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British Hacking Jury Dismissed After Failing to Reach Verdict on Remaining Charges
Judge Dismisses British Hacking Jury, Hung on Remaining Charges
(about 9 hours later)
LONDON — The jury in Britain’s long-running phone-hacking trial was dismissed on Wednesday after it failed to reach a verdict on additional charges against Andy Coulson, a former editor in Rupert Murdoch’s media empire and onetime top adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron. Mr. Coulson was found guilty on Tuesday on phone hacking charges.
LONDON — It was an unspectacular denouement to Britain’s spectacular phone hacking trial: The jury was dismissed Wednesday after failing to reach a verdict on two outstanding charges against Andy Coulson, a former tabloid editor who had been found guilty of conspiracy to intercept voice mail messages a day earlier.
The dismissal came after more than seven months of testimony, and prosecutors said they would announce on Monday whether they would seek a retrial.
But in a last-minute moment of drama, Mr. Coulson’s conviction abruptly shifted much of the attention to a former boss, Prime Minister David Cameron, who suddenly found himself in an uncomfortable public spat with the presiding judge.
Judge John Saunders, who is expected to announce a sentence for Mr. Coulson next week, on Wednesday took the unusual step of castigating Mr. Cameron for making a public statement about his former aide after the hacking conviction while the jury was still deliberating on two additional charges against Mr. Coulson and Clive Goodman, a former royal-news editor at the now-shuttered News of the World tabloid.
On Wednesday, Judge John Saunders, who is expected to announce a sentence for Mr. Coulson next week, took the unusual step of castigating the prime minister for making a public statement about Mr. Coulson, his former spokesman, while the jury was still deliberating on two bribery charges against Mr. Coulson and Clive Goodman, a former royals editor at The News of the World, a now-shuttered tabloid.
Judge Saunders said he had written to Mr. Cameron’s private secretary after the prime minister said on television that he was sorry he had hired Mr. Coulson as his spokesman and that it had been a mistake to do so.
Under attack by the opposition Labour Party for bringing a “criminal” into 10 Downing Street, Mr. Cameron hastily summoned television news crews for a “full and frank” apology on Tuesday after the hacking verdict was announced, saying that he was sorry he had hired Mr. Coulson, and that it had been a mistake to do so. He also said that before hiring Mr. Coulson in 2010, he had asked Mr. Coulson about earlier allegations of phone hacking, and that Mr. Coulson denied having any knowledge of it.
“I asked for an explanation from the prime minister as to why he had issued his statement while the jury was still considering verdicts,” Judge Saunders said in court. “My sole concern is to ensure that justice is done. Politicians have other imperatives and I understand that. Whether the political imperative was such that statements could not await all the verdicts, I leave to others to judge.”
Judge Saunders was not shy about showing his irritation. “I don’t know whether it’s been done in ignorance or been done deliberately,” he said after seeing Mr. Cameron’s statement.
Mr. Coulson and Mr. Goodman were accused of making payments to police security officers in return for in-house royal telephone directories, but the jury said Wednesday that it had been unable to reach a verdict.
Briefly, it looked as if Mr. Cameron might have even been at risk of being held in contempt of court for prejudicing jurors, which could have derailed a trial that had lasted eight months and by some estimates cost 100 million pounds, or almost $170 million. Mr. Coulson’s and Mr. Goodman’s lawyers asked the judge on Wednesday to dismiss the jury, saying a fair trial could no longer be guaranteed.
The jury’s’s dismissal means that Mr. Coulson, 46, is so far the only person convicted in the case, which involved what one defendant called hacking on “an industrial scale” at The News of the World, a Sunday tabloid that Mr. Murdoch closed down after the scandal erupted in July 2011. He could face up to two years in prison.
Their request was refused, but the judge said in his ruling, “I consider that what has happened is unsatisfactory so far as justice and the rule of law are concerned.”
On Tuesday, the jury acquitted Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Mr. Murdoch’s newspaper operations in Britain, who had edited The News of the World for three years before Mr. Coulson took over in 2003. Ms. Brooks, once regarded as one of the most powerful people in British tabloid journalism, had faced charges relating to phone hacking and obstructing justice.
Judge Saunders said he had written to Mr. Cameron’s private secretary. “I asked for an explanation from the prime minister as to why he had issued his statement while the jury was still considering verdicts,” he said. “My sole concern is to ensure that justice is done. Politicians have other imperatives, and I understand that. Whether the political imperative was such that statements could not await all the verdicts, I leave to others to judge.”
While the verdicts on Tuesday were unanimous, the judge told the jury that he would accept a majority verdict in the additional charges against Mr. Coulson and Mr. Goodman.
Mr. Cameron’s office insisted that the prime minister had sought legal advice. “The prime minister was careful to make no further comment about any matters that might still be before the court,” his office told the judge, who swiftly retorted that that explanation “misses the point.”
Mr. Coulson’s conviction reignited a political firestorm over Mr. Cameron’s decision to hire him as communications chief in 2007, while his Conservative Party was in opposition, and to retain Mr. Coulson in that role after he came to power in the 2010 elections. The opposition Labour Party has argued that Mr. Cameron should now explain why Mr. Coulson was not obliged to undergo a higher level of security vetting when Mr. Cameron took office and the former editor became a senior government official at 10 Downing Street.
“He has now told the public, and therefore the jury, that he was given assurances by Mr. Coulson before he employed him, which turned out to be untrue,” Judge Saunders said. “The jury were not aware of that before, and it is a matter which is capable of affecting Mr. Coulson’s credibility in their eyes.”
Labour politicians have also said Mr. Cameron had showed poor judgment in hiring Mr. Coulson, accusing the prime minister of pandering to Mr. Murdoch in an effort to secure electoral endorsement by his newspapers in Britain. The accusations were aired in Parliament on Wednesday at a regular encounter between the prime minister and questioners, when Mr. Cameron insisted that he had been exonerated by an inquiry into the behavior and culture of the British press led by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson.
Later in the day, the jurors were dismissed anyway because they could not reach a verdict on charges that Mr. Coulson and Mr. Goodman illegally paid police officers in return for in-house royal telephone directories. Prosecutors said they would announce on Monday whether they would seek a retrial.
The Leveson inquiry concluded in November 2012. The 1,987-page report reprising nine months of testimony by 337 witnesses urged the creation of a new system of press regulation.
Out of eight hacking suspects the police had their sights on, five pleaded guilty before the trial. Mr. Coulson’s conviction brings the number of those found guilty to six. He could face up to two years in prison.
Ed Miliband, the leader of the Labour Party, said Mr. Cameron had ignored repeated warnings about Mr. Coulson, but the prime minister said that “every single one of these issues was dealt with by the Leveson inquiry.”
Rebekah Brooks, who had edited The News of the World for three years before Mr. Coulson took over in 2003 and was once regarded as one of the most powerful people in British tabloid journalism, was acquitted on all charges on Tuesday.
The phone hacking scandal had been simmering for several years before it erupted with full force in July 2011, when The News of the World was found to have hacked into the voice mail of Milly Dowler, a teenager who had been abducted and was later found to have been murdered.
Gemma Dowler, her elder sister, used a videotaped message on Wednesday to urge British politicians to put the Leveson inquiry’s recommendations on press regulation into effect. She also assailed “the incestuous relationship between our top politicians and the press” and criticized a new press regulator, supported by many newspapers, as “meaningless.”
“Ordinary people have suffered terribly from journalists who recklessly intruded into private grief and stole private information,” Ms. Dowler said, adding, “Something needs to be done to make sure what happened to my family doesn’t happen again.”
