited: Brooks explains his career, from Telegraph editor to digital part of Telegraph group. | ||
“When Will Lewis was thinking of leaving the Telegraph I hired him,” says Brooks. | ||
‘From the time I hired him in Spring of 2010… Will played a very strong role in overseeing civil litigation,” Brooks says of Will Lewis | ||
“As part of the disclosure process,” Brooks says of Sienna Miller: “we had a duty to disclose anything that could help her case.” | ||
Will Lewis email asks CIO to secure NOTW equipment, and a long list of other employees whose emails should be preserved. | ||
Cheeseborough follow up email on ‘retention’ – “strictly confidential” passed onto other NI execs. | ||
Laidlaw reads from the joint admissions about contractors retrieving emails from 29 users on 11/01/11: deployed the next day. | ||
Will Lewis was “constantly talking to lawyers involved”: John Chapman internal lawyers, and Julian Pike from Farrers. | ||
More names are added to this list of emails to be retained in 2011, including two email addresses for Mulcaire. | ||
Of 12/01/11 to 20/01/11 correspondence about emails Brooks says “If there were problems I’m sure they would have been brought to me or Will” | ||
Delays caused in email deletion by legal clearance: “I think we delayed the whole project when we went to the police,” says Brooks. | ||
Feb 2011 police require NI to preserve back up tapes. Brooks says Will Lewis was dealing with MPS and lawyers: “I got updates” | ||
No backup of email prior to 2011 on initial material provided by NI to police in June 2011. They went back and got more. | ||
Ten minute break | ||
Back at #hackingtrial after a break. | ||
“Fairly close to the end of the email deletion policy,” explains Justice Saunders to the jury. Laidlaw finishes this issue. | ||
The emails that Closed the News of the World | ||
Laidlaw now adduces the three emails seen in previous evidence described as “the emails that closed the News of the World” | ||
These emails related to Tessa Jowell, Frederic Windsor and Joan Hammill (adviser to Lord Prescott) and go back to 2006 | ||
Brooks says she say these emails sometime early in January 2011 from the “disclosure process” as part of civil proceedings. | ||
Brooks explains that these emails signified to her a NOTW employee “was fully engaged with Mr Mulcaire in intercepting voice mails” | ||
The suspension of NOTW employee was before Christmas 2010: it became a dismissal in January 2011. | ||
Brooks says of those three emails “we took them to the police… because in my view it was evidence of criminal conduct” | ||
13/01/11 Brooks writes to her PAs Carter and Keegan, copied to Andy Coulson who was “still in Downing St as head of comms and strategy” | ||
“Need to see Andy at 7.30 am… somewhere discreet” says email from Brooks to her PAs. | ||
Brooks says she “can’t remember who initiated meeting. But I’d already seen the [three] emails at this stage | ||
“I was going to tell Andy we found some pretty incriminating evidence” Brooks says of meeting with Coulson on 14/01/11 | ||
Brooks says the conversation: “was in backdrop of previous few months. It was becoming evidently very difficult for Andy’s position” | ||
“Every time there was a civil claim, like Sienna Miller, there was a lot of publicity about this,” Brooks says | ||
“When the spokesman becomes the story it’s impossible to do his job,’ says Brooks of the gist of that conversation with Coulson. | ||
Offices Swept | ||
Email to Will, copied to Hanna, about having her offices and phones swept “discreetly”: “Why does Blackberry keep cutting out”” ask Brooks | ||
Brooks says they had the offices swept regularly for “commercial sensitivity…. especially for News Corp and share prices. | ||
Regularly does not mean “regularly or monthly” but this was not a regular sweep after “disclosure process” revealed emails. | ||
“The emails didn’t concern Sienna Miller,” Brooks says. “These emails not directly connected… we hired some lawyers. Took advice” | ||
“It was decided that Will Lewis should go to Scotland Yard with some lawyers, Burton Copeland,” says Brooks of January 2011 | ||
“My Blackberry was behaving oddly,” says Brooks of email about sweep. “We wanted to make sure legal briefings didn’t get in wrong hands. | ||
“It may seem like paranoia, but that was the world we lived in,” says Brooks of security consciousness in Jan 2011 | ||
We now turn to the admissions re Brooks’ missing computer hard drive. | ||
Brooks explains of migration of NI executives to Apple with TMS move, leaving old PCs behind in Wapping. | ||
