It had all the makings of a Hollywood script with the A-list star-power to match, but the phone hacking verdicts bring to an end one of the most high profile and complicated cases in English legal history.
The eight-month trial, which lifted the lid on an affair between former editor of The News Of The World (NoTW) Rebekah Brooks and her deputy, and later successor, Andy Coulson, thrust into the open sleazy tabloid tactics and stunned the world with revelations about the ruthlessness of Britain's press.
But how did a seemingly innocent article on page 32 of the NoTW in 2005 ultimately lead to the biggest scandal ever in British media, shuttering Rupert Murdoch's first ever UK newspaper and bringing down two of the most powerful people on both Fleet and Downing Street?
The Huffington Post UK explains how and why the scandal developed, who was convicted and acquitted in a string of charges relating to phone hacking, corruption and perverting the course of justice - and what the case means for the future.
It all started with a 'snake in the grass' and a royal football injury...
The Phone Hacking Scandal
6 November 2005 - The Article That Started It All(01 of09)
A story that is relatively common tabloid fodder, buried on page 32 of the NoTW, raises suspicions that will trigger one of the biggest press scandals in history.As part of his Black Adder column, Royal Editor Clive Goodman reports Prince William has suffered a knee injury and attributes the information to "a friend". In fact, it came from hacking the phone of one of the prince's aides.After deducing this is the only explanation, William complains to police, who begin investigating. (credit:News Of The World)
August 2006 - Reporter And PI Become First Arrests(02 of09)
Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire (pictured) are arrested on suspicion of phone hacking.The police investigation searches the NoTW offices. While the investigation focussed initially on Clarence House, officers begin to suspect MPs, military figures and other celebrities have been hacked. (credit:Steve Parsons/PA Archive)
26 January 2007 - Prison For 'Rogue Reporter'(03 of09)
Mulcaire (left) and Goodman (right) are sentenced to prison for phone hacking - Goodman for four months, Mulcaire for six. The court hears Goodman acted alone and was motivated by "career advancement" and felt "pressure" to maintain his reputation for consistent front page scoops. Andy Coulson, then editor of the NoTW, denies any knowledge of their activities and rejects suggestions hacking was widespread at the paper. He resigns over the scandal and later becomes director of communications for David Cameron, then leader of the opposition. (credit:Press Association)
July 2009 - Widespread Hacking Alleged(04 of09)
Under the headline 'Trail of hacking and deceit under nose of Tory PR chief,' The Guardian reports phone hacking was widespread at the NoTW during Coulson's editorship and names public figures, including politicians and celebrities, who were targeted.The articles prompt the Metropolitan Police to review its original investigation. John Yates, the force's counter-terror chief, reviews the findings but takes no further action. He later tells MPs the original investigation's conclusions were "satisfactory".
'It Was A Pretty Crap Decision' - Police Officer Who Declined To Re-Open Hacking investigation(credit:The Guardian)
January 2011 - Coulson Resigns As PM's Media Chief(05 of09)
Publicity around phone hacking allegations continues to mount. Coulson announces his resignation as PR chief to Cameron, who is now prime minister. He still denies any knowledge or involvement but says he has become a distraction. "When the spokesman needs a spokesman, it's time to move on," he says.The Met opens Operation Weeting, its new investigation into phone hacking that will eventually arrest dozens of journalists. (credit:Press Association)
4 July 2011 - Milly Dowler Revelations(06 of09)
After a gradual flow of articles about phone hacking, the scandal explodes on the Guardian's front page, which accuses the NoTW journalists of hiring private investigators to hack into the mobile of then-missing teenager Milly Dowler in 2002, who was later found murdered.The paper's story also says the private investigators deleted existing voicemails from Dowler's mobile, giving her family false hope she was still alive.The scandal moves beyond the Westminster village and media professionals for the first time, with this revelation triggering huge public outrage. (credit:Press Association)
5 - 14 July 2011 - The NoTW Is Shut Down(07 of09)
Four days after the Guardian report, Andy Coulson is arrested for phone hacking charges. Over the next few days, more revelations about hacking at the paper emerge, including that its journalists hacked the relatives of dead soldiers, and 7/7 survivors. Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News International's parent company News Corporation, closes the NoTW. The paper, which had been published continiously for 168 years, was the first UK paper Murdoch acquired in 1969.Metropolitan police commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson resigns over hiring former the NotW journalist Neil Wallis to do PR for the force and accepting a break at a spa that also employed Wallis.The force gave his PR firm a contract but failed to monitor it and did not consult with its police authority before making the decision. It also failed to ensure Wallis was properly vetted.Wallis was arrested in connection with phone hacking but never charged.John Yates, the officer who reviewed the investigation in 2009 and declined to re-investigate, also resigns. (credit:Lewis Whyld/PA)
15 July 2011 - Brooks Resigns As News International CEO(08 of09)
News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, who edited the NotW at the time of the Dowler revelations, resigns.Two days later, she, too, is arrested on phone hacking charges (credit:Ian Nicholson /PA Archive)
12 December 2011 - Guardian Retracts Key Claim(09 of09)
The Guardian publishes a long correction to its original story about Milly Dowler, published in July. It retracts the claim that the NoTW deliberately deleted messages from her voicemail.It follows "new evidence" from the police, who said they now believed it was unlikely the tabloid was responsible for the messages being deleted - but the paper stands by the claim they hacked her phone. (credit:The Guardian)
THE TRIAL BEGINS: From The Newsroom To The Courtroom
In October 2013, the eight-month trial of eight defendants begins. Their charges are:
Rebekah Brooks: two counts of conspiring to pervert the the course of justice, two of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office and one count of conspiring to intercept communications.
