Monday 31 March 2014
Summary | ||
Defence Witness for Cheryl Carter – Venerable David Meera | ||
Venerable David Meera is asked about Cheryl Carter | ||
The Defence of Charlie Brooks Continues | ||
Charlie Brooks is asked about events at the time of Rebekah Brooks Arrest | ||
Brooks Arrested | ||
Police Search Thames Quay | ||
Black Bin Bags | ||
Brooks is released | ||
Charlie Brooks attempt to recover his bags | ||
Charlie Brooks asked about material found on Laptops | ||
Charlie Brooks is Cross Examined by Counsel for Mark Hanna. | ||
Bill Clegg QC – Counsel for Mark Hanna questions Charlie Brooks | ||
Charlie Brooks is Cross Examined by the Prosecution | ||
Anthony Edis QC questions Charlie Brooks for the Crown | ||
Charlie Brooks asked about ownership of devices | ||
Charlie Brooks Cross Examined about material on Laptops |
Defence Witness for Cheryl Carter – Venerable David Meera | ||
Venerable David Meera is asked about Cheryl Carter | ||
Back at the #hackingtrial with a slight change of witness. Instead of Charlie Brooks, there’s a dog collared vicar in the box | ||
This is a character witness for Cheryl Carter: Venerable David Meera, rector of St Bride’s Church and various media organisations | ||
Meera employed Cheryl Carter to administer a memorial service for about six months: he found her ‘exemplary, keen… very cheerful’ | ||
Meera says Carter would be reliable on her oath “extremely trustworthy” | ||
Langdale has some questions for Venerable Meera who officiated at his wedding in 2000, and christened both his sons, visited one in hospital | ||
Meera also officiated at various memorial services where Coulson would speak – mainly in memory of Chris Blythe who died very young. | ||
Meera used to write occasionally for News of the World: he says of Coulson “very caring person, very competent… a great fellow feeling” | ||
“A loving and supportive individual of which I had the highest regard… he was/is a man of great integrity,” says the Venerable Meera | ||
The Defence of Charlie Brooks Continues | ||
Charlie Brooks is asked about events at the time of Rebekah Brooks Arrest | ||
Back with Charlie Brooks, questioned by his counsel Neil Saunders. We’re back on the timeline of events in July 2011 – around Brooks’ arrest | ||
17/07/11 Sunday morning Charlie was up at 6 am and went from Enstone Manor to Jubilee Barn to get Rebekah some shoes, and rouse her mother | ||
Charlie says Deborah Weir had not seen her daughter since she resigned as CEO of News International – took him 15 minutes through back roads | ||
Charlie says he cuts through the back way to avoid congestion in Chipping Norton. He called Brooks’ mother on Rebekah’s phone he says | ||
Charlie says he went only in Jubilee Barn – didn’t need to go into Castle Barn where Deborah Weir was staying. | ||
Charlie explains there is no letter box at Jubilee Barn, but mail is delivered to a window sill just inside the door of Castle Barn | ||
Some of the mail in Charlie’s Bags was stamped the 15/07/11 – some much earlier. | ||
Charlie says Deborah Weir followed him back in her car to Enstone: he thinks they left through the main gate. | ||
Charlie Brooks says he must have left Enstone with Brooks – they were “cutting it fine” to get to Kingsley Napley to get there at 10 am | ||
Charlie Brooks thinks Edwards, the driver, had the Saturday off but he texts him on the Sunday. He also calls Hanna and Mark Geddes | ||
William Geddes was hired to provide additional security for the Brooks by Mark Hanna, head of security at NI. | ||
Charlie says “It wasn’t really my job to tell anyone anything… Rebekah was particularly keen no photographers outside the police station” | ||
“The less said the better” says Charlie of informing his security detail of the arrest of his wife Rebekah Brooks that Sunday in July 2011 | ||
Charlie and Rebekah travelled to London in an audi driven by Paul Edwards. He didn’t want his Range Rover ‘marooned’ in Oxfordshire. | ||
“I have some personal stuff in the back of the Range Rover – would you look after it for me?” Charlie says he told Mark Hanna. | ||
Charlie explains he meant Hanna to look after his brown leather briefcase, and a nylon bag for his computers. | ||
“I didn’t want to take them back to Thames Quay… because I thought there was a good chance police would search Thames Quay” says Charlie | ||
“I didn”t want to lose my Apple Mac” says Charlie: “It had all my contemporary work stuff. My Switch novel… I needed that device” | ||
“I assured Mr Hanna the possessions in the back of the Range Rover were my stuff” says Charlie of the two bags in a “very short conversation | ||
Charlie explains that he mainly used the iPad for emails. “There was a problem” with the laptop. He couldn’t send Frankie Dettori article | ||
