The trial of former News International Chief Executive Rebekah Brooks and others linked with alleged phone hacking at the now-defunct News Of The World tabloid will begin at the Old Bailey court here today.
Brooks is in the dock along with seven other defendants, including her racehorse trainer husband Charlie and British Prime Minister David Cameron’s former director of communications Andy Coulson.
The case is scheduled to last until April as around 100 witnesses have been summoned.
Brooks and Coulson are accused of conspiring with others to listen to voicemails and commit misconduct in a public office.
The trial will begin with jury selection today and focus on allegations of wrongdoing at the Rupert Murdoch owned ‘NoW’ before it was closed down in July 2011 after claims that journalists had hacked the mobile phone of murder victim Milly Dowler.
Brooks, 45, who resigned from News International in July 2011, faces five charges spanning over a decade. Coulson, 45, who resigned from his Downing Street post in January 2011, faces three charges in relation to his time as editor of the ’NoW’.
Other defendants are Stuart Kuttner, a former managing editor of ‘NoW’; Ian Edmondson, a former head of news; Cheryl Carter, Rebekah Brooks’s former secretary; Mark Hanna, head of security for News International; and Clive Goodman, a former ’NoW’ royal correspondent.
All eight have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
The landmark case is expected to grab high-profile worldwide media attention but the UK judicial system bans any comment on active trials until the verdict has been delivered.
Justice Saunders, who is presiding over the case, and the attorney general have already issued warnings to the media reminding them not to stray from the strict Contempt of Court Act reporting rules in the country, which require fair and accurate reporting of trials as they take place.