Andy Coulson: one count of conspiring to intercept communications and two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office.
Brooks' husband Charlie Brooks: one count of conspiring to pervert the course of justice
Clive Goodman: two counts of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office
Cheryl Carter, Brooks' PA: one count of conspiring to pervert the course of justice
Mark Hanna, Head of Security at News International: one count of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.
Ex-NoTW managing editor Stuart Kuttner: one count of conspiring to intercept communications
Former NoTW news editor Ian Edmondson is also charged but he is discharged in December, having been deemed too unwell to continue. He will face a fresh trial later.
The Phone Hacking Trial
29 October 2013 - Four Other Defendants Plead Guilty(01 of22)
The trial begins with a bombshell moment. It hears Mulcaire and three ex NoTW staff - former news editors Nevile Thurlbeck, Greg Miskiw and James Weatherup - have already pleaded guilty to the charges they face. They will be sentenced after the trial.Pictured clockwise from top left: Miskiw, Weatherup, Thurlbeck and MulcaireProsecutor Andrew Edis tells the jury the guilty pleas are evidence of "a substantial conspiracy" at the NoTW. The £100,000 annual retainer paid to Mulcaire for his services had to be approved at a senior level at the paper, he adds. (credit:Press Association)
October 29 - Affair Between Coulson And Brooks Is Revealed(02 of22)
The two most high-profile defendants - Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks - had an affair for six years, from 1998 to 2004, the prosecution says. This includes the period the they are charged in connection with phone hacking.The time period includes Brooks' tenures at The Sun from 1998 to 2000 and the whole time she edited the NoTW - 2000 to 2003, when she returned to The Sun and was succeeded by Coulson.Edis insists this is being brought up because it is a crucial part of his case that both Coulson and Brooks knew about the phone hacking going on at NoTW."What he knew, she knew," he says.The affair was uncovered by a letter from February 2004, found on Brooks' computer. It said: "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 really not sure how I will cope."
October 31 - Coulson Accused Of Listening To Voicemail About Blunkett Affair(03 of22)
The trial hears the first specific allegation of phone hacking. Coulson is accused of listening to a hacked voicemail from the phone of a woman allegedly having an affair with then-home secretary David Blunkett in 2004. Coulson was editor of the paper at the time, which was investigating whether Blunkett was having an affair with Kimberley Quinn, an American journalist and publisher of The Spectator magazine.Coulson met with Blunkett to discuss the story, claiming the information was from "reliable sources". The prosecution claims it was actually from Quinn's hacked voicemails, which Glenn Mulcaire was tasked to obtain. Coulson listened to these before meeting Blunkett, the trial hears.Coulson will later claim he heard the voicemail but had no prior knowledge of the hacking and did not approve it.
4 November - The 'Cover Up' Of The Evidence(04 of22)
The jury gets an education in 1960s war films.The prosecution alleges News International staff drove to Rebekah and Charlie Brooks' Oxfordshire home, removed incriminating material and drove it back to London. It involved coded messages from the security staff to confirm what they had done including "Broadsword calling Danny Boy" from second world war film Where Eagles Dare.Charlie Brooks (pictured left) is also accused of removing material, including a computer, and leaving it behind a bin at the multi-storey car park beneath their Chelsea home. A cleaner found the computer and reported it to police.
