This article is from the source 'independent' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/rebekah-brooks-tells-of-car-crash-personal-life-9145095.html

The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Rebekah Brooks tells of 'car crash' personal life ‘My personal life was a bit of a car crash’, Rebekah Brooks tells phone hacking trial
(about 3 hours later)
Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks laid bare details of her “car crash” personal life as she gave evidence about the inner workings of the News of the World. Rebekah Brooks knew nothing of the News of the World’s “arrangement” with Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who specialised in phone hacking, nor his £92,000-a-year contract, the jury at her trial has heard.
The 45-year-old continued providing evidence in her defence at the Old Bailey today, becoming emotional as she faced questions about her relationships with actor Ross Kemp, her former deputy Andy Coulson and current husband Charlie Brooks, and her difficulties becoming a mother. On her second day in the witness box, the former chief executive of News International said that during the period she edited the Murdoch-owned tabloid, she had not been told of the substantial sums paid out to Mulcaire – and had not been made aware of the £1,700 a week the private investigator received from the head of investigations, Greg Miskiw, of the now-defunct newspaper.
She also denied any knowledge of a contract worth £92,000 per year given to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who has already admitted phone hacking. Mulcaire’s contract had been agreed and paid without her knowledge, she said, on a day in which more details of how the newspaper worked under her leadership.
Her barrister, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, apologised for having to question her about her love life, including her relationship with former EastEnders actor Kemp, and her affair with Andy Coulson. On the opening day of her defence, Mrs Brooks said she had never heard of Mulcaire during the three years she edited the NotW. Miskiw and Mulcaire pleaded guilty to hacking-related offences.
She met Kemp in 1995, and they became engaged the following year but split in 1997. Mrs Brooks ran the NotW between 2000 and 2003, after a meteoric rise at News International that started in 1989.
A year later they re-kindled their relationship, and by 2001 they talked about children and marriage. The court heard that the paper was making up to £30m a year in profit during her editorship. She confirmed to her lead counsel, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, that she was aware of other large payments – including sums made to the publicist Max Clifford and the contract given to the late film director, Michael Winner. “Mr Winner’s column [contract], I negotiated that myself,” she told the court.
Mr Laidlaw said “I'm sorry I have to do this” and pointed out that Brooks had lowered her voice as she spoke about children. Mrs Brooks said her “sign-off level” for payments in 2000 and 2001 was around £50,000. This meant requests for payments beyond this level should have come both to her and then-managing editor Stuart Kuttner.
Brooks, 45, appeared to well up as she asked for a break, before talking about her fertility treatment, which was halted by the start of the Iraq war in 2003. Speaking about editorial spending she did authorise, she said the NotW paid thousands of pounds most weeks on celebrity pictures and that £1m was given to the footballer David Beckham by The Sun and the NotW to run excerpts from his autobiography. The Beckham deal was, she said, done in connection with the publisher Harper Collins, which was also owned by Rupert Murdoch.
She said: “It was a tough year for us. Basically, life was put on hold for Iraq.” Mr Laidlaw told Mrs Brooks that as the prosecution had made assertions linked to her private life, he would re-examine what had been said.
The court heard that the couple eventually split in 2005, but it was amicable. Mrs Brooks admitted that her personal life had involved several periods of “physical intimacy” with her former News International colleague, Andy Coulson. She told the court that the “truth” about her relationship with the former Downing Street communications director was a “dysfunctional” affair that added “complexity” to their “very good friendship”.
Brooks said: “I am sure if Ross was here, he would say the same. Our whole relationship was a rollercoaster, and so sometimes it was good, sometimes it was not so.” Part of the Crown’s case against Mrs Brooks is an alleged closeness to Mr Coulson. This has been described to the jury as a lengthy affair which lasted six years. Challenging this categorisation, Mrs Brooks said she first became close to Mr Coulson in 1998, and again between 2003 and 2005. Admitting that a further “brief period of intimacy” resumed in 2006, she said: “As I think probably anyone who knew [at that time] of my personal life it was a bit of a car crash.” She said the affair stemmed from being thrown together in the long hours of the newspaper industry, adding: “It shouldn’t have happened, but things did.”
As Mr Laidlaw moved on to her relationship with co-defendant Coulson, who is also accused of conspiring to hack phones, she admitted periods of “physical intimacy” between 1998 and 2006. During the prosecution evidence, the jury had been shown a letter found on one of Mrs Brooks’ computers. Although the letter was intended for Mr Coulson, there was no evidence it had been sent.
She met her husband Charlie Brooks in March 2007. Speaking in the same slow and precise tone as she had done on day one of her evidence, and wearing a grey floral-patterned wool dress, she said the prosecution had wrongly described the letter.
