Phone-hacking trial: Brooks' QC challenges story of missing devices as 'long week' comes to an end
- Defence barrister challenges story on missing devices
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- QC says it's been a "long week"
Court resumed after lunch with Jonathan Laidlaw, QC for Rebekah Brooks, cross examining detective constable Philip Stead on his evidence this morning about a list of "missing" computer equipment that police believe was used by his client (see here for details). The defence barrister went through the list of the devices and asked if much of the information contained had come originally from News International records on which IT equipment was issued to Brooks. The officer said that was correct and he had no concerns over their accuracy.
Court: Jonathan Laidlaw QC
Laidlaw then moved to item number one on the list, an iPhone. The QC asked if the officer knew on what date this item first connected to the Brooks' wireless router. DC Stead said that was an issue a specialist would have to answer. Laidlaw then asked the officer about the unique "IMEI" number on this handset and asked if it connected to Brooks' telephone "call data records". The officer said this had been checked and the code did not appear on them. The witness was asked if this meant this iPhone could be the same one as item eight and nine on the list and the policeman agreed this was possible but there was "no evidence either way".
The QC then moved on to one of the iPads on the list and pointed out that it was registered with Apple in the name Rebekah Brooks with a Gmail email account. The defence Barrister asked the officer if this could have been changed and the officer confirmed that it may have been but no records existed. Another iPad, the officer agreed, could have been used by Sir Charles Dunston when he was a guest in the house. The officer agreed that was possible but inquiries were still continuing.
The defence QC then asked the officer if he knew that the three Blackberries on the list had been issued by News International. DC Stead replied that he could not comment on this as it had not been part of the investigation. Laidlaw noted that there were no IMEI numbers for these and suggested that when News International replaced its executives' Blackberries they swapped the sim card. He asked if these could simply be previous models of phones and only one was in her possession at any one time. The officer agreed that this was possible. "Perhaps we will never know," Laidlaw said, adding that the same could be true of the HTC phone mentioned this morning.
Questioning then turned to two iPhones mentioned this morning. Laidlaw said he had emails discussing a change of phone in Rebekah Brooks' office which he would introduce in due course. A further undiscovered iPad, the lawyer suggested, had never been connected to the Brooks' router and further, was never registered by Brooks with Apple. An email between Brooks and her husband was shown to the court where she reported she had "lost the iPad 2" and he replies that it was not at home. He suggested it may have been left in a restaurant or car. The witness then stepped down from the box to be replaced by Jasvinder Atwal, a forensic computer analyst who the court heard from yesterday.
The expert told the court he had examined a "configuration page" for the Brooks' router and produced a copy which showed, he said, every device that had connected wirelessly to the device before 26 June 2011. Not all routers retained this information Arwal told the court, it depended on "how expensive" it was. The list, however, did not show the dates computers actually connected to the router. On location, Atwal told the court, devices "lie to you, the GPS is very weak" and would take five minutes to work. Computers therefore "like to know where they are" and store information on the location of routers they connect to to help with that process. This allowed him to identify that the router in question was at the Brooks' Oxfordshire home.
Jonathan Laidlaw for Rebekah Brooks then rose to cross examine the witness. He joked that after what they had just heard he would advise the jury if they wanted to quit the case they should not take their phones with them, as the "judge would be onto them right away". Atwal agreed that his information did not allow him to estimate when particular devices were connected to the router nor did it show if a connection led to internet activity or was just the device connecting itself in the "big brother way we heard of earlier". The expert was then allowed to step down.
The court was then read a statement by the director of IT for News International, Paul Cheesbrough. This confirmed that the company used a computerised management asset system called "SNOW" and it was from this that the list of devices given to Brooks was extracted and given to police. He also confirmed that Brooks' mobile phone was "severed" from the company systems on her resignation of 15 July 2011. As part of the agreement over this resignation his department issued her with a new Apple laptop and iPad. While reading out the statement Andrew Edis QC made a mistake and apologised, saying: "It's Friday afternoon and it's been a hard week." The statement also confirmed that none of the devices the police have been seeking are in News International's possession.
The final witness of the day was detective constable Ian Gower. The officer confirmed he had investigated the records held by News International on the various computer devices issued to Rebekah Brooks and written a report. Jonathan Laidlaw QC, for Rebekah Brooks, rose to examine him.
The defence QC read a section of the report where the officer noted that the "records of means of auditing the IT were known to be in need of improvement" and there was a "high degree of uncertainty around the historical relationship between an asset and a user prior to February 2011". The officer agreed this was correct.
Court then rose for the week, all of the remaining defendants deny all of the charges. The trial continues.
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