Charlie accepts the iPad was used to download some emails on the Friday before his wife’s arrest. | ||
Charlie says Deborah Weir went back to Jubilee Barn when they left: he asked Mark Hanna to “escort her so she didn’t get mugged” by paps | ||
Charlie says he did not instruct Hanna or Sandell to go into Jubilee Barn, or instruct them to take anything from his home with Brooks | ||
Charlie denies he instructed Hanna to get rid of any “missing devices”. He was the one in conversation with Hanna, not his wife. | ||
Charlie says he “absolutely does not” remember Brooks being in communication with any of the security operatives. | ||
Having seen the schedule “in preparation” for this trial, Charlie now remembers the calls he made that day 17/07/11 | ||
GPS details from Paul Edwards shows R Brooks being driven to Lewisham from Kingsley Napley about 11.15 am. | ||
At 11.52 Rebekah Brooks texts Charlie Brooks: Neil Saunders has two more documents to insert into the jury bundles. | ||
The first new document from Charlie Brooks‘ defence is a 11.51 text from Rebekah Brooks to Charlie | ||
“Will you also text James (Murdoch)… police going to arrest me to make PR point before the select committee” says Brooks text to Charles | ||
BREAKING: On the day of her arrest Rebekah Brooks thought the police were making a ‘PR point’ before the DCMS select committee | ||
11.57 Charlie calls James Murdoch. James Murdoch calls back. | ||
Charlie Brooks can’t remember where he was when he called James Murdoch – probably “somewhere quite private… sensitive information” | ||
Neil Saunders points to CCTV evidence of Thames Quay that day 17/07/11 at 11.52 with Charlie followed by MacBride, his lawyer. | ||
Charlie says he hadn’t met Angus MacBride beforehand at Kingsley Napley | ||
Brooks Arrested | ||
12.02 Brooks is arrested at Lewisham police station on 17/07/11. He says he didn’t know then “MacBride told me before I saw it on Sky News” | ||
12.16 CCTV shows Charlie with a brown Jiffy bag and a Sony Vaio from a filing cabinet drawer in his office in his flat in Thames Quay | ||
Charlie says: “I didn’t want police to see them or take them away…. The DVDs embarrassing nature… Vaio had some smut on it” | ||
Charlie. “I envisaged 20 policemen coming an emptying every drawer, looking under every nook and cranny, and I did think about my DVDS” | ||
“I thought about my ‘Jackie Smith’ moment”, says Charlie. He was thinking about what happened to Labour Home Secretary because of husband | ||
Charlie explains fear: “ever since operation Weeting had been in NI, a lot of stuff had been leaked, particularly to the Guardian” | ||
Charlie says the Vaio was broken “incredibly stupidly I took it away” – he was afraid police searches would damage it further. | ||
CCTV shows Charlie returning from bins where he “hid” the Jiffy bag and Vaio. At that point it wasn’t his intention to give to Hanna. | ||
“I never gave the CCTV cameras one second of thought” says Charlie. Angus MacBride had no idea what he was doing. | ||
Charlie texts William Geddes at 12.15 saying he needs his car keys for the fob to let police into underground garage. | ||
A second text is a ‘pocket text’ – various random letter. | ||
“Mark is driving it to you” says Geddes in reply to Charlie. Geddes then calls Hanna. | ||
Hanna then calls Charlie: he says about Hanna giving him some idea of his arrival in the Brooks’ Range Rover. | ||
Geddes texts “Have you any idea where you’re staying tonight, sir” Charlie: “Flat as far as I know…. seems most logical” | ||
12.22 Blackhawk texts Hanna complaining “what a twat” about Charlie not telling them where Brooks was to be arrested. | ||
“The less people who knew which police station Rebekah was going to… the less chance photographers outside waiting for her” Charlie says | ||
14.03 that Sunday – Sky News broadcasting Brooks’ arrest. Many texts and calls received by Charlie Brooks – mainly ‘random friends” | ||
“Oh my god. Are you alright. How awful” says Charlie comprised most these calls from friends and family. | ||
Hanna calls Charlie about 14.05 about his imminent arrival with the Range Rover. | ||
CCTV shows Hanna arriving and Charlie indicating his car parking space. Another shot shows Charlie “mucking around with a text” | ||
Third still shows Charlie Brooks walking from specific parking space. Hanna gets out. “I was quite surprised he was carrying my briefcase” | ||
“Having asked him to look after my property…. I was quite surprised to see him walking around Thames Quay with it” says Charlie says. | ||
Charlie said he thought Hanna might as well take the Vaio and Jiffy Bag too hidden behind the bins at this point. | ||
Mark Hanna then leaves Thames Quay car park by foot – it’s an exit only door, entrance controlled by fob. | ||
