Blunkett affair details acquired by frequent hacking, jury hears

The Old Bailey heard how recordings of messages between Mr Blunkett and Kimberley Quinn of The Spectator magazine, with whom he had a three-year affair, were later recovered from a safe in the office of News International lawyer Tom Crone.

The court heard that a cache of 330 messages to Ms Quinn from Mr Blunkett and associates were found by police along with notes about their relationship.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC told the court that in the drafts of an exclusive story written by the newspaper’s chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, the couple were referred to by code names Noddy (Mr Blunkett) and Big Ears (Ms Quinn).

Thurlbeck communicated 11 times with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire in the lead-up to the story, and Mulcaire invoiced the newspaper for £750 for his work on it. Both men have already admitted hacking phones.

Giving evidence, Detective Constable Tim Hargreaves said the messages were “deeply personal” and “intrusive”, with one ending “You are breaking my heart”.

In another, the Secretary Of State and MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough said he was going to a party with Rebekah Wade (now Brooks) for her then husband Ross Kemp’s 40th birthday party.

Tapes of voicemails relating to Mr Blunkett were also found at Mulcaire’s home, together with his address, phone number and details of relatives.

On August 11 2004, there was contact between then News of the World editor Andy Coulson and Thurlbeck, and between Thurlbeck and Brooks, who by that time had become editor of The Sun, the court was told.

The jury was also played a recording of Coulson urging Mr Blunkett to come clean about the relationship.

Travelling to Sheffield on August 13 2004, Coulson told Mr Blunkett he had “extremely reliable sources”.

Coulson, who the jury has previously heard was having an affair with married co-defendant Brooks, also said the story would be a “one-week wonder” if Mr Blunkett confessed.

“I think that will bring it to an end – there will a lot of speculation and media running around, but by the time you come back from holiday it will be done and dusted,” he said.

Coulson, 45, from Charing in Kent, and Brooks, also 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, deny conspiring with others to hack phones between October 3 2000 and August 9 2006.

Earlier in the day, the jury heard that former England manager Sven Goran Eriksson’s mistress received £300,000 to sell her story to two Sunday newspapers.

Faria Alam, 47, began an affair with Eriksson while working as a secretary at the FA. The Old Bailey heard “first details” emerged when the News of the World hacked their phones.

After she was fired in September 2004, publicist Max Clifford cut a deal for the News of the World and Mail on Sunday to give her £150,000 each for her side of the story, the court was told.

The court was told Ms Alam’s phone was hacked by Mulcaire on behalf of the newspaper in June 2004. After returning that month from Euro 2004 with the England team, Eriksson told her there were reporters who knew about the relationship and she “freaked out”.

The story of their relationship appeared in the NotW on July 18 2004, but Ms Alam was not named.

The court also heard that Mulcaire recorded a message in June 2006 asking Eriksson if he wanted to appear in an Italian version of Big Brother. He eventually turned the offer down.

The trial continues.