Monday 30 June 2014
| Summary | ||
| Mitigation Pleas | ||
| The Court hears mitigation pleas from those guilty of Phone Hacking | ||
| Andrew Edis QC presents the case for the Crown | ||
| Gavin Millar QC pleads mitigation for Gen Mulcaire | ||
| Trevor Burke QC pleads mitigation for Greg Miskiw | ||
| Hugh Davis QC pleads mitigation for Neville Thurlbeck | ||
| Charles Bott QC pleads mitigation for James Weatherup | ||
| Andy Coulson’s mitigation plea will be tomorrow | ||
Rupert Murdoch – World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Davos 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Police pursuing corporate charges have already interviewed Les Hinton—who spent 50 years working with Murdoch, latterly as CEO of Dow Jones—Brooks, and Andy Coulson, who was convicted of phone hacking on Tuesday. Next, Scotland Yard’s questions are expected to be put directly to Murdoch
The FBI emails, on a single disk, were shared with investigators in London, but their existence was not disclosed to the judge until late in the phone-hacking trial and they were ultimately not entered into evidence and therefore could not be reported until the jury had reached its verdicts.The negative fallout from the phone-hacking trial has been substantial for Cameron, whose friendship with Brooks and Coulson has been widely debated in the British media.
Ed Miliband, leader of the Labour Party, said Cameron had “brought a criminal into the heart of Downing Street.”“He put his relationship with Rupert Murdoch over doing the right thing over Andy Coulson,” he said.
Murdoch’s cozy relationship with the British government reached its peak under Blair, who is the godfather of Murdoch’s second-youngest child, and its end fell on Cameron’s watch. After the Leveson inquiry into the state of the British media, the public heard that Cameron had ridden Brooks’ horse and signed his text messages to her “lol”—thinking it meant lots of love. Never again will a senior British politician dare to foster such a close relationship with Murdoch or one of his companies without fear of rebuke from the public.
via Rupert Murdoch’s Trouble Has Only Just Begun – The Daily Beast.
Links: The Trial So Far | Full Trial Summary | Indexed Evidence | Breaking News
Wednesday 25 June 2014
| Summary | ||
| The Trial Ends | ||
| The Jury continue to consider verdicts on Counts 2 and 3 | ||
| No verdict on Counts 2 and 3 | ||
| The Trial Ends – Mr Justice Saunders thanks the Jury | ||
| Peter Jukes describes some of the background to the Hacking Trial | ||
| Aspects of the Hacking Trial that could not be reported | ||
In response to the advance media storm last night (before the trial had closed) the CPS have released the following statement
“This case was not about whether phone hacking took place or whether public officials were paid for information; there are a significant number of recent convictions which show that both did happen.
“This has been a lengthy and complex trial which was required to explore a culture of invading privacy. Despite a number of applications by the defence to have the case thrown out the Judge agreed that the evidence was sufficient for consideration by the jury.
“The jury has found that Andy Coulson, former editor of a national newspaper, conspired with others to hack phones. Others who have admitted their role in this illegal practice – Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck, James Weatherup, Glenn Mulcaire and Dan Evans – all now face sentencing for phone hacking.
“We respect the verdicts and will inform the court on Monday of our decision on whether to retry the outstanding counts.
“As closely linked criminal proceedings are underway, I have nothing further to add at this time.”
A lone “citizen journalist” ended up as much a part of the Hackgate story as the high profile protagonists in court, not least for revealing how the world has moved on from the old-world tabloid days, writes Paola Totaro
The news arrived at 11.57am GMT, in 140 characters and BIG capital letters, an ironic echo of an old-fashioned 172-point, front page tabloid headline: “BREAKING: Jury finds Brooks NOT Guilty on all counts at Hacking Trial: Coulson guilty on Count one.”
A second or two later, another ping: “Kuttner, Hanna, Carter, C Brooks not guilty – other verdicts still pending.”
So began the Twitter firestorm launched from the Old Bailey overnight as Justice Saunders delivered a string of verdicts – guilty for the former News of the World editor, Andy Coulson, and exoneration on all charges for his colleague, Rebekah Brooks – in the much-anticipated Hackgate trial.
Written by Peter Jukes, a British dramatist turned journalist, that first, electronic missive from Court 12 represented the #hackgate denouement of an estimated 25,000-plus tweets he has pumped out live, daily from the Old Bailey over the last seven or so months.
MORE AT Hackgate’s digital warrior reveals media evolution – The Drum Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Yesterdays intervention by David Cameron after the guilty verdict for Coulson on Count One of phone hacking nearly derailed the whole trial. As soon as the verdict was in Coulson”s QC, Timothy Langdale, called the Attorney General to warn him any comments could be in contempt of court, because the jury were still deliberating on two more counts.
The Attorney General was with the Prime Minister at the time, but told him that Cameron had already filmed his apology, and it was too late to stop the statement going out. This morning both counsel for Goodman and Coulson applied to discharge the current jury because of the prejudicial comment about separate facts that were not in evidence.
Links: The Trial So Far | Full Trial Summary | Indexed Evidence | Breaking News
Tuesday 24 June 2014
| Summary | ||
| The Verdicts | ||
| The Jury deliver verdicts on Count 1, 5, 6 and 7 | ||
| Verdicts on Counts 2 and 3 still to be considered | ||
| The Jury ask questions on Counts 2 and 3 | ||
| The Jury to return tomorrow | ||
It has been called trial of the century, but for some involved in Britain’s ongoing phone hacking trial, it has felt like a century.The trial of seven defendants has been going on for more than 135 days.The jury is still deciding the fate of former senior executives in Rupert Murdoch’s stable, Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson.
Continue reading
Every morning for the past seven months, TV drama screenwriter, author, and freelance journalist Peter Jukes has been waking up at 8am, checking his iPad and keyboard are charged, walking 15 minutes from his flat to the Old Bailey, logging on to Twitter, and live-tweeting everything he’s allowed to report from the phonehacking trial. Continue reading
The Criminal Media Nexus 