Ex-NotW deputy and features editors to stand trial on phone-hacking charges
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Version 0 of 1. Neil Wallis and Jules Stenson, the former deputy editor and features editor of the News of the World, are due to stand trial at the Old Bailey next year over an alleged conspiracy to hack phones. Sitting at the Old Bailey on Monday morning, judge Nicholas Hilliard QC said the pair would stand trial there on 3 June next year. Wallis and Stenson have been charged with conspiring with former News of the World editor Andy Coulson, five other journalists from the paper, private investigator Glenn Mulcaire and “other persons unknown” to illegally intercept voicemail messages “of well-known people and those associated with them” between 1 January 2003 and 26 January 2007. Both men were arrested and charged as part of Operation Pinetree, a Scotland Yard investigation into claims that features staff at the now-defunct tabloid obtained information through phone hacking. Their trial is expected to last between four and six weeks and they will appear at the Old Bailey for a plea hearing on 12 December. Stenson appeared in court and spoke only to confirm his name. The court heard that Wallis had been excused from appearing at the hearing. A trial date has also been set for a former News of the World reporter and a soldier accused of committing misconduct in a public office. Former young journalist of the year Ryan Sabey and soldier Paul Brunt are accused of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office between April 2006 and November 2007. Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC told the pair at the Old Bailey today that their trial would start there on February 9. The pair were arrested and charged under Scotland Yard’s Operation Elveden investigation into alleged corrupt payments to police and public officials. Sabey now works at the Sun after joining the tabloid in 2009. Brunt was a soldier at the time of the alleged crime. The pair will appear for a plea and case management hearing at the Old Bailey on 12 December. |