Former Cameron Aide Denies Hacking Charges
LONDON â€" Andy Coulson, a former senior aide to Prime Minister David Cameron and onetime senior editor in Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper outpost, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges relating to the phone hacking scandal that spread turmoil among journalists, politicians and police officers.
Mr. Coulson’s appearance at Southwark Crown Court in London came a day after Rebekah Brooks, 45, the former chief executive of Mr. Murdoch’s newspaper operations in Britain, appeared in the same court and denied five charges relating to the scandal.
The two former editors were among several ex-employees of Mr. Murdoch’s News International, a subsidiary of the giant News Corp., based in New York, who have been formally arraigned over the past two days pending trials expected to start later in the year. All have denied wrongdoing.
Mr. Coulson, 45, a former editor of the now-shuttered News of the World who went on to become Mr. Cameron’s communications director, faced one charge on Thursday of conspiring to intercept voice mails between 2000 and 2006, and two other charges relating to payments to public officials in return for information at various dates beteen 2002 and 2005.
On Wednesday Ms. Brooks, 45, entered a plea of not guilty to five charges, including conspiracies to hack phones, to commit misconduct in public office and to pervert the course of justice. Five other former employees of News International, the British subsidiary of Mr. Murdoch’s News Corporation, as well as Ms. Brooks’s husband, Charlie, also appeared in court and entered pleas of not guilty to various charges.
The court appearances represented the latest chapter in an unfolding drama that led to the closing of Mr. Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid in July 2011 after accusations that its reporters had hacked into the voice mail of a kidnapped teenager, Milly Dowler, who was later found murdered.
The scandal mushroomed into bribery investigations involving police officers and public officials. A panel of inquiry set up by Parliament urged that British press regulations be enshrined into law to prevent a recurrence of the scandal.
Ms. Brooks, with her connections to the political elite, including Prime Minister Cameron, has been closely watched throughout the scandal. A former editor of both The News of the World and The Sun, Ms. Brooks has been accused of conspiracy to hack phones between 2000 and 2006 and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office between 2004 and 2012. She is also accused of seeking to pervert the course of justice by conspiring with her personal assistant to spirit material away from police investigators in July 2011.
Ms. Brooks, Mr. Brooks and four other former News International employees were accused of seeking to pervert the course of justice. Separately, Clive Goodman, the former royal reporter for The News of the World, was accused of conspiracy to commit misconduct.
All of the defendants have been freed on bail pending trial.