14.48 Hannah and Sandell arrive in Wapping with Charlie’s Bags: Charlie walks in the car park with MacBride -he calls Hanna. | ||
Charlie says he called Hanna again because he was still looking for the fob to let police into underground garage. | ||
Charlie says he had two types of fob for Thames Quay. Police arrive at 15.03 on the afternoon of 17/07/11 | ||
Police Search Thames Quay | ||
Neil Saunders adduces a hand written document about the search supervised by MacBride: “I was in the bedroom watching Golf” says Charlie | ||
Charlie says he told the police “the devices were used exclusively by me”: he says he couldn’t guarantee they hadn’t been used by Brooks | ||
MacBride’s note of that search claim that computers seized by police were for Charlie’s work only. | ||
There were some thumb drives taken by the police, 13 CDs: Charlie says he didn’t object to police taking those. | ||
The police also took a Hewlett Packard laptop – “It wasn’t mine,” says Charlie. “I assumed it was Rebekah’s” | ||
A phone was also confiscated from spare bedroom. Charlie knew it wasn’t his, so he didn’t try to prevent it being taken. | ||
17.10 Charlie texts IT guy asking for passwords for Apple Macs “to help the police” | ||
Saunders corrects – that text probably sent to Cheryl Carter. | ||
Police leave Thames Quay and make a 15 minute search of Jubilee Barn. | ||
Of Deborah Weir’s evidence she thought search would start at 10 am “I think my mother in law got a bit confused” about Kingsley Napley visit | ||
Charlie says Chris Palmer visited Thames Quay: CCTV shows him arriving at 18.11 | ||
“Wine… four bottles” Charlie says his friend Palmer bought with him. He received texts from “loads” of friends as well as Hanna | ||
20.37 on 17/07/11 Hanna texts Charlie – he can’t remember what it was about. He calls Hanna soon after that at 20.38 | ||
“I think that was about arrangements to bring my property back” says Charlie of call to Hanna: two case, vaio and Jiffy Bag. | ||
“We didn’t have any food in the flat. Chelsea Harbour is quite isolated…. asked for pizza. A piece of blotting paper.” says Charlie | ||
Charlie says he and Palmer had drunk 6 bottles of red wine between them that evening. | ||
Neil Saunders for Charlie Brooks adduces a 5 minute call from Charlie to Cheryl Carter that evening. Jorsling arrives with Charlie’s bags. | ||
Jorsling calls Charlie at 21.30 that night. | ||
Black Bin Bags | ||
Jorsling dumps a black bin bag behind the bins in underground while someone else delivers a pizza. | ||
Charlie says of calling Carter he was “ringing her back to reassure her…. she was pretty upset…. 9.30… shocked she was still there” | ||
Chris Palmer goes down stairs. Charlie had been “glued to Sky News”. | ||
Palmer returns with two pizzas. Not aware of him bringing any bags back. Charlie didn’t know then how Jorsling got into underground car park | ||
Various texts between Jorsling and Johnson cited by Saunders for Charlie Brooks. | ||
Charlie says he wasn’t aware of any these security text messages: “If I had been I’d be pretty surprised” | ||
“Log in the hours as Pizza delivery” says Blackhawk text. 21.41 Brooks texts Hanna to thank him for “organising that” | ||
“Another fucking magical mystery tour” says text. Charlie: “They were incredibly bored….” J Saunders intervenes: he’s commenting on others | ||
15 minute break | ||
Jeremy Clarkson is in the public gallery of the #hackingtrial | ||
Brooks is released | ||
By the time Brooks is released Chris Palmer leaves in a “not good’ state. | ||
Two cars arrive back late that Sunday night – Brooks returns after arrest described Charlie as “several sheets to the wind” | ||
“I was pretty wobbly, it’ had been a stressful day, and I’d probably drunk more than was wise,” says Charlie. | ||
The next morning 18/07/11 Brooks and Charlie are seen leaving for Kingsley Napley “in preparation for parliamentary select committee” | ||
Charlie says he was feeling “pretty rough” that morning. | ||
Various calls and texts made by Charlie are made to Hanna and Blackhawk on that Monday. | ||
“She’s exhausted. Got a lot on her mind. Just spent the last day in police station… last thing is she wants is me hassling her” | ||
Charlie Brooks attempt to recover his bags | ||
They return to Thames Quay: on the way back Charlie said “there’s a bit of a mix up as to who has my briefcase” | ||
“At that moment I thought I wanted my briefcases back” says Charlie. “I understood bags had been dropped off at garage night before” | ||
10.53 texts from Charlie on 18/07/11 “as we were leaving Kingsley Napley. I saw a couple of security guys lurking around road” | ||
“Six bottles of wine later things have got a bit confused” says Charlie of Jorsling’s delivery of his bags the night before. | ||
Charlie says calls that Monday morning to Mark Hanna around noon about the bags. 12.48 shows Charlie returning to Chelsea Harbour | ||