Brooks told the court: “My personal life was a bit of a car crash for many years. It's probably very easy to blame work but the hours were very long and hard and you got thrown together in an industry like that. It was wrong and it shouldn't have happened but things did. She said of the letter written in February 2004: “I don’t know if anyone has been in the situation at a time of hurt: you come home and have a couple of glasses of wine and shouldn’t go on the computer. That’s what I did. I wrote my feelings down – these are my thoughts, probably with the intention of sending it but I probably thought better about it the next day.”
“Ross was a good man but the two of us weren't meant to be and certainly Andy and I weren't meant to be. When I met Charlie I was happy for the first time.” She told the court that “Andy and I weren’t meant to be” and used the same words to describe problems with her first husband, the former EastEnders actor Ross Kemp.
She was also questioned about the inner workings of the News of the World (NotW) during her editorship between 2000 and 2003. Trying to describe to the court her attempt to resurrect the on-off relationship with Mr Kemp, Mrs Brooks said that in 2001 they had talked of living together, buying a house, having children.
Asked by Mr Laidlaw if she knew anything about Mulcaire's contract, the former News International chief executive said: ”No, not at all.“ Mrs Brooks at this point almost broke down in the witness box, her eyes filled with tears and she asked for a “little break”, adding “sorry” as she quickly left the courtroom.
Brooks admitted that, as editor, an expense as big as that should have been run past her for approval. The court has heard it is claimed that the contract was organised by former news editor Greg Miskiw, who has pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack phones. She later said that when she met her husband Charlie Brooks in 2007, “I was happy for the first time”.
Yesterday, as she went into the witness box for the first time, Brooks denied knowing about Mulcaire - who has also pleaded guilty to phone hacking - and said his activities were not drawn to her attention during her time as editor of the NotW. Mrs Brooks, Mr Kuttner and Mr Coulson are charged with involvement in a conspiracy to hack phones. Mr Brooks, along with his wife, is facing charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. All the charges against them are denied.
Mr Laidlaw asked the 45-year-old today: ”If someone, say Greg Miskiw, was planning to pay £92,000 a year to someone, or a company, should that have been something brought to your attention?“ The case continues.
She replied: ”Yes.“ On trial: Rebekah Brooks’s testimony
Brooks said that, in 2000 and 2001, her ”sign-off level“ for payments was around £50,000, so any authorisation for something bigger than that should not only have come to her, but would have had to go above her to then-managing editor Stuart Kuttner. On payments to private investigator Glenn Mulcaire:
Mr Laidlaw asked her: ”Was that arrangement that Miskiw had come to with Mulcaire drawn to your attention?“ “I know I didn’t hear the name Glenn Mulcaire until he was arrested.”
Brooks replied: ”No, it wasn't.“ On her affair with Andy Coulson:
As she was questioned on the multimillion-pound budgets given to the tabloid, Brooks told the court: ”The NotW was very profitable during my editorship but then it was a good time for newspapers back then. “It’s probably very easy to blame work but the hours were very long and hard and you got thrown together. It was wrong and it shouldn’t have happened but things did.”
“I think every year that I was there we had a healthy profit and I think it stayed around the time.” On her marriage to EastEnders actor Ross Kemp:
Brooks, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, denies conspiring to hack phones, conspiring to commit misconduct in public office, and conspiring to cover up evidence to pervert the course of justice. “Our relationship was a roller coaster, and so sometimes it was good, sometimes it was not so. Ross was a good man but the two of us weren’t meant to be.”
She gave details of large payments made by the newspaper for celebrity pictures and exclusive stories. On her current husband, Charlie Brooks:
David Beckham was paid a million pounds to run excerpts of his autobiography in the Sun and News of the World, Brooks said, and revealed behind-the-scenes deals with celebrities, PR guru Max Clifford and Big Brother contestants such as “Nasty Nick”. “When I met Charlie I was happy for the first time.”
Asked about the extent to which private investigators were used by the tabloid from 2000 to 2003, she said: “It was quite normal to have private detectives working on the paper.” She said they helped in tracing people who were difficult to find. On a News of the World journalist who was posing as a sheikh for a story:
Brooks said she would not expect to be told every time a private investigator was used for a story but there were some specific occasions when the use of a private detective was raised with her, such as when the newspaper carried out its campaign for Sarah's Law. “He would live the true life of a wealthy sheikh. He would have a Bentley and a penthouse suite. He always told me it was imperative.”
Wearing a grey chiffon dress, Brooks told the packed courtroom that the campaign for parents to have access to details of convicted paedophiles “defined her editorship”. On the Countess of Wessex apologising to people after being indiscreet about them to an undercover journalist:
The court heard that Brooks's contract when she became editor of the NotW included a clause that she would be responsible for agreeing payments for contributions to the tabloid, and the accuracy and authenticity of information. “So she wrote to everybody involved. She was particularly mean about Tony Blair and Cherie, William Hague, so she wrote these letters.”
PA