guardian.co.uk, Sandra Laville, crime correspondent, Tuesday 15 May 2012
The Crown
Prosecution Service says Rebekah Brooks will be charged
with perverting the
course of justice. Video: ITN Link to this video
Rebekah
Brooks, the former chief executive of News International, is to be charged over
allegations that she tried to conceal evidence from detectives investigating phone
hacking and alleged bribes to public officials.
Brooks, one
of the most high-profile figures in the newspaper industry, will be charged later on Tuesday with three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of
justice in July last year at the height of the police investigation, the Crown
Prosecution Service (CPS) announced.
She is
accused of conspiring with others, including her husband, Charlie Brooks, the
racehorse trainer and friend of the prime minister, and her personal assistant,
to conceal material from detectives.
Brooks and
her husband were informed of the charging decision – the first since the start
of the Operation Weeting phone-hacking investigation last January – when they
answered their bail at a police station in London on Tuesday morning.
They are
among six individuals from News International, along with the company's head of
security, Mark Hanna, to be charged over allegations that they removed
material, documents and computers to hide them from officers investigating
phone hacking. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life, although the
average term served in prison is 10 months.
In a
statement, Brooks and her husband – who are both close to David Cameron –
condemned the decision made by senior lawyers and overseen by Keir Starmer QC,
the director of public prosecutions.
"We
deplore this weak and unjust decision after the further unprecedented posturing
of the CPS," the statement said. "We will respond later today after
our return from the police station."
The CPS
chose to announce the charges against Brooks, her husband and four others in a
televised statement in the interests of "transparency and
accountability".
Brooks is
accused in one charge of conspiring with her PA, Cheryl Carter, to "remove
seven boxes of material from the archives of News International".
In a
separate charge she is accused of conspiring with her husband, Hanna, her
chauffeur and a security consultant to conceal "documents and
computers" from the investigating detectives. All the offences are alleged
to have taken place in July last year.
Alison
Levitt QC, Starmer's principal legal adviser, said the decision to charge six
of the seven individuals arrested over the allegations came after prosecutors
applied the two-stage test required of them when making charging decisions.
"I
have concluded that in relation to all suspects except the seventh there is
sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction,"
she said.
"I
then considered the second stage of the test and I have concluded that a
prosecution is required in the public interest in relation to each of the other
six."
Levitt said
the televised statement had been made in "the interests of transparency
and accountability to explain the decisions reached in respect of allegations
that Rebekah Brooks conspired with her husband, Charles Brooks, and others to
pervert the course of justice".
She said
detectives handed prosecutors a file of evidence on 27 March this year in
relation to seven suspects: Brooks, her husband, Hanna, Carter, Paul Edwards
who was Brooks's chauffeur employed by News International, and Daryl Jorsling,
who provided security for Brooks, supplied by News international.
The seventh
suspect – who has not been named – also provided security. But Levitt said no
charges were to be laid against him.
Brooks is
charged on count one that between 6 July and 19 July 2011 she conspired with
Charles Brooks, Carter, Hanna, Edwards, Jorsling and persons unknown to conceal
material from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.
On count
two she is charged with Carter between 6 July and 9 July 2011 of conspiring
together to permanently remove seven boxes of material from the archive of News
International. In the third count Brooks is charged with her husband, Hanna,
Edwards and Jorsling and persons unknown of conspiring together between 15 July
and 19 July 2011 to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment
from officers of the Metropolitan Police Service.
In a
statement issued through her solicitor, Carter said she "vigorously
denies" the charges.
Hanna said:
"I have no doubt that ultimately justice will prevail and I will be
totally exonerated."
All the
allegations relate to the police investigation into allegations of phone
hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World
and the Sun newspapers, Levitt said.
Brooks and
her husband had travelled to London from their home in Oxfordshire to answer
bail following their arrest in March on suspicion of perverting the course of
justice. They were informed of the decision at that meeting. They will attend
Westminster magistrates court along with the four others at a date to be fixed.
The six
people become the first to be charged as a result of the new Scotland Yard
investigation into phone hacking. The inquiry is one of three linked
investigations for which the Yard has budgeted £40m until 2015.
Carter was
the first to be arrested on suspicion of perverting the course of justice in
January. Two months later the other suspects were arrested.
The news of
the charges came as Scotland Yard announced on Tuesday that two further people
had been arrested in connection with alleged bribery of public officials.
A
50-year-old man who works for HM Revenue and Customs and a 43-year-old woman
from the same address were arrested by officers from Operation Eleveden, the
Met police operation investigating alleged bribery of public officials. The man
was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and the woman on
suspicion of aiding and abetting the offence.
Brooks was
a high-flyer at News International. At 31, she became News of the World editor
and three years later, in 2003, was given the editorship of the Sun. She was
appointed chief executive of News International in 2009 before quitting in July
2011.
Days later
she was arrested over alleged phone hacking and corruption offences, for which
she remains on bail without charge. She was arrested again in March in
connection with the separate allegation of perverting the course of justice
along with her husband and others.
Charlie
Brooks has been a columnist for the Daily Telegraph as well as writing a novel
entitled Citizen.
Prosecutors
are still considering four files of evidence – relating to at least 20 suspects
– and involving allegations of phone hacking, alleged bribery of public
officials and misconduct in a public office from the linked inquiries.
Starmer
said he was facing "very difficult and sensitive decisions" as he
predicted last month that more cases were coming his way.
Police
launched Operation Weeting, the inquiry devoted specifically to phone hacking,
after receiving "significant new information" from News International
on 26 January last year.
Operation
Elveden was launched months later following allegations that News International
journalists made illegal payments to police officers.
As the
inquiry escalated officers launched three related operations: the Sasha inquiry
into allegations of perverting the course of justice; Kilo, an inquiry into
police leaks; and Tuleta, the investigation into computer-related offences.
News
International did not immediately make a statement, but confirmed that it still
employed Hanna and Edwards.
A spokesman
for Rebekah Brooks said she and her husband were still with police, and that
the couple were likely to release a further statement on Tuesday afternoon.
Related Article:
 |
Rebekah
Brooks and her husband Charlie speak to the
media about the charges facing
them. Photograph: Peter
Macdiarmid/Getty Images
|
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