In early 2011, the hard drive from Brooks’ redundant PC removed under instruction of CIO. Brooks says she doesn’t think she knew at time. | ||
“The level of paranoia was quite high,” says Brooks: “Everything seemed to leak and got worse and worse as Operation Weeting continued” | ||
“We couldn’t keep anything contained,” says Brooks: “A NI journalist approached me…. a person in the Labour Party had found sympathiser” | ||
BREAKING: Brooks says a person in the Labour Party found a sympathetic NI journalist to leak stories about phone hacking in 2011. | ||
Brooks says the hard drive was from a computer she’d used since September 2009 | ||
Operation Weeting commenced 26/01/11 when three emails provided by Will Lewis and NI to police. | ||
Brooks asked about an email from late January asking about calling Andy Coulson: she can’t explain the significance of it | ||
Laidlaw asks about Brooks’ “state of mind” in 2011 and when she thought she would personally be arrested. | ||
Brooks says “no, absolutely not” to a question from her counsel as to whether she thought she may be arrested at beginning of Op Weeting | ||
Email from Daisy Dunlop to Brooks, Lewis and Simon Greenberg in court. | ||
Email previously seen refers to Chris Bryant alleging hacking began at NOTW under editorship of Rebekah Brooks. | ||
Bryant criticises “unhealthy relationship” with NI and police. Brooks is asked about John Yates | ||
Dunlop summary of Chris Bryant’s points asks how many NI execs knew about phone hacking. | ||
Brooks says Bryant “was speaking in Parliament”. The summary by Dunlop is then forwarded by Brooks to Charlie Brooks. | ||
Charlie Brooks then writes to Will Lewis about “Bryant seems pretty aggressive”. | ||
“I’d obviously been travelling,” says Brooks:Lewis reply to Charlie “Bryant clearly making stuff up… Panorama hit with 2 legal letters” | ||
Brooks explains that she was in New York at the time. | ||
Brooks says she thinks this is the first time phone hacking has been attached to the period of her editorship at NOTW. | ||
“I certainly had no knowledge of it happening under my editorship,” says Brooks of phone hacking. | ||
“Apart from DCI Surtees…. he mentioned 2004 in our briefing… but I certainly never seen anything other than 05 and 06,” says Brooks. | ||
Brookss on Chris Bryant: “In Sept 09 the Sun had dropped its support for Labour, which caused the start of a rather public fallout” | ||
“That escalated with the Sky Bid in 2010,” says Brooks of fight between Labour and NI. Then references Cable “gone to war with Murdoch” tape | ||
“From it being a row with Mandelson and Brown it escalated,” says Brooks. “Also issues in NYC between WSJ and NYT” | ||
“The NYT sent a dozen journalists to London to investigate: the head of BBC flew out to New York to complain,” says Brooks. | ||
Brooks also says Bryant had a “greivance” against the Sun because of a personal story written about him. | ||
Laidlaw reads 08/04/11 internal NI statement about phone hacking between 2004 and 2006 at NOTW: apology and acceptance of liability | ||
Public statement is much the same: internal investigations not sufficient robust, unreserved apology and regret from NI | ||
Will Lewis writes to Brooks suggesting amendments: “we absolutely do not need to mention “rogue reporter,”” he writes. | ||
Brooks explains context of the this 08/04/11 statement: “we decided we should admit liability, face up all the claims, and just be v open” | ||
Brooks: “We had adopted the initial view to protect the company… but it wasn’t the right strategy. This was the right strategy” | ||
Arrests and Desk Clearing | ||
James Weatherup arrested when Brooks and Charlie were away in April in 2011. | ||
09/04/11 to 17/04/11 Brooks was on holiday. Weatherup and Thurlbeck arrested by now. | ||
In this 08/04/11 Daisy Dunlop emailing everyone about Guardian reports of “unexpected arrests leave NOTW stunned” | ||
The Guardian article alleges the NOTW clearing Weatherup’s desk moments after his arrest, and removed via lawyers before police arrive | ||
Brooks responds to Weatherup report with email: “Why did we clear desks?” | ||
“It was explained to me on holiday that the… raid on Neville Thurlbeck’s desk was ‘not legal… not an approved search,” says Brooks. | ||
Brooks says she was advised on clearance of Weatherup’s desk on “conference call while I was away” | ||
“I was told the police were incredibly angry at NI’s actions.. so angry they were going to consider their options,” says Brooks | ||
“I was told they were going to take action…. against Burton Copeland, Ian Burton, for giving this advice,” says Brooks of conference call | ||
