Six-year secret affair key factor to consider, hacking jury told

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said he was not revealing their illicit romance to make a “moral judgment” but their closeness and trust in each other was an important factor to be considered when trying a charge of conspiracy.

Brooks, who was editor of the Sunday tabloid when Coulson was her deputy, declared her love for him in a letter from February 2004 when he tried to end their relationship, the court heard.

In it, she wrote: “The fact is you are my very best friend, I tell you everything, I confide in you, I seek your advice, I love you, care about you, worry about you, we laugh and cry together. In fact, without our relationship in my life I am not sure I will cope.”

The letter made it “clear” the affair had lasted at least six years, Mr Edis said, dating back to around 1998 and spanning the period covered by their phone-hacking conspiracy charge.

Mr Edis said: “When people are charged with conspiracy, the first question a jury has to answer is how well did they know each other? How much did they trust each other? The fact they were in this relationship which was a secret means they trusted each other quite a lot with that secret.”

The court heard Brooks went on holiday to Dubai in April 2002, but remained in contact with Coulson as the newspaper planned to run a front-page story about murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Prosecutors claim Brooks and Coulson conspired with the tabloid’s ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, of Woodford Green, Essex, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, 42, of Sutton, Surrey, to hack the 13-year-old’s voicemail. Mulcaire has admitted phone hacking but the others deny the charge.

Former NotW head of news Ian Edmondson, 44, from Raynes Park, south west London, who also denies conspiracy to hack phones, was not at the paper at that time and was not involved in that incident, Mr Edis stressed.

The prosecutor said the schoolgirl’s family went through an “agony of hope” from her disappearance in March 2002 to when her body was found that November.

Kuttner even went to Surrey Police, who were investigating Milly’s disappearance, to tell them the newspaper had a voicemail tape which could assist with the investigation, Mr Edis said.

Jurors were taken through a timeline of events that led up to a story originating from a hacked voicemail message on Milly’s phone, including calls from Brooks to the NotW newsdesk.

The revelation that the paper hacked the schoolgirl’s phone led to the closure of the NotW in 2011.

Jurors were also told Coulson confronted former Home Secretary David Blunkett over his affair with married Kimberly Quinn, after hacking her voicemails.

In a conversation recorded by Mr Blunkett, Coulson told him the story he planned to run came from “extremely reliable sources”.

The court also heard Brooks told Eimear Cook, former wife of golfer Colin Montgomerie, that phone hacking had been used for a story about Sir Paul McCartney.

As well as the phone hacking charge, Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, is accused of two counts of conspiring with others to commit misconduct in public office, linked to alleged payments to public officials.

Coulson, 45, of Charing in Kent, also faces two allegations he conspired with ex-royal editor Clive Goodman, 56, from Addlestone in Surrey, and others to commit misconduct in public office.

Brooks also faces two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice – one with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, from Chelmsford in Essex; and a second with husband, Charles Brooks, former News International head of security Mark Hanna and others.

The trial continues.