Phone-hacking trial: The Sun, the secretariat and the 'ace military contact'
When court resumed this afternoon the jury continued to hear evidence on charge four, conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office, against defendant Rebekah Brooks. This, the court heard this morning, relates to alleged payment to the spouse of a serving soldier for a photograph of Prince William at a party dressed as a "Bond girl" wearing a green bikini.
Detective constable Tilbury, part of the police team on "Operation Elveden", returned to be cross-examined by Jonathan Laidlaw, QC for Rebekah Brooks. He wanted to talk about the "money now" and asked the police officer if there were any cash deposits in the payee's bank accounts. Tilbury confirmed that the £4000 was paid in cash through Thomas Cook to the wife of the soldier. Asked if this was unusual, the police officer confirmed that she was usually paid by electronic bank transfer.
The court was then read a statement from Patrick Harrington, the press secretary for Prince William. The statement read that he had been called by a journalist at the Sun who told him the paper had been offered a picture of William in a bikini. Harrington asked the paper not to publish it for privacy reasons. The Sun later published a mock-up of the photo but not the original.
The next witness called by the prosecution was major Julia Park-Robinson. a member in the royal military police. In 2005, the witness told the court, she was posted to Sandhurst as a platoon commander. She commanded a group of female cadets and shared an office with two other platoon leaders, one of whom was in charge of training Prince William. On taking command, the witness told the court, she had been briefed about how to deal with press interest in the prince.
Park-Robinson confirmed she had attended a fancy dress party at Sandhurst in 2006. The party had a James Bond theme, and it was attended by William and Kate Middleton. William wore a green bikini and posed as a "Bond girl". The witness confirmed there was no official photographer but cadets and guests were taking pictures.
Jonathan Laidlaw then rose to cross-examine. Park-Robinson confirmed for the QC that the party was a social event and that people were drinking. She estimated there were around 200 people taking part. The witness could not comment on social media use by cadets as they had no internet access while at college. The witness then left the stand.
The prosecution then moved on to count five of the charges, a separate part of the indictment also relating to conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office. A police officer, DC Jim Briddon, was called to speak about a folder of documents that were given to the jury. These relate to a number of stories in the Sun from 2006 to 2009 which we cannot describe in detail for legal reasons.
The jury was shown an email from a Sun journalist to Rebekah Brooks, the Sun's then editor, asking for payments to be made to his "top military contact" and listing the above stories. Brooks replies, "of course". The payments are described by the journalist as "cheap at the price". Further stories, emails and payment requests relating to Sun stories about Sandhurst and other army matters were then shown to the jury. In another email to Brooks, the journalist calls the source for his stories "my ace military contact". Every story was linked by the prosecution to emails in which Brooks personally approves a large number of payments ranging from £750 to £2000 for the articles.
The next witness called by the prosecution to speak on charge five was Belinda Verne, the head of the army secretariat based in Hampshire. The role of the secretariat is to advise ministers and the press office. One of her employees was Bettina Jordan-Barber who, the witness told the court, would have had access to information about disciplinary matters and army casualties. Her job, however, did not involve direct access to the media. Jordan-Barber had a high level of security clearance known as "developed vetting" which allowed her to access secret and sensitive material. The witness was then shown a redacted copy of an armed forces policy and confirmed it required all staff to report any leak of information to a "security officer".
Verne was then shown a ministry of defence "newsbrief" which she explained was produced to support ministers or the press office when a story reached the media. It has a section on background and "lines to take" when dealing with the media. The final section is marked "if pressed", which has additional information to be used when media inquiries are persistent. Jonathan Laidlaw, QC for Brooks, then rose to cross-examine the witness.
Laidlaw asked the witness to describe the role of her department in relation to the press office. She explained her office was distinct from the press office although they did provide support for them. Asked about what information Jorden-Barber would have access to, Verne told the court she had left her office in May 2009 and after that date would not have full access to newsbriefs. Verne also agreed that it may have been possible Jordan-Barber could have accessed information from other sources, such as friends and colleagues. The witness agreed "she may have been picking up things" from those sources.
The barrister then asked the witness if newsbriefs would be released to the media. Verne confirmed they would not and contained background information that was not to be given out. The witness also confirmed they were "defensive" documents to deal with stories the MOD did not pro-actively release themselves. Laidlaw asked if the Sun ever alerted the press office to stories they were about to run, to which the witness agreed. A letter from an officer in the MOD press office to a Sun journalist was shown to the jury in which the officer remarks "it was good to talk over the story with you". Laidlaw suggested that this was an illustration of a practice used by the journalist to give notice of stories his paper was running. The witness responded that as she didn't work in the press office she was not the right person to ask. Laidlaw then ended his cross-examination.
Court then rose with the jury being told they would not be required again until Monday as tomorrow has been put aside for legal argument. All of the defendants continue to deny all of the charges, the trial continues.