June 24 (Bloomberg) -- Rebekah Brooks, the former head of News Corp.'s U.K. publishing unit, was found not guilty of phone hacking, bribery and perverting the course of justice by a London jury after an eight-month trial. Andy Coulson, a former editor of News Corp.'s News of the World who went on to become a media adviser to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, was found guilty of one count of phone hacking. Alix Steel and Olivia Sterns report on Bloomberg Television's 'In the Loop.' (Source: Bloomberg)
Rebekah Brooks, the former head of News Corp. (NWSA) 's U.K. publishing unit, was found not guilty of phone hacking, bribery and perverting the course of justice by a London jury after an eight-month trial triggered by one of the biggest media scandals in British history.
Andy Coulson, a former editor of News Corp.'s News of the World tabloid who went on to become a media adviser to U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, was found guilty of one count of phone hacking. Brooks's husband Charlie and her former personal assistant, Cheryl Carter, were also cleared of charges they destroyed evidence at the height of the hacking furor in 2011.
The verdicts today are the climax of a scandal that erupted three years ago amid the discovery that News of the World reporters hacked the phone of a murdered teenager, Milly Dowler. The fallout led to a judicial inquiry on press ethics.
Brooks, 46, who previously edited the News of the World and News Corp.'s daily Sun tabloid, was one of seven people on trial for phone hacking and bribing public officials by journalists at the newspapers. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch closed the News of the World in 2011 in a bid to temper public outrage over the hacking of Dowler's phone.
News Corp.'s U.K. unit said in a statement after the verdicts that the company has paid compensation to phone-hacking victims and has cooperated with investigations.
Wrongdoing Occurred
'We said long ago, and repeat today, that wrongdoing occurred, and we apologized for it,' News UK said in an e-mailed statement. 'We made changes in the way we do business to help ensure wrongdoing like this does not occur again.'
Brooks, her husband and their lawyers left the courtroom and went to a private room at the courthouse. Neither commented to the press as they left the building.
Charlie Brooks, wearing a white button-down shirt, and Coulson, in a navy blue suit, both remained stoic as the verdicts were read.
The jury is continuing to deliberate on other charges against Coulson, 46, and Clive Goodman, a former reporter at the News of the World.
Cameron apologized today for hiring Coulson as a media adviser shortly after the editor stepped down from his post at the News of the World when the phone-hacking controversy first emerged in 2007.
Extremely Sorry
'I'm extremely sorry that I employed him,' Cameron said. 'It was the wrong decision. I'm very clear about that.'
Coulson resigned as editor of the News of the World in 2007 after a reporter was sentenced to prison for listening to messages on the phone of employees of the royal family.
Within months, Coulson had been hired by Cameron as a media adviser to the Conservative Party. In 2010, he followed Cameron to Downing Street after he was elected prime minister.
'I asked him questions about if he knew about phone hacking; he said that he didn't,' Cameron said. 'I accepted those assurances.'
The phone-hacking scandal refused to subside and Coulson resigned his post in January 2011 after a flurry of civil lawsuits filed by celebrities.
Kuttner Cleared
Stuart Kuttner, 74, the former managing editor of the News of the World, was found not guilty of phone hacking. Mark Hanna, a News Corp. security guard, was also cleared of hiding evidence.
'It is clear to me at this point that this is not the moment to make long statements or to go into great detail,' Kuttner said outside the court. 'What I do want to say is the diligence, the dedication, and perhaps above all the passion of my lawyers over the last three years has been extraordinary, most remarkable, and it is to them that I owe the huge and enduring thanks for the result, the unanimous verdict of the jury today.'
Murdoch closed the 168-year-old News of the World in July 2011, days after the Guardian newspaper reported about Dowler's phone. Murdoch dropped a 7.8 billion-pound ($13.3 billion) bid for full control of British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc to contain the public backlash.
Murdoch and his son James, who was then head of the company's European operations, never appeared at the trial, but testified in front of Parliament and the media inquiry about the scandal. Murdoch's questioning by lawmakers in July 2011 was interrupted when a comedian threw a foam pie.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net Eddie Buckle
Entities 0 Name: News Corp. Count: 8 1 Name: Coulson Count: 6 2 Name: U.K. Count: 5 3 Name: Cameron Count: 5 4 Name: Murdoch Count: 4 5 Name: Brooks Count: 3 6 Name: London Count: 3 7 Name: Rebekah Brooks Count: 2 8 Name: Dowler Count: 2 9 Name: Andy Coulson Count: 2 10 Name: Bloomberg Count: 2 11 Name: David Cameron Count: 2 12 Name: Kuttner Count: 2 13 Name: Olivia Sterns Count: 1 14 Name: Charlie Count: 1 15 Name: Sun Count: 1 16 Name: Bloomberg Television Count: 1 17 Name: Parliament Count: 1 18 Name: NWSA Count: 1 19 Name: Mark Hanna Count: 1 20 Name: Conservative Party Count: 1 21 Name: Clive Goodman Count: 1 22 Name: Charlie Brooks Count: 1 23 Name: James Count: 1 24 Name: Alix Steel Count: 1 25 Name: Milly Dowler Count: 1 26 Name: Jeremy Hodges Count: 1 27 Name: British Sky Broadcasting Group Plc Count: 1 28 Name: Rupert Murdoch Count: 1 29 Name: Loop Count: 1 30 Name: Cheryl Carter Count: 1 31 Name: Stuart Kuttner Count: 1 32 Name: Guardian Count: 1 33 Name: Anthony Aarons Count: 1 34 Name: News UK Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1jc76IY Title: Murdoch protege Brooks cleared of all hacking charges in UK trial Description: Credit: Reuters/Luke MacGregor 1 of 2. Former News International executive Rebekah Brooks arrives at the Old Bailey courthouse in London June 20, 2014. Brooks was accused of being complicit in journalists' hacking phones to find exclusive stories at Murdoch's now defunct News of the World, a paper she edited from 2000 to 2003.
