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News of the World editors 'must have approved hacker's contract' Phone hacking trial: Jury told of Mulcaire emails
(35 minutes later)
News of the World bosses must have approved the contract of a private investigator who later admitted phone hacking, the Old Bailey has heard. The jury in the phone hacking trial has been told of three emails disclosed by News International which launched the police investigation in 2011.
Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said senior figures would have been involved in the decision to give Glenn Mulcaire a written contract in September 2001. They were from private investigator Glenn Mulcaire to ex-News of the World head of news Ian Edmondson.
Former NoW editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson are among eight defendants facing trial. It is alleged they concerned hacking phones linked to Tessa Jowell and David Mills, Lord Frederick Windsor and an adviser to John Prescott.
They deny charges including conspiracy to intercept communications. Eight defendants deny charges including conspiracy to intercept communications.
Mr Edis said that, other than a few "taskings" by the News of the World in 1999, the first dated instruction to Mulcaire by the now-defunct newspaper was 8 January 2001. The first message, on 20 April 2006, referred to MP Tessa Jowell and her husband Mr Mills, at a time when he had been accused of involvement in bribery linked to former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.
It said: "Substantial traffic both ways, also looks like she's selling up."
Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC told the jury: "You're going to have to decide in Mr Edmondson's case what you make of that, whether it can possibly mean anything at all other that 'I've been phone-hacking Tessa, and this is what I've found out'."
Another message, from April 27 2006, referred to Lord Frederick Windsor, and contained a reference to "press * and Pin", which prosecutors say was Mulcaire telling Mr Edmondson how to hack a phone.
The third email referred to an adviser to former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, who was at the centre of a publicity storm because he was accused of having an affair.
The jury has also been told senior figures at the now-defunct newspaper would have been involved in the decision to give Mulcaire a written contract in September 2001.
Mr Edis said that, other than a few "taskings" by the NoTW in 1999, the first dated instruction to Mulcaire was 8 January 2001.
An investigations team was set up by Rebekah Brooks when she became editor, and both Mulcaire and former NoW journalist Greg Miskiw, who has also pleaded guilty to hacking, were part of it.An investigations team was set up by Rebekah Brooks when she became editor, and both Mulcaire and former NoW journalist Greg Miskiw, who has also pleaded guilty to hacking, were part of it.
The jury heard Mulcaire was paid a weekly fee until September 2001 when he moved onto a written contract. The jury heard Mulcaire was paid a weekly fee until September 2001 when he moved onto a written contract - worth around £100,000 a year.
The court heard on Wednesday that the private investigator was paid around £100,000 a year for his services. "It is if course part of the prosecution case that a contract like that, a big contract, involves the senior management, in this case the editor, the deputy editor and the managing editor, the three defendants whom you have to try for phone hacking in addition to Mr Edmondson - that is Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson and Stuart Kuttner," Mr Edis said.
"It is if course part of the prosecution case that a contract like that, a big contract, involves the senior management, in this case the editor, the deputy editor and the managing editor, the three defendants whom you have to try for phone hacking in addition to Mr Edmondson [former NoW head of news Ian Edmondson] - that is Rebekah Brooks, Andrew Coulson and Stuart Kuttner," Mr Edis said. "It was not hidden from anybody that he was being paid all that money because of course the money has to go through an accounting system, it is budgeted for, it's seen.
Opening the case on Wednesday, Mr Edis told the jury that celebrity victims of phone hacking are alleged to include Jude Law and Sienna Miller, former home secretary David Blunkett, actress Joanna Lumley, and pop star Will Young. "The question is, didn't anybody ever ask, what are we paying this chap for?"
The court also heard that the newspaper was "intensely interested" in the Royal family, with alleged victims including Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, and Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, former private secretary to Princes William and Harry, who recently became one of Prince George's godparents. Mr Edis added: "So what was it that he was doing? Well, we know that he was a phone hacker and we know that he was a good one, and we know that he was an accomplished blagger."