UK PM's ex-aide to face hacking charges

Written By Unknown on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 | 8:10 AM

 Former News of the World editor and Downing Street communications chief, Andy Coulson, is among eight journalists facing charges. (File)
Former News of the World editor and Downing Street communications chief, Andy Coulson, is among eight journalists facing charges. (File)
  • NEW: Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and Paul McCartney are among alleged celebrity victims
  • A former David Cameron aide and a close confidant of Rupert Murdoch are charged
  • Police have been investigating phone-hacking by people working for Murdoch
  • Public anger over the hacking by Murdoch's News of the World led to its closure

London (CNN) -- British prosecutors said Tuesday they will charge eight journalists with illegally eavesdropping on voice mail, a move that could have implications for British Prime Minister David Cameron and media baron Rupert Murdoch.

Cameron's former director of communications Andy Coulson is among eight journalists facing charges, as is Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Murdoch's News International.

The names of the hacking victims announced by the Crown Prosecution Service include some of the world's biggest celebrities, including Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Paul McCartney, soccer star Wayne Rooney, and actor Jude Law.

Coulson and Brooks are former editors of the defunct Murdoch tabloid the News of the World, which was shut down last year in the face of public outrage at the hacking scandal.

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Six other journalists were charged, Alison Levitt of the Crown Prosecution Service announced, while three will not be prosecuted. The CPS is still waiting to decide about two other cases, she said.

Coulson resigned as editor after an earlier round of the phone-hacking scandal involving the paper's royal correspondent Clive Goodman and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

They were sent to prison for hacking into the voice mails of staffers working for Prince William and Prince Harry. Coulson said he knew nothing about the hacking but resigned because he was editor of the paper at the time.

He was later hired to be communications director for David Cameron, a move which Cameron's critics say was bad judgment on his part.

Coulson quit the post in Cameron's office last year when police opened a new investigation into phone hacking after accusations that it went far beyond Goodman and Mulcaire.

Brooks went on to become chief executive of News International after her time at News of the World and is seen as personally close to Rupert Murdoch. She quit News International, the British newspaper publishing arm of News Corp., amid the scandal last summer.

Murdoch recently resigned from a number of positions within News Corp., his global media empire, as the company began moves to separate its entertainment and publishing arms following the scandal.

British police have been investigating phone-hacking by people working for Murdoch since January 2011 and have arrested dozens on suspicion of phone hacking, computer hacking and corruption.

The scandal exploded with the revelation that one of the hacking victims was Milly Dowler, a 13-year-old British girl whose phone was hacked after she disappeared in 2002. She was later found murdered.

The Met Police continues to investigate claims of phone hacking, known as Operation Weeting.

A parallel police operation is investigating claims of inappropriate payments to police and public officials.

Prime Minister David Cameron established a separate independent judge-led inquiry into media ethics, the Leveson Inquiry, following the news of the hacking of Milly Dowler's voice messages.

Cameron and other senior present and ex-government figures have been called to testify before the inquiry, as have News Corp. media baron Rupert Murdoch and his former UK deputy, Rebekah Brooks.

Milly Dowler's parents told the inquiry in November how phone hacking on behalf of News of the World had given them false hope their missing daughter was still alive.

In fact, the messages had been accessed by a private investigator working for News of the World, Dowler's father, Bob, told the inquiry panel. Milly Dowler had already been murdered.

CNN's Dan Rivers, Jonathan Wald and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.

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