Phone-hacking trial: Jude and Sienna, the publicist and the hacker

The defence QC asked the witness which parts of the subsequent News of the World article he claimed came from intercepted voicemails and which from other sources. Parts of the article, Evans told the court, came from a conversation he had with Craig when he "doorstepped" him at home, but insisted that the original lead had come from a voicemail. Langdale asked the witness if his story was contradictory at times. Evans replied: "It's a tabloid news story." The witness was told that Jude Law had denied leaving a subsequent message on Craig's voicemail. "What do you have to say to that?" the barrister asked. "I heard it," Evans replied, adding "I say Mr Law is mistaken."

Evans was then asked about the parts of his article where he quoted a "source". The witness replied: "The power that hearing the message gives you is that it allows you to dress it up by talking about a source... creating a narrative." Evans said that in tabloid terms it was not unusual to present a quote as being from an imaginary source, but as he had the voicemail there would be no fear of being "sued down the line". Evans added no-one would write an article starting "last night our reporter hacked a voicemail and heard...". Evans said that information that Sