Phone-hacking trial: Policemen, nuts and the imaginary contributors

Another email read in court, again from Goodman to Coulson from May 2005, states in part: "One of our palace cops is about to get his hands on one of the royal phone books..we normally pay £1000 for these, it's a very risky document for him to nick." There is no immediate reply so Goodman re-sent the request a few weeks later - this time Coulson does reply, with a single word, "fine". In a follow up email to the News of the World finance department, Goodman says about his palace contacts: "Special Branch are crawling all over them since we ran a story on operation Trident...thanks to how we pay them they can't be traced."

In an email to his sister, Fran Goodman, who also worked at the paper as chief sub-editor, Goodman discusses finance director Paul Nicholas stating: "I feel like peeling his face off his skull, this is payback for me showing him up for the pathetic hack from the 1930's that he is." In a further email the journalist discusses with Coulson a contact he has at Sandhurst and how useful that will be when Prince William begins his course there. DC Pritchard then stepped down from the witness box his place being taken by detective inspector Kennett.

Andrew Edis QC told the jury that he would now go through contributor payment records made by the News of the World and a "timeline" of documents was handed out. DI Kennett told the court the papers came from the Management Standards Committee of News International. The first contributor named was a David Farish. Kennett was asked about the address given on the document and the officer told the court he had visited it but there was no trace of anyone named Farish. The documents show a number of payments to Farish ranging from £750 to £1000 for "Royal research" with the last payment occurring on 26 April 2006. All of the stories listed as having been sourced from Farish related to the Royal family, with most relating to policing and security issues, an example being "One of Queen's valuable paintings destroyed after a cop falls through it."

The next person listed in the payment schedule was Hall. The list of "Hall" stories were a mix, some about the Royal family but others about politics and media. The final name on Goodman's payment schedule was Anderson. DI Kennett explained that despite extensive inquiries, no trace of these people had been found and he had concluded that they did not exist and the names were false.

David Spens QC, acting for Goodman, then rose to cross-examine the police officer. He asked about the email request for payment from his client for a "royal phone book" mentioned above, which was answered by Coulson "fine". He asked Kennett if there was any record of a payment being made in relation to this email; the officer replied that there was one on the 29 May for £1000. Spens put it to the officer that the note on that payment listed stories sourced from "Anderson" and did not mention a royal phone book. The barrister asked the officer "what this means to you". Kennett replied that there was an email sent to the finance office requesting a cash issue and in his view this showed the payment was made.

Spens then brought into evidence a document and had copies given to the jury. The paper showed a list of the 15 Royal Directories recovered by police from Goodman's home, the last being from February 2005. The eight "Green Books," which the jury has already heard are a more comprehensive address and telephone list for members of the Royal Household, run until 2005. The barrister brought the court's attention to a police interview from Goodman's initial arrest in 2006 when he was asked about the directories but never charged with receiving stolen goods. The police officer disagreed, saying that the police in 2006 did not have the email evidence which "put a different context on things" and he was not sure that he himself would have charged Goodman under those circumstances.

The QC pointed out that Goodman had served six months in prison for phone hacking in 2006, yet nothing was done about the directories until 2011, and Goodman was only formally charged in November 2012, six years after the books were discovered. Justice Saunders then intervened pointing out charging decisions were made by the Crown Prosecution service, not by this police officer.

Spens put it to the detective inspector that, other than his conviction for phone hacking, Goodman was of good character and had a six-year-old daughter, to which Kennett agreed. Asked further if anyone in the Royal Household had been informed that the directories had been found in 2006, the officer replied he had no direct knowledge of what was done and did not want to speculate. Turning to the contact details of Sir Michael Peat, which the jury were told came from a handwritten mobile number in the "Green Book", Spens reminded the jury that a police officer's fingerprint had been found on the book yet there was no evidence of any contact between this officer and Goodman. DI Kennett agreed.

Timothy Langdale QC, for Coulson, then rose to cross-examine. He asked if the police had traced the police officer who may have sold the Green Books. Kennett replied they had not nor had Farish or Anderson been identified. The officer replied that was a "clear line of inquiry".

Langdale asked what security measures had been taken to secure the Green Book - "like the Crown Jewels?" Justice Saunders said, to laughter in court. Kennett said he could not speak directly to this as it was a matter for royal protection officers and Buckingham Palace staff. The officer then stepped down from the stand.

The court then took a short break.

When court resumed DI Kennett returned to the stand to correct a piece of evidence he had given this morning. He told the court that when he told the jury the payment schedule presented by him had come from News International he was mistaken and it had in fact been produced by another police officer.

Detective Sergeant Guest then came to the witness box to present another bundle of timeline documents called the "Alexander payments". The officer testified that in his view "Alexander" was a pseudonym for convicted phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire. The total payments listed add up to £12,300. The payments are cross-referenced to articles from the News of the World, for example £3000 for "Wills page 45". The timeline also contains listings of telephone calls between Goodman and Mulcaire and emails between Goodman and Ian Edmondson, the then news editor at the News of the World, discussing "dark arts". The timeline also confirms that both Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson had their phone messages hacked by Glen Mulcaire.

The prosecution then called its next witness, detective sergeant Brian Cook. The witness told the court that he had attended the address of Clive Goodman in November 2011 where the defendant's bank statements were seized. The officer had then prepared an analysis of the records, copies of which were passed to the jury. Cook told the court he had looked at cashpoint withdrawals from Goodman's bank and payments into his account and an additional savings account. This included a payment of £84,000 from News International in July 2007 which appeared to be severance pay. A further account was funded by cash payments "over the counter" in the bank. Justice Saunders told the jury that this might sound "all very mystifying" but it would become clearer when the court moved on to look at the financial affairs of Mr Goodman.

David Spens QC, for Goodman, then rose to cross-examine the officer. DS Cook confirmed that Goodman had co-operated with the police in helping them to secure his financial records. The witness confirmed he had.

The court then rose for lunch.