Rebekah Brooks Charged Over Phone Hacking: Faces Criminal Trial For 'Perverting The Course Of Justice'
The Huffington Post | By Jack Mirkinson Posted: 05/15/2012 6:08 am Updated: 05/15/2012 7:59 am
Rebekah Brooks, Rebekah Brooks Arrested, Phone Hacking, Rebekah Brooks Charged, Rebekah Brooks Criminal Trial, Rebekah Brooks Phone Hacking, Media News . Rebekah Brooks, the former head of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper wing and a key figure in the phone hacking crisis, is to face criminal charges over the scandal, it was announced Tuesday.
The Crown Prosecution Service said that Brooks "conspired with her husband, Charles Brooks, and others to pervert the course of justice."
Speaking at a press conference, Alison Levitt, the chief adviser to the Director of Public Prosecutions, said that Brooks and five others —her husband, her assistant, their chauffeur, their security and the head of security at News International — had all been charged. (A seventh person was arrested but is not being charged.)
She claimed that, between July 6 and 19th of 2011, Brooks and her assistant had illegally removed seven boxes of material from News International headquarters, and the group had tried to conceal information from the police about the phone hacking scandal. The charges all stem from actions allegedly taken at the very height of the phone hacking scandal which had suddenly engulfed the entire Murdoch empire.
Levitt said that she had concluded that there was "sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction" for the charges.
In a statement, Brooks and her husband said, "We deplore this weak and unjust decision. After the further unprecedented posturing of the CPS we will respond later today after our return from the police station."
All the suspects face a criminal trial before a jury. A conviction on the charge of perverting the course of justice could, in extreme cases, lead to a life sentence, though Brooks and the others will almost certainly serve at most a few years if they are found guilty.
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