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| Rebekah Brooks Found Not Guilty in Phone Hacking Case | Rebekah Brooks Found Not Guilty in Phone Hacking Case |
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| LONDON — In another dramatic turn in a case that has transfixed Britain, Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper holdings in Britain, was acquitted on Tuesday of phone hacking and of other charges. Andy Coulson, a former tabloid editor and onetime head of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron, was found guilty on at least one count. | LONDON — In another dramatic turn in a case that has transfixed Britain, Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper holdings in Britain, was acquitted on Tuesday of phone hacking and of other charges. Andy Coulson, a former tabloid editor and onetime head of communications for Prime Minister David Cameron, was found guilty on at least one count. |
| The verdicts after a week of deliberations by a jury came after lengthy hearings into a scandal at the Murdoch news empire that shook the British police, news media and political elite, and forced the closure of a leading Murdoch-owned Sunday tabloid, The News of the World. | |
| The findings drew an apology from Mr. Cameron, under fire from opponents who have accused him of poor judgment in hiring Mr. Coulson. “I am extremely sorry that I employed him. It was the wrong decision and I am very clear about that,” Mr. Cameron said. | |
| Ms. Brooks, 46, and Mr. Coulson, 46, had been among seven defendants facing an array of charges including phone hacking and perverting the course of justice. The seven-month trial, tense and at times tawdry, has given a rare view of the inner workings of British tabloid journalism and of the systematic eavesdropping on the mobile phones of celebrities, sporting figures, politicians members of the royal family and ordinary people caught up in the news. One defendant said the intercepts were “on an industrial scale.” | |
| Mr. Coulson, who had denied the hacking charges, was the only person among the seven who was found guilty of conspiracy to intercept mobile phone calls and messages. | |
| The phone hacking scandal burst into the open in July 2011 with reports that the voice mail of an abducted teenager, Milly Dowler, was intercepted by an investigator employed by The News of the World in 2002. At that time, Ms. Brooks was editor of the newspaper and Mr. Coulson was her deputy. | The phone hacking scandal burst into the open in July 2011 with reports that the voice mail of an abducted teenager, Milly Dowler, was intercepted by an investigator employed by The News of the World in 2002. At that time, Ms. Brooks was editor of the newspaper and Mr. Coulson was her deputy. |
| Ms. Brooks, who had always insisted on her innocence, was cleared of phone hacking and three other charges, including seeking to obstruct justice. Reporters in the courtroom said that she was overcome by emotion when the verdict was read out and that she was led away by a court official. Mr. Coulson clenched his jaw, then took a deep breath and staring straight ahead. | |
| During the trial, prosecutors presented phone data relating to widespread hacking during Mr. Coulson’s editorship of The News of the World from 2003 to 2006, shortly before he resigned in early 2007. But there was far less specific evidence of hacking during Ms. Brooks’s editorship from 2000 to 2003. | |
| Mr. Coulson denied that he had agreed to or had authorized hacking, but admitted that he had known of the practice in one instance. Ms. Brooks said she had been unaware of it. | |
| Among the other people acquitted were Stuart Kuttner, 74, a retired managing editor; Ms. Brooks’s husband, the racehorse trainer Charlie Brooks, 52; and Ms. Brooks’s former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, 50. Mark Hanna, 51, a former security director, was also cleared. | |
| The jury was said to be considering further charges against Mr. Coulson and Clive Goodman, 56, the former royals editor of The News of the World, on charges related to paying police officers for access to royal telephone directories, British media outlets said. | |
| Throughout the scandal and the trial, much attention focused on the flame-haired figure of Ms. Brooks, who had been one of the most powerful figures in British tabloid journalism, at the intersection of politics and the press. She was an associate of many influential people, including Mr. Cameron and the former prime minister Tony Blair, who sought the electoral endorsement of Mr. Murdoch’s newspapers, particularly of the mass-circulation tabloids. | |
| But the role played by Mr. Coulson also had wide political significance because of his position as a key adviser to Mr. Cameron, both in opposition from 2007 onward and after the Conservative Party took power in a coalition in 2010. | |
| “David Cameron has very serious questions to answer,” Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour opposition, said after the verdict. | |
| “We now know that he brought a criminal into the heart of Downing Street,” he said, referring to the prime ministerial offices and residence at 10 Downing Street. | |
| “This isn’t just a serious error of judgment, it taints David Cameron’s Government because we now know that he put his relationship with Rupert Murdoch ahead of doing the right thing,” Mr. Miliband said. | |