Charlie goes over to the bins to recover his bags. Mr Nascimento has already found it. Brooks is waiting – she doesn’t have a fob. | ||
Charlie doesn’t immediately recover his bags. He goes up to flat with Rebekah before “helping search party” | ||
Charlie comes back downstairs, liaising with Edwards the driver. He met Mr Perkins the cleaning attendant – his evidence same as Charlies | ||
12.50 a two minute call from Edwards to Chris Palmer’s number, according to the Saunders. | ||
Charlie says he thinks Jorsling was explaining the bin drop off – while they were complaining the bags were no longer there. | ||
“Very likely” Chris Palmer was mentioned in this conversation says Charlie: “He is the conduit”. 12.52 more calls to driver Edwards | ||
Charlie says he then, on advice of Mr Perkins, went to waste compactor and then to security office and Mr Ramsay. | ||
“I thought his recollection was pretty good… the gist of it was right” says Brooks of Ramsay: he was understandably ‘economical with truth | ||
“In my mind I had it that Harper Collins would drop me as quick as they could… I would lose my book deal” says Charlie of threats to sue. | ||
“It was clear they had my property, which was good news” says Charlie. But there was a delay when Ramsay ‘rang the police’ | ||
Charlie agrees he was cross and had said to Mr Perkins “Yes, I’ll sue” when he discovers his property had been confiscated. | ||
At this point Charlie told Brooks the truth: “It was a bad situation… I told her what I’d done….” | ||
Charlie admits he did try to hide some contents from Thames Quay: “probably said I had a bit of porn or something like that” | ||
“I think I spoke to Angus, the lawyer, and then I spoke to Rebekah after I’d spoken to Angus…. she’d been asleep” says Charlie | ||
“She went ballistic” says Charlie of the moment he told Brooks about his missing bags. | ||
“My concern was I’d be arrested” says Charlie of realisation police had his property. “I wanted to speak to police as quickly as possible” | ||
Charlie: “I wanted police to go through briefcase and devices… to look at contents, which I knew were nothing to do with search warrant” | ||
Justice Saunders establishes there was no search warrant (an arrest). I was “nothing relevant” says Charlie. | ||
18.05 a twitter post from Guardian about the Thames Quay incident on 18/07/11 “lots of detail” says Charlie. | ||
“This was exactly the sort of thing I was worried about” says Charlie about Guardian story about the Thames Quay incident | ||
DI McCabe writes to Charlie’s lawyer Angus MacBride on 20/07/11 | ||
The police letter identifies the property recovered during the Section 18 PACE search, recovered under Section 19 “may contain evidence” | ||
The police/lawyer exchange mentions Charlie’s previous email. Lawyers provide for password to establish devices belong the Charlie | ||
Letters from DI McCabe ask for details of bags left behind – invoices etc – which they are more than happy to return | ||
Charlie Brooks asked about material found on Laptops | ||
22/07/11 MacBride writes to DI McCabe asking for clarification over items and provides passwords. | ||
Charlie’s lawyer asks for £1000 from Ascot back, and all the invoices addressed to him, and the DVDS. | ||
Charlie explains that Miriam Francombe was his girlfriend of 12 years: asked about the dates he says “it’s tricky” | ||
Charlie explains how they got a “difficult time” in the Sun, Daily Mail etc. about this relationship. “Subjected to attempted entrapment” | ||
Charlie explains the draft editorial on his confiscated computer. | ||
There draft 2009 Sun editorial by Rebekah Brooks, emailed to Charles Brooks, a speech Brooks’ delivered also sent to him for suggestions | ||
Third document recovered, NI Budget Briefing 22/03/10, Charlie says was emailed to him by Brooks. | ||
Charlie says it was a very early budget by Brooks in her time as CEO: “She probably wanted to practice with me”. | ||
The details of Melville Carrick also appear on Charlie’s iTunes account because they were developing software. | ||
Charlie explains he had some parts of his book Peasants of Winter on his memory stick so he could port over to another device. | ||
Brooks said he heard nothing from police until 13/03/12 when he was arrested at 5 a.m. | ||
Charlie explains his daughter was born prematurely. The police also wanted to search Castle Barn where his 83 year old mother lived. | ||
Police were initially “extremely resistant” to Charlie pre-warning his mother but he was eventually allowed to. | ||
Charlie arrived in High Wycombe police station around 7.30 am. Miss Hodges a solicitor arrived around 11 am. A series of interviews. | ||
Hodges advice to Charlie on arrest was “to not answer any questions”. He didn’t answer any questions. | ||
