Phone hacking trial: Best, Farage and the glamour model

The prosecution allege that convicted phone-hacker Glenn Mulcaire called Taylor’s voicemail message service and hacked the messages on the service at least 13 times. Tapes of these recordings were seized by police from Mulcaire’s home in 2006. Those identified from the recordings as having left messages include Garth Crooks a former footballer and various friends and colleagues of Taylor.

In 2005, the media were investigating an allegation that Taylor was having an affair with Joanne Armstrong, a lawyer employed by the Professional Footballers' Association. Mulcaire’s notes also show calls to a taxi firm in Blackburn near where Armstrong lived, as well as various calls to Greg Miskiw, a journalist at the News of the World. There were also calls to the Inland Revenue in Lancaster. A letter offering £7,000 to “Paul Williams”, an alias of Mulcaire, from Miskiw, was then shown in court.

A graphic was then shown to the jury of a series of email communications between Shauna Corr, a News of the World secretary based in Manchester who, the prosecution say, made transcripts of Taylor’s voicemails. These were then sent to Miskiw, and two other News of the World journalists, Neville Thurlbeck and Ian Edmondson. A further document, which the prosecution say was signed by Edmondson, was displayed, which showed permission for Mulcaire to take the “Gordon Taylor affair material” to another media outlet if not used by the News of the World by July 2006.

Another transcript of Taylor’s voicemails made by Ross Hindley, a reporter at the News of the World, was shown in court. This was marked “For Neville”, which the prosecution said was a reference to Neville Thurlbeck, the then news editor at the paper.

Mr Langdale QC, Representing Andrew Coulson, then rose to raise a matter. He asked the police officer presenting the timeline to confirm that no emails involving his client were found by police in relation to this matter or any stories published. The detective agreed that this was the case.

The prosecution then moved on to the next timeline, involving the leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP). In 2006 there was an alleged affair between leader Nigel Farage and a Linda Howells. Mulcaire is accused by the prosecution of hacking both of their phones in an attempt to find evidence of this affair. A police officer confirmed to the jury that Mulcaire’s notes contained both their mobile numbers and access details for their voicemails, their Unique Voicemail Numbers (UVN).

The screens in court then displayed a News of the World story from January 2006 headlined “Euro MP cheats on his wife with a Woman”. Farage was later warned by his telephone provider that an attempt to “blag” his voicemail pin number had been detected.

The court then moved on to the first alleged victim of voicemail hacking to be heard in the trial, Calum Best. Best was first asked what his occupation was in 2005-2006 and replied he was a TV personality appearing on a show called Celebrity Love Island. He was then shown a page from Glenn Mulcaire’s notebook and identified a mobile phone number written there as the one he had during the filming of the programme. Call records made by Mulcaire were then shown to the witness marked “Her to Him”. Best said that he could attach “no significance” to them apart from the fact that the date was his birthday.

Best was then asked if the name “Ian Edmondson” meant anything to him and he replied: “A journalist maybe”. He was then shown news articles from March 2006, the first was “Calum confesses”, relating to a sexual relationship he had with Elizabeth Jagger, daughter of Mick Jagger. The next piece shown was "Just like dad", relating to a lady called Lorna Hogan. Best confirmed he had a relationship with Hogan and that she had claimed Best was the father of her child.

The Barrister representing Coulson then rose to cross-examine the witness, asking Mr Best if it was right that he had regularly featured in newspapers and magazines and became used to seeing articles about his personal life, to which Best agreed. Langdale went on: “You might get cheesed off but you depend on being in the papers, it goes with the territory?”, and again Best agreed.

Langdale then put it to the witness that he would have been “aware of the considerable appetite people have for gossip, tittle tattle and scandal,” and put it to Best that “Your activities... fuelled interest in your private life”, that he “actively encouraged media intrusion” and the “plain fact of the matter is, appearances in papers get you on TV, earns you money”. The witness replied “yes” and Langdale then said: “You tended to spend money you got rather than save or invest it.” Best replied: "You could say that," and there was laughter in court.

The barrister then asked Best if he knew a particular journalist, Rav Singh a showbiz reporter for News of the World. The witness agreed that he did and that Singh had gone to parties with him and bought him drinks. He also confirmed he had received payments from the paper for stories including one involving Elizabeth Jagger mentioned above. The witness, however, denied he had been paid for a two-part piece titles “Callum, how dad drove me to drugs”, saying this came from a friend of Alice Best, George Best’s wife.

Mr Langdale then brought into evidence a News of the World story from 26 March 2006, “Lust like dad”, in which Lorna Hogan, a model, gave an account of sexual encounter with Best on the night before his father’s memorial service. The Barrister said he was “not going into detail” at which the presiding judge, Mr Saunders, quipped: “You’ll never get a job as a headline writer for the News of the World”, “Thank goodness for that!” Langdale replied.

Langdale then asked Best about a News of the World story on 21 May 2005, “Best's first grandchild”, and put it to him that he knew the story was imminent, as he sent text to Hogan asking about it. Langdale put it to him: “You texted her a couple of days earlier about article, you got information for Rav Singh,” to which Best replied he did not recall exactly who told him but it may have been Singh.

Mr Langdale then asked Best if Singh had given him money when they met, which Best denied. The witness was then allowed to leave the stand and the court took a short break.

The next prosecution witness called was Lorna Hogan. Hogan gave her occupation in 2005 and 2006 as a 'glamour model'. She told the court that she also had an arrangement with the News of the World to go to nightclubs and try and meet well-known people. If she got any stories or gossip the paper could use she received payment. During this period, she met Calum Best and they got together for a “couple of months”, adding: "I had my daughter to him."

During her pregnancy, she added that there was further contact with The News of the World. She said she was taken to London to meet Ian Edmondson where, she said, at lunch Edmonson “put pressure on me” to sell a scan picture of her unborn daughter and told me not to speak to anyone else,

The prosecution then went over various news articles featuring Hogan, asking if she had been paid for them. She agreed she has been paid for a 26 march 2006 story “Lust Like Dad” and a 16 April story “I’m having Calum Best's baby”, but denied she had ever received money for a 21 may 2006 story, featuring the scan of her daughter “Bests first grandchild”.

The witness was then cross-examined by Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC for Mr Edmondson. Hogan agreed she was paid considerable sums of money by the News of the World, sometimes as much as £10,000, but continued to deny she had been paid for the story featuring her unborn daughter. "We will just have to agree to disagree on that," Bennet-Jenkins said and the witness was allowed to leave the stand.

The court then moved on to a timeline featuring actors Jude Law and Sienna Miller which we will cover in our next report.

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