Phone-hacking trial: The green book, the fingerprint and the keeper of the royal swans

Copies of the ITD were distributed via a section of Royal Mail attached to the Royal household, no copies went through the public mail.

Spens asked the witness if the books were numbered, the witness confirmed they were not but she made a list of which department got how many directories. Spens put it to the witness that there was no record of which individuals received the ITD and she agreed there was not. The recipient of the books did not have to sign the official secrets act as there was "nothing secret, nothing classified about these numbers".

Light was then asked if when a directory was lost was there an obligation on anyone to report it. The witness replied that she did not think so, and agreed that if one was found it would be impossible to ascertain where it had come from. Spens then asked Light if she was aware of a practice of staff selling the ITD's to the press. She told the court that she had never heard of this happening. Old copies of the directory were supposed to be shredded, Light said, but she relied on the trust of people holding them and did not require out of date directories to be returned to her.

The QC then asked the witness when she first learned that seven directories were found at the home of defendant Clive Goodman in 2006. She responded that it was when police came to see her in January 2012. The witness confirmed that no new policies had been introduced to secure the documents after this was discovered. Light was then asked if she was familiar with a mobile number read out in court ending 916. The witness replied "possibly" and that it sounded like a police number as it fitted a "certain range" of the 600 mobiles in use at Buckingham Palace. Asked if she knew Ailsa Anderson, she confirmed she was the press secretary for the Royal Household.

Timothy Langdale QC, for Andy Coulson, then rose to cross examine the witness. He asked the witness if she knew what security procedures applied to the documents at locations other than Buckingham Palace. Light confirmed that she did not and there was no overall security process on how they should be kept. Langdale put it to the witness that there was a "wide range of people listed, from the grand keeper of privy purse, to people at a relatively low level," to which the witness agreed.

Langdale then had a document displayed on the court video screens showing a redacted page from the directory listing various names such as Michael Peat, secretary to the Prince of Wales, various ladies in waiting and Professor Perrins the 'Royal swan warden'. A wide range of people, Langdale noted. The witness was then allowed to leave the stand.

The next witness called was Jonathan Spencer, the deputy controller of the Lord Chamberlain's office. Asked by Mark-Bryant Heron about the 'green book', he told the court it was an alphabetical address book of members of the Royal family, employees and senior officials. Spencer added that it was his responsibility to oversee the production of this book.

Bryant-Heron asked how the book was distributed, to which the witness replied: "It went to everyone who was listed in it," including the Queen's various palaces and the Queen's office at Ascot. The witness also confirmed that the Metropolitan police received a number of copies. Spencer also told the court that the books remain the property of the Royal Household and this is written inside each copy. The books, he told the court, are "only for those who have a duty to perform within the Royal Household," and about 900 copies are produced. Bryant-Heron asked the witness if Clive Goodman was an authorised recipient of the green book. Spencer told the court he was not.

David Spens, QC for Goodman, then rose to cross examine the witness. He asked if the person directly responsible for producing the green book in 2002 to 2003 was still in place. The witness replied that he had recently retired. Spens then had the jury shown a copy of the green book, eight of which were seized by police from Goodman's home in 2006. Spens pointed out that, as an example, the entry for Prince Philip was not a private number but instead the main switchboard of Buckingham Palace.

Spens then asked the witness if he was aware of a practice of staff selling green books to the press. Spencer denied ever having heard of such a thing but confirmed they were not numbered so there was no way to trace where an individual copy came from. The witness also confirmed that the document was not classified as "secret", as much of the information is in the public domain.

Goodman's QC then asked the witness how many copies of the green book were distributed to police officers. He estimated around 10 went to police in Buckingham Palace, three to those based in Windsor Castle and one to St James's Palace. Spens asked if the police office at St James's Palace had ever reported their green book as missing, and Spencer said to his knowledge they had not.

Finally, Spens asked the witness when he learned that copies of the green book had been found in Goodman's home in August 2006. Spencer replied that it was in 2012 when police had spoken to him about making a statement. The witness told the court that as a result of that information they had decided to reduce the distribution of the book substantially and were no longer sending copies to private addresses. The QC, having finished his cross examination, thanked the witness and returned to his seat. The witness then left the stand.

The next witness called was a police officer, Michael Godfrey, a a member of the special operations unit SO14 the Royal Protection Squad. Asked by the prosecution if he ever used the internal telephone directory, he replied yes, for example to get the correct number to check on a visitor.

It was put to the officer that he had been told last year that his fingerprints had been found on a copy of a royal directory from 1993 found at Clive Goodman's home address, and the officer confirmed that he had been informed of that. Asked if he had ever met or supplied the directory to Mr Goodman the officer denied that he had. Mark Heron-Bryant informed the jury that this particular directory was not part of the charges as its date fell outside the dates in the indictment.

David Spens QC, for Goodman, then rose to question the police officer. He asked how many people a day would pass through his post at the "tradesman's entrance" of Windsor Castle. Godfrey responded that it would be around 20 to 50 a day and the directory was kept there all day. There was also another copy kept in the castle's security control room. There were also porters and cleaners who had access to his post. The witness also confirmed the directory was not locked away and was just placed with other telephone books in a corner. However, Godfrey told the court that at his time with the Royal Household he had never heard of a directory going missing.

The next witness called was Gregory Gillham, a retired police officer who was previously a member of SO14's Royal Protection Unit based at Buckingham and Kensington palaces. It was put to the witness that an ESDA test had found his signature on a 1999 green book found at Glen Mulcaire's home in 2006.

The ESDA test, the court was told, found an imprint of the witnesses signature, probably because he had used the book to lean on while signing something else. Gillham confirmed he had a copy of the internal directory on his desk to be used to contact people in the palace if an issue arose. Asked about how the directories were kept, the witness said that the green book was more sensitive as it contained "intimate" information such as mobile telephone numbers, so this was kept by a supervisor. Out of date books were disposed of by being torn up and placed in a confidential waste bin

David Spens QC then rose to cross examine the witness. The barrister asked how long he had worked in Royal protection and his various roles over the 10 years he was there. The barrister suggested to the witness that in 2002 the number of police officers working at Kensington Palace had been reduced and they been replaced by private security officers. Gillham confirmed that this was correct and that these people were employed by the Metropolitan police.

Asked by Spens if he knew how the impression of his signature came to be found on a green book, the officer said he had never had a copy of this type of book during his service, he had used a smaller, hardback version, adding that he could "only imagine" it happened when he was visiting another office. The witness also confirmed that he had no access to a shredder but used confidential waste bags. However, he could not specifically recall disposing of either a green book or an internal telephone directory.

The court then rose for the day to resume at 11 am tomorrow.

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