Switch was published in 2012, says Charlie. He claims he never asked Mark Hanna to hide or destroy devices. He has no previous convictions | ||
A five minute break while Neil Saunders, counsel for Charlie, checks his notes. | ||
Charlie Brooks is Cross Examined by Counsel for Mark Hanna. | ||
Bill Clegg QC – Counsel for Mark Hanna questions Charlie Brooks | ||
Charlie Brooks‘ evidence in chief is over: he is now cross examined by Bill Clegg, QC, counsel for Mark Hanna. | ||
Charlie agrees the departure from Enstone on 17/07/11 was “rushed”. He can’t remember if he put his bags into his Range Rover. | ||
Clegg suggests one of the drivers put the bags into the Golf which dropped them off. | ||
Clegg asks about the black nylon bag: Charlie agrees he would have used it at Enstone on the Saturday: but had an ‘issue’ with it. | ||
Clegg suggests the black bag went from Kingsley Napley and then onto Lewisham police station – certainly wasn’t in the Range Rover. | ||
Charlie agrees he didn’t want the police to find his property, that’s why he made to the request to Mark Hanna, head of NI security | ||
“I asked Mark Hanna in the car park to look after the Jiffy Bag and the Sony Vaio” says Charlie to Hanna’s counsel, Clegg. | ||
“Mark Hanna is pretty good at doing what he’s told” says Clegg. Charlie: “I haven’t had many dealings with Mark Hanna so can’t answer that” | ||
Clegg says Charlie might be mistaken about the request to Hanna: not twice (including Enstone) but once at Chelsea: “my best recollection” | ||
Charlie Brooks is Cross Examined by the Prosecution | ||
Anthony Edis QC questions Charlie Brooks for the Crown | ||
Edis asks what did you say: “I told him to look after my personal stuff’ says Charlie. He wasn’t specific. | ||
“And you got other people to help?” asks Edis. “Yes,” says Charlie. Charlie says he tell him why. | ||
Andrew Edis QC: “We agree you went out of your way to hide stuff the police might want to seize” Charlie: “Fair comment” | ||
Charlie details the two briefcases and two holdalls – overnight bags – he had at Enstone. He didn’t discuss the holdalls. | ||
Charlie “I never had a conversation where the holdalls would go. Looking at CCTV they went into Golf… transferred into Audi… to flat” | ||
“They didn’t end up behind any bins” says Edis. “No,” says Charlie. Edis asks how long he asked Hanna to look after the cases. | ||
Hope @JeremyClarkson found somewhere for lunch. Tried to guide him to local #hackingtrial eateries | ||
Charlie Brooks says his belongings were already in the back of the Range Rover. Hanna never asked “why” Charlie agrees, | ||
Lunch for the next hour. Back at 2pm for continuing evidence at #hackingtrial | ||
Back after lunch at #hackingtrial – sorry about delayed tweets. @ThreeUK Mobile service intermittent in Old Bailey today. | ||
Edis continues with his cross examination of Charlie Brooks about the conversation with Mark Hanna | ||
“I don’t dispute you were concerned to keep precise destination away from certain security employees, but Hanna was very trusted” says Edis | ||
Edis turns to some documents: an email from Deborah Keegan to Brooks about Mark Hanna’s role in security on 15/07/11 | ||
Another email from Brooks to Charlie about security and Mark Hanna is cited. “Mark Hanna was going to know where you were spending night” | ||
Charlie agrees that Hanna knew stuff that was hidden from “the police”. | ||
Charlie says in April conference calls there was “an expectation Rebekah could be arrested when she returned from holiday” | ||
Edis asks why would Weatherup “getting arrested for something at NOTW lead to her getting arrested?” | ||
Charlie says the police were “behaving erratically.” Edis says “what offence would she be arrested for?” “Similiar to James Weatherup” | ||
Charlie agrees they had been expecting a search since April 2011. He agrees the search was “almost by notice” with two days prior warning | ||
“In the end there was no surprise at all what the police would be doing?” says Edis. Charlie agrees. | ||
Charlie says they knew a search would be possible since a meeting at the Wymondham Hotel in April 2011 | ||
Charlie agrees they had a plan what to do “since April”. | ||
“I think Rebekah’s relationship with the police changed… she was removed from confidentiality club, a ‘person of interest'” says Charlie | ||
Charlie agrees he was trusting Mark Hanna with their movements “I’d put Mark Hanna in a different category to the security bods” | ||
“If police concern” says Hanna in an email to Rebekah in July: “previous plan of exit and entry treatment teams” | ||
Charlie says this refers to Brooks being arrested in car park. “Can’t see what else it would mean” he says. | ||
Hotel was fully booked that day so the Brooks couldn’t stay there. | ||