BREAKING: Brooks told she could be arrested on conference call in April 2011. | ||
“Before I had gone away, DAC Akers had said to Will Lewis and Ian Burton, she thought I should be removed from confidentiality club” Brooks | ||
Brooks explains “complicated route” on how police evidence disclosed to claimants on civil damages | ||
Brooks says she was “very suprised” she was removed from confidentiality club. “It came out of the blue” before April 2011 | ||
Brooks says she took personal advice from Hickman and Rose on return from holiday in April 2011 | ||
Brooks asked about her ‘understanding’ of potential arrest: “they would be able to search my house and take what mattered” | ||
Brooks is asked the Harbottle and Lewis file: “that was also there when I returned from this holiday,” says Brooks of Easter 2011. | ||
Brooks names four law firms who were working for NI at this point in April 2011. | ||
Brooks says she was taken through H&L emails with Ian Burton and external counsel. | ||
Brooks explains how the H&L docs were 1) Goodman employment tribunal and 2) email reviews post Goodman arrest. | ||
This Harbottle and Lewis file was handed to police and became the basis of Operation Elveden. | ||
After this meeting with Ian Burton, Brooks talks to Lewis and Greenberg and general News Corp counsel in New York: Lon Jacobs and Joel Klein | ||
Lewis and Brooks fly to Washington to meet Williams Conelly “Even more layers of lawyers,” notes Laidlaw. | ||
Brooks says they also hired former DPP to give more external and advice and counsel over Harbottle and Lewis file. | ||
“Lord MacDonald wrote to Commander Cressida Dick… he wanted to come and see her with the file,” says Brooks | ||
“He was acting for News Corporation only on the H&L file,” says Brooks of Lord MacDonald of H&L file handed over 20/06/11 | ||
Brooks says this didn’t give her any “further anxiety” about process. She started IVF treatment just before travel to Washington. | ||
Jury shown email from Brooks’ Blackberry to Simon Greenberg: director of corporate and public affairs for NI and exec on MSC | ||
Greenberg writes to Brooks on hacking and payments he discusses “shut down option… brand too toxic for company. Important for rubicon” | ||
Rubicon is the BSkyB bid | ||
BREAKING; Brooks says the shutting down of News of the World discussed early on in 2011 | ||
“Important for Rubicon… because of plurality because of share NI had of newspaper media,” Brooks explains of closure of NOTW. | ||
Email from Daisy Dunlop at News Corp of Independent coverage of phone hacking extending back before 2004 | ||
Indy article talks about Andy Gilchrist and potential phone hacking back in 2001. | ||
Greenberg to Brooks 13/06/11 “You are meeting… at 3pm with the police at Oldswang” | ||
Brooks explains the “large number of police officers going through Mulcaire’s notebooks and alerting people who appeared in them. “ | ||
This meeting with Oldswang is the second occasion Brooks met the police over Mulcaire’s hacking of her: “I’m shown documents for first time” | ||
Brooks saw that Ross’ mobile and PIN code, her mum, and various other names were in Mulcaire’s notebooks. | ||
Brooks says she couldn’t get hold of Ross Kemp immediately “because he was in Afghanistan” | ||
Ross Kemp writes back on 20/06/06: Brooks replies “need to talk to you about phone hacking”. | ||
“I think short after we were both at the same event,” says Brooks of meeting Kemp soon after. | ||
Brooks says she informed Kemp about appearing in Mulcaire notebooks and arrangement “with very good friend” | ||
23/06/11 Brooks emails her two PAs “I need my 2002/03 diaries” | ||
Brooks: “it could be one of two things: Channel 4 doing a Dispatches programme on another private detective… it was in the ether” | ||
Brooks says this PI worked for a lot of newspapers as well as NOTW. She had attended a meeting at Scotland Yard not sure when. | ||
“That’s one thing I came up with, but it could be just a simple as the H&L file.” says Brooks of request for 2002/03 diaries. | ||
“One of the emails references 2002,” says Brooks of H&L file. Internal lawyers asked about her whereabouts in 2002 or 2003 | ||
Email thread cited: from journo at the Sun “one of our sports video men…. received a call from Channel 4 researcher” | ||
Brooks replies “thanks… any info gratefully received.” | ||
“This is what I was talking about: Channel 4 thought Brooks’ meeting with Scotland Yard was at different date in 02/03 | ||
Back 10 am tomorrow |
Note: All the defendants deny all the charges. The trial continues.
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