| Before the trial, Mr. Cameron said that if it turned out that Mr. Coulson knew about the phone hacking, then he would have lied to the prime minister, among others. | Before the trial, Mr. Cameron said that if it turned out that Mr. Coulson knew about the phone hacking, then he would have lied to the prime minister, among others. |
| “I have an old-fashioned view about innocent until proven guilty,” Mr. Cameron told Parliament in 2011. “But if it turns out I have been lied to, that would be the moment for a profound apology. In that event I can tell you I will not fall short.” | |
| On Tuesday Mr. Cameron said: “I take full responsibility for employing Andy Coulson. I did so on the basis of undertakings I was given by him about phone hacking and those turned out not to be the case.” | On Tuesday Mr. Cameron said: “I take full responsibility for employing Andy Coulson. I did so on the basis of undertakings I was given by him about phone hacking and those turned out not to be the case.” |
| “I always said that if they turned out to be wrong, I would make a full and frank apology and I did that today.” Mr. Cameron said. | “I always said that if they turned out to be wrong, I would make a full and frank apology and I did that today.” Mr. Cameron said. |
| The case has also raised an array of concerns about Mr. Murdoch’s influence over British public life through his newspapers and revealed details about the nature of the relationship between Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks. During the trial, she acknowledged that they had become intimate. | The case has also raised an array of concerns about Mr. Murdoch’s influence over British public life through his newspapers and revealed details about the nature of the relationship between Mr. Coulson and Ms. Brooks. During the trial, she acknowledged that they had become intimate. |
| “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,” she said, recalling in particular moving into a hotel close to the office during the time of the Iraq invasion in 2003. “It was wrong, and it shouldn’t have happened but things did.” | “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,” she said, recalling in particular moving into a hotel close to the office during the time of the Iraq invasion in 2003. “It was wrong, and it shouldn’t have happened but things did.” |
| Ms. Brooks and her husband left the Old Bailey courtroom on Tuesday in a taxi without offering comment on their acquittals. | Ms. Brooks and her husband left the Old Bailey courtroom on Tuesday in a taxi without offering comment on their acquittals. |
| Roy Greenslade, a professor of journalism at City University in London and a commentator on media issues, said many had expected a conviction. | Roy Greenslade, a professor of journalism at City University in London and a commentator on media issues, said many had expected a conviction. |
| “People will be outraged that the prosecution couldn’t make a good enough case,” he said. | “People will be outraged that the prosecution couldn’t make a good enough case,” he said. |
| But some analysts said the trial had already changed British journalism and had humbled a once mighty and swaggering yellow press. Even before the trial began, the hacking scandal had prompted an array of parliamentary, police and public inquiries into the practices and culture of the British press. | But some analysts said the trial had already changed British journalism and had humbled a once mighty and swaggering yellow press. Even before the trial began, the hacking scandal had prompted an array of parliamentary, police and public inquiries into the practices and culture of the British press. |
| “The tabloids have become rather less tabloidy, or at least they stay within the law,” said John Lloyd, co-founder of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. | “The tabloids have become rather less tabloidy, or at least they stay within the law,” said John Lloyd, co-founder of the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford. |
| Given the economics of the industry, these changes are unlikely to be reversed, Mr. Lloyd said. The tabloids “are losing power all the time,” he added. “Much of what they do — sex scandals and celebrities — is now widely available on several online outlets.” | Given the economics of the industry, these changes are unlikely to be reversed, Mr. Lloyd said. The tabloids “are losing power all the time,” he added. “Much of what they do — sex scandals and celebrities — is now widely available on several online outlets.” |
| “They are very much a declining force,” Mr. Lloyd said. | |
| In a statement, Mr. Murdoch’s News UK — the successor company to News International, which Ms. Brooks had headed — said there had been many changes since the days of the hacking scandal. | |
| “We said long ago, and repeat today, that wrongdoing occurred, and we apologised for it,” the statement said. “We have been paying compensation to those affected and have cooperated with investigations. We made changes in the way we do business to help ensure wrongdoing like this does not occur again.” And, the statement said, the company had supported a new regulator in Britain, the Independent Press Standards Organization. | |
| In a separate internal email, Mike Darcey, the chief executive of News UK, urged staff to “hold your head high.” | |
| “We should all be proud of what we do here, and the way we do it,” Mr. Darcey said. “Our journalism is world-class and is conducted under the strictest standards of ethics and governance.” |