Edis turns back to the weekend of Brooks’ arrest and Charlie’s conversations with Mark Hanna, and Blackhawk contact. | ||
Charlie says Paul Edwards, a new driver for Brooks, “wasn’t part of the security team”. | ||
Charlie agrees there was no reason he wouldn’t have told Mark Hanna about imminent arrest of his wife. | ||
Charlie admits he would have been keener to have the black bag, because that contained his computers. | ||
Charlie agrees Hanna only returned with the brown bag not the black bag he told him to take: “at the time I didn’t notice” | ||
Charlie says he assured Hanna is was his personal stuff. Otherwise he asked nothing in particular | ||
“Did you give him an explanation of why you put your computers behind bins?” asks Edis. “No,” says Charlie. | ||
Charlie says he was surprised Hanna had the brown bag but didn’t say anything. | ||
“I didn’t think about the black bag at all… didn’t register in my consciousness until I saw CCTV footage and thought ‘bloody hell” Charlie | ||
Charlie says he didn’t ask for £1000 when Hanna returned with his brown bag. He wasn’t particularly worried police would seize it. | ||
Charlie says he wasn’t drunk at this time on the Sunday afternoon. By then he knew Brooks had been arrested. | ||
Edis talks of three machines recovered: two had News International stickers – the iPad and Apple laptop. | ||
“They’d been given to me, by News International… if you give someone a present they don’t own it” says Charlie. | ||
“As far as I was concerned they were mine” says Charlie of iPad and Apple laptop. | ||
Charlie Brooks asked about ownership of devices | ||
Edis turns to email 14/07/11 from Charlie to Brooks on day she resigned. Discussion of severance package. Charlie gives her advice | ||
Charlie says the compromise agreement was “very protracted”: he talks to Brooks about keeping electronic devices, and three he had. | ||
“I felt they were my devices, with my information on them” says Brooks of small devices. Two desktop devices were ‘principally’ used by him | ||
“This email plainly means that you knew these computers belong to NI” says Edis. “I think they’re mine” says Charlie. | ||
Charlie was also concerned about the office NI were going to provide for Brooks as part of her compromise agreement. | ||
Charlie says he doesn’t know if anyone else worked in his Thames Quay office. “These computers belong to Mr Brooks” say lawyers to police | ||
Justice Saunders explains that representations made by lawyers to police are not bound by privileged “assumed to be your case unless you say | ||
Charlie is asked by Justice Saunders whether lawyer case is his case. In the witness box Charlie looks confused by the legalese | ||
“Is he putting forward what you want him to say to the police, accurately” asks Charlie of his lawyers representations. | ||
Charlie says he doesn’t know legally whether the desktop computers belonged to him or not. | ||
Edis asks Charlie Brooks needed to go to NI Tech guy to get passwords to the computers. They were left on all the time he says. | ||
18/07/11 17.40 MacBride, Charlie’s lawyer, emails a police officer about “personal property belonging to Mr Brooks” in the bags. | ||
Edis points out these had NI international stickers. “They were my property”. | ||
McBride writes these machines have “no connection whatsoever with Mrs Brooks”. Edis points out these were issued by News International | ||
Email says Charlie didn’t want to conceal items from police. Edis points out that the Charlie told the jury before lunch he did conceal | ||
Charlie says the email is consistent with Daryl Jorsling not being asked to conceal anything. Edis: “But Mr Hanna had” | ||
“It doesn’t say I didn’t conceal anything that morning, so it isn’t a lie” says Charlie Brooks. | ||
“To suggest there was no concealment is simply a lie” says Edis. “No it isn’t says Charlie. You’re not listening to me” says Charlie. | ||
“You’re not explaining anything about getting them away” suggests Justice Saunders. | ||
Charlie Brooks says what he conveyed to Mr MacBride was fair. Edis points the email omits the fact the items were deliberately hidden. | ||
“Absolutely. I was dead keen to talk to the police. This email is sent on my instruction” says Charlie. “I would have told the police truth” | ||
“I would have told them everything” says Charlie: “A moment to put my hands up. I’m an idiot” | ||
Justice Saunders asks why this explanation wasn’t in the email. “I offered to see them there and then” repeats Charlie. | ||
Edis distributes some new documents for the relevant bundles. | ||
Charlie says he was keen to get his story out to the police. Edis cites a Daily Telegraph article which says items “nothing to do Brooks” | ||
David Wilson is cited in Telegraph, an employee of Bell Pottinger, a famous PR agency, talking about Charlie’s bags. | ||
