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| Rebekah Brooks cleared of one charge | Rebekah Brooks cleared of one charge |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks has been formally acquitted of one of the charges against her at the phone-hacking trial. | Former News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks has been formally acquitted of one of the charges against her at the phone-hacking trial. |
| Mrs Brooks has been cleared of one count of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office. She still faces four other charges. | |
| The judge directed the jury to acquit her of an allegation that she authorised a Sun reporter to pay for a picture of Prince William in a bikini. | The judge directed the jury to acquit her of an allegation that she authorised a Sun reporter to pay for a picture of Prince William in a bikini. |
| There was "no case to answer", he said. | |
| "Whether or not there is a case to answer is for me to decide on a matter of law," Mr Justice Saunders told the jury at the Old Bailey. | |
| "It is for you to bring in a verdict of not guilty on that count now." | |
| In that count, Mrs Brooks was accused of authorising a reporter to pay a serving member of the armed forces £4,000 for a picture of Prince William dressed in a bikini at a fancy dress party at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. | |
| Mrs Brooks, 45, still faces two charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, one of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office and one of conspiracy to hack voicemail messages - all of which she denies. | |
| Making an opening statement for Mrs Brooks, her lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw QC said jurors might have found the trial hard to follow so far. | |
| He said "on occasions absolutely critical information was overlooked or left out" by the prosecution. | |
| And he told the jury that at the end of the trial, he would "have a lot more to say" about Mrs Brooks's treatment by the prosecution and the police. | |
| Mr Laidlaw reminded the jury that Mrs Brooks was not "on trial for having worked for Rupert Murdoch's company", or for being the editor of a tabloid newspaper. | |
| Mrs Brooks is one of seven defendants in the trial. All deny the various charges against them. |