5 November - Milly Dowler Voicemail Hacking(05 of22)
The jury hears about the most infamous hacking the paper is accused.Stuart Kuttner, then the NoTW's managing editor is alleged to have rung Surrey Police during the 2002 search for Milly Dowler (pictured from left: her father Bob, sister Gemma and mother Sally) to tell them the NoTW had access to the then-missing teenager's voicemails. Reporter Neville Thurlbeck allegedly told police the paper "had access" to her answer phone.The paper ran a story that quotes one of the voicemails verbatim in its first edition. It changed the story for the second edition that removed all detail from the voicemail, the trial heard. Brooks was on holiday in Dubai at the time and Coulson, as deputy editor, was running the paper. The court hears she was in contact with the paper during her holiday.
How The NoTW Covered Its Tracks(06 of22)
The NoTW published a story on Milly Dowler based on her voicemails, on April 14, 2002.The first edition (pictured left) story ran on page 9. It referred to her answer phone messages being 'probed' and quoted one of them verbatim.But later editions (pictured right) pushed the story back to page 30 and removed any quotes from the voicemails - focussing instead on claims someone was posing as the missing teenager as a hoax. These versions of the story only contained passing references to her voicemails.The prosecution claims the changes were made after texts between Brooks and Coulson. They say the contents of texts are unknown.
26 November - Brooks 'Discussed' Hacking At Cameron Party(07 of22)
The trial hears that Rebekah Brooks described phone hacking at David Cameron's birthday party at Chequers in October 2010 when the scandal was gaining momentum.Dom Loehnis, a close friend of the prime minister, was seated next to Brooks and tells the jury she described the technique for phone hacking.He also says she predicted her friend Andy Coulson would not survive as Cameron's communications director, saying the phone hacking story could not be "closed down".
10 December - Goodman 'Had Royal Directory'(08 of22)
Clive Goodman (pictured left, alongside Coulson) is accused of illegally obtaining a directory of royals and their household staff's numbers called "the Green Book". The court hears that, though they were found at his home during the 2006 investigation, he was not charged in connection with them at the time. A senior palace official tells the trial that she only became aware of it when she was interviewed by police in 2012.
27 January 2014 - Jude Law Testifies(09 of22)
Jude Law (pictured arriving at Old Bailey) gives evidence about how the NoTW uncovered details about his relationship with former girlfriend Sienna Miller. The trial hears the paper was pursuing a story about her having an affair with actor Daniel Craig at the time. Coulson is accused of listening to a hacked voicemail from Miller to Craig.In the voicemail, she said: "Hi, it's me. I can't speak, I'm at the Groucho with Jude. I love you." The jury hears Coulson became "very animated" on hearing it. Coulson denies having ever heard it.
29 January - 'Even Office Cat Knew About Hacking'(10 of22)
Former NoTW reporter Dan Evans (pictured) who has pleaded guilty to phone hacking, says it was so common at the tabloid that "even the office cat" knew about it. He also says Coulson "knew exactly what went on on his watch" as editor.He claimed to have hacked phones while a reporter for the rival Sunday Mirror and said he was recruited to NoTW specifically for his phone hacking skills.Police have since launched a separate operation to investigate alleged phone hacking at the Sunday Mirror. Its publisher Trinity Mirror is facing legal action from celebrities who claim to have been hacked. (credit:Press Association)
19 February - Tony Blair's Close Relationship With Brooks(11 of22)
It's revealed that Rebekah Brooks is not only close to the David Cameron - she is also close to Tony Blair.After the scandal broke in July 2011, Blair offered to help the Murdochs and Brooks, the trial hears. He urged them to launch a "Hutton-style" inquiry into what had happened and recommended Brooks take sleeping pills at night to get through the stress.Later, the trial hears she sent "terrified" texts to Blair on the eve of her arrest in July 2011.
25 February - Brooks Denies Dowler Hacking(12 of22)
Brooks tells the court she knew nothing about anyone being tasked with hacking Milly Dowler's (pictured) phone and was "shocked" to learn it had happened.But, she adds, she did not know phone hacking was illegal at the time."I was told that the NoTW had asked someone to access Milly Dowler's phone while she was missing, that they had also deleted her voicemails and for a period of time because of that her parents had been given false hope and thought she was alive," she says."I just think anyone would think that that was pretty abhorrent, so my reaction was that. That was what I was told." (credit:Press Association)
12 March - Brooks Denies Prolonged 'Affair' With Coulson(13 of22)
Brooks (pictured with husband Charlie) denies she and Coulson had a six-year affair.She claims the two had periods of physical intimacy between 1998 and 2004 but only for a brief time and that they were just friends for long parts of that period.She says: "My personal life was a bit of a car crash for many years and it was probably very easy to blame work: the hours were very long and hard and you get thrown together in an industry like that." (credit:Press Association)
March 19 - Goodman 'Pressured To Keep Quiet'(14 of22)
Clive Goodman says he was pressured to keep quiet about the scale of phone hacking at the NoTW when he was arrested in 2006.He says he prepared to 'name names' to police but was persuaded to keep quiet.He tells the court he tried to access his News International email to find proof of the scale of it.He says: "I felt at risk of being passed off as Glenn Mulcaire's only conspirator. I was seeking email that would prove that others were involved and that Andy knew what was going on."
31 March - Charlie Brooks' 'Jacqui Smith Moment'(15 of22)
Charlie Brooks claimed the alleged 'cover up' of evidence that could implicate his wife was actually a botched attempt to stop police finding the porn collection on his computer.He says he wanted to avoid a "Jacqui Smith" moment for his wife - a reference to the former Labour home secretary's embarrassment caused when her husband was revealed to have watched porn and put it on her expenses.Brooks describes his behaviour as "incredibly stupid".
9 April - Kuttner Denies Hacking Knowledge(16 of22)
Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor at the NoTW, says he knew the paper had a voicemail from Milly Dowler's phone during the search for her but claims he did not know it was obtained by Glenn Mulcaire's illegal hacking and denies any knowledge of anyone at the paper authorising the PI to do it.
14 April - We Used To Be Friends...(17 of22)
Speaking from the witness box, Coulson says he has only seen David Cameron once in the three years since he resigned as his press spokesman.He also tells the court his affair with Brooks was "wrong" but denies it was continual for six years and says there were periods when they were just friends.
16 April - Coulson Denies Blunkett Hacking(18 of22)
Coulson insists he did not authorise phone hacking in pursuit of the 2004 David Blunkett affair story.He claims to have been "shocked" to learn that reporter Neville Thurlbeck had listened to a voicemail and told him to drop the story but, on listening to the message, decided there was "some public interest justification" in it.
April 23 - NoTW Journalist 'Threatened Colleague With Fake Gun'(19 of22)
Bullying was so bad at the NoTW that, at one point, a journalist threatened a colleague with a replica gun, the trial hears.The journalist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was described as "thoroughly aggressive".Goodman insists he was "bullied" in his time there. Coulson says there was bullying in the 1980s and 1990s but denies it took place under his watch.
2 June - Brooks' PA 'Blameless'(20 of22)
Cheryl Carter, Brooks' PA, has led a "blameless life," her lawyer tells the court.He says the claim she removed incriminating notebooks from the News International archive in the days after the scandal broke to protect her boss are "utterly pesposterous".He describes her as "perhaps a bit scatty" but not a criminal.
3 June - Case 'Has Nothing To Do' With Security Boss(21 of22)
Mark Hanna, who was News International's head of security in July 2011, is described as "just a hired hand" who did not move in the same circles as his employers.His lawyer tells the court the prosecution wrongly "promoted him up the corporate ladder" to portray him as more senior than he was, to fit their version of events that he conspired with Charlie Brooks to destroy evidence."He is, we submit, a man who has been caught in a dreadful trial, in a sense of being caught up in this huge sensational case, which in truth has nothing to do with him," his lawyer tells the jury.
June 9 - Be Wary Of Reporter's Evidence, Judge Tells Jury(22 of22)
The jury are told to be cautious when considering the evidence of former reporter Dan Evans, who said hacking was so widespread "even the office cat knew".Summing up after months of evidence, Mr Justice Saunders tells the jury: “You will have to consider his evidence with care.“He himself has committed criminal offences, and wanted to get any sentence reduced by providing evidence against others.”He continues: "Why haven’t people working at the News of the World, except for him and Clive Goodman, who are people charged with offences, come forward to tell what they knew about phone hacking.“Are there a lot of people out there who knew about it and haven’t come forward to give evidence, and does that show Mr Evans was exaggerating about what was going on?”The jury is sent out to deliberate on June 11.
The jury convicts Andy Coulson of phone hacking. They fail to reach verdicts regarding two charges of conspiring to commit misconduct in a public office against Coulson and Goodman.
The jurors return not guilty verdicts on all the other counts.
WHAT HAPPENED NEXT:
The Verdicts