Pottinger Bells said to Charlie: “There’s a very bad version of this story out there… as a PR person… balance things up” | ||
“No questions of privilege arise between you and Mr Wilson” says Edis and asks about the “mix up with friend”: Charlie says this was Palmer | ||
“You could argue police were briefing against me. I felt it it was a chance to balance things up” says Charlie of Telegraph article. | ||
Charlie agrees Telegraph article about “accidentally” leaving bags in car park and “inadvertently” losing is “confused” | ||
“Mr Palmer said a few months later, when we’d had some more wine, Mr Jorsling told him there was something by the bins” says Charlie | ||
“Did you ever have any sober conversations with Mr Palmer?” asks Edis. Palmer says some cryptic message left by Jorsling. | ||
“There a pile of rubbish… or bits of rubbish.. by the bins” says Charlie of the cryptic Jorsling message. | ||
Telegraph article says “one of Charlie’s friends was dropping off some bags” – Charlie agrees Jorsling is not one of his friends. | ||
Charlie agrees he did know Jorsling was delivering some stuff that Sunday. The pizza “added on to some pre-existing plan” | ||
“The pizza arrived but the bags didn’t” says Edis. “Absolutely” says Charlie. “Quite a few” of the six bottles of wine had been drunk | ||
Edis “You must have noticed there weren’t any bags… £1000 in one. Your book in another” Charlie. “I get a bit sloppy after a bit of wine” | ||
Charlie admits Jorsling called him when he arrived with bags in underground car park. EdisL “Almost immediately… goes over to bins” | ||
Charlie says he didn’t tell Jorsling to leave bags behind bins. Edis asks why he didn’t wait for him. Palmer left 20 past midnight. | ||
“The bag had been found and put in the rubbish, presumably by the cleaner” says the Telegraph article on 20/07/11 – two days later. | ||
“I think Mr Wilson was putting my side of the story… nothing relevant to Operation Weeting had been put aside” says Brooks of Tele article | ||
Charlie admits he didn’t tell Pottinger Bell about Hanna taking his stuff. “This was information you were hungry to get to police” asks Edis | ||
“Here you are publishing what purports to be a full account…. You could have got the truth out here” says Edis. | ||
Edis asks why, if Charlie wanted to explain himself, he didn’t talk to police in 2012. Charlie says 2nd arrest “incredibly gratuitous” | ||
“They were aggressive to my mother… I was in emotional autopilot and very shocked…. does that answer your question?” asks Charlie. | ||
“No” says Edis. “That was Kingsley Napley who represented you when you were ‘incredibly keen’ to talk to the police” | ||
“You never said until the time of your defence… one of the factors was an awareness of police leaks to the Guardian” says Edis. | ||
Edis asks if there an “contemporaneous” documents at the time suggesting Charlie was aware of the leaks. | ||
Are there any documents that show the leaks were a ‘serious concern at the time’ ask Edis. | ||
Edis turns to a defence statement required by law before trial. Charlie says “I must have some personal input into it” | ||
Edis says that the defence statement shows no knowledge of Jorsling’s arrival. He reads out. It was only on the Monday that Charlie knew | ||
Justice Saunders intervenes: the omission of something in a defence statement can be important. | ||
“You’re now saying drunkeness is the only explanation of these events other than your guilt” says Edis. “No that isn’t true” replies Charlie | ||
“Mr MacBride confirmed… none of the devices… had a connection with Mrs Brooks” says written statement. | ||
Edis points out there is no mention of the book chapters or book ideas in defence document. Charlie says “documents for work” covers it | ||
10 minute break. | ||
Charlie Brooks Cross Examined about material on Laptops | ||
Edis wants to ask Charlie about why he wanted to keep hold of Vaio and Apple laptop. The Vaio was his old machine last accessed 12/10/10 | ||
Charlie agrees the Vaio wasn’t working at all. “I decided to clean the screen with water” he says. | ||
“During the whole of 2010 it was only used to access four files” says Edis of the Vaio. “It was out of use for a long time.” | ||
“It was a useless and unused machine” says Edis. “And the question is” replies Charlie. | ||
Two files concerning Saints and Sinners were accessed. A picture of Brooks. “Not anything to do with a book proposal” says Edis. | ||
“If you remember your lordship cut me short…” says Charlie, about accessing a file on Bill Bryson. “Some great ideas lie dormant” | ||
“They feel like you’re babies. You never know, they could be the best book you ever write” says Charlie. “Useful information on it” | ||
Charlie says he never sought advice from Kingsley Napley about siezures. Had some ‘general advice’ from Ben Rose. | ||
Edis says Charlie was on advice he could be arrested from April, and asks if he prepared for what happened to his property “No recollection” | ||
“There are a number of ways of dealing with this. You copy your files onto a USB stick and give to solicitors. You used to have a dropbox” | ||
“A dropbox is part of what some people call the Cloud” says Edis. “You used to have a Dropbox”. Charlie “You must be more techy than I am” | ||
“Your dropbox has some of your book on it” says Edis. “I’m hopeless at this” says Charlie. “You had a folder on NI server” says Edis. | ||
“It’s got some of your book on it. How did that happen” asks Edis. “I don’t know says” Charlie. Edis brings up forensic analysis | ||
Edis points out the user account is called ‘Rebekah’ for one of the Mac Laptop. “You’d see this machine had her name of it every time?” | ||
Charlie says “yes” he would have seen Rebekah on laptop. A folder called Charlie Brooks was stored on the NI server, last accessed 10/7/11 | ||
“I’ve never been aware of accessing a folder at News International” says Charlie. That Sunday was the day they dined with James Murdoch | ||
Edis shows the next page of computer forensics from July 201: Peasants in Winter “All of that looks like my material” says Charlie | ||
“This is a folder you can access from everywhere in the world” says Edis. Charlie says he knew could get into it from laptop. | ||
Charlie says he only knew the laptop was only backed up on desktop He says he didn’t know it was backed up on cloud. | ||
Charlie says he never backed up on disk drive. He says backed up on desktops “pretty safe in normal circumstances”. Edis: you knew of arrest | ||
“Sounds like you might have sold a few copies as a result of this” says Saunders of Charlie’s book.”You’ve managed to sell one” replies Ride | ||
Edis shows the jury another document on the screen | ||
Edis shows how, on the desktop at lot of things happening on 21/03/11 – looks like a lot of things copied over. Charlie “Sounds very techy” | ||
Edis: “It’s not a techy question. Did you copy over a lot of files on 21/03/11. And none of them have been opened”. Charlie: “I don’t know” | ||
“As soon as the police knew these machines originated from NI they are going to want to search them?” asks Edis. | ||
Charlie says he didn”t have time to think about backing. “You’ve known since April” says Edis. But Brooks only resigned on Friday says C | ||
“This is one of the most telegraphed arrests in history” says Edis of Brooks arrest. “I wouldn’t disagree with that,” says Charlie. | ||
Hundreds of documents are shown to the jury from the Apple Laptop, all arrived on 21/03/11. Charlie “We need Kiron Bennett to explain it” | ||
Edis shows a single page from computer forensics of system operations. Machine only in sporadic use in June. 4 days in July 2011 | ||
“Is that right you’re only using this machine on four days?” asks Edis. Charlie he used his blackberry quite a lot for emails. | ||
However, he says he found the iPad better for emails and attachments. | ||
Charlie agrees the machine wasn’t in daily use – “related a lot to whether I was in London or Oxfordshire” | ||
Charlie Brooks agrees this machine was returned on 01/08/11 but he says he “wasn’t to know” it would be returned so quickly | ||
Charlie offers to give some “limited help” on “missing devices” from Jubilee Barn | ||
Charlie Brooks says he’s seen a list of missing devices before but not this one: two iPads, one belonging to Sir Charles Dunstone,cited | ||
What is now called ‘Julie’s iPad” that could be related to Brooks, has emerged as belonging to her assistant | ||
“She had an iPad stuffed in the back of a cupboard” says Charlie. The lawyers were told. Still being examined. | ||
There are three blackberries registered to Rebekah Brooks on this missing devices list: “She got through quite a few of them” says Charlie | ||
Charlie explains how Blackberries would break, or go out of date. | ||
These 3 Blackberries are from 2011. 3 Apple iPhones also missing from 2011: Charlie “she never used an iPhone as a telephone in any year” | ||
Charlie says she had iPhones merely to look at development aps. Edis points out two iPhones connected, and one connected to router. | ||
“I do remember she didn’t like the colour of one iPad she had” says Charlie. He can’t help with one lost in April 2011. | ||
Two iPads issued to Rebekah Brooks in April 2011 according to records. “That’s all you can help with missing devices” asks Edis. “Yes” | ||
10 O’Clock tomorrow for the last half an hour of Edis’ re-examination. |
Note: All the defendants deny all the charges. The trial continues.
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Peter Jukes on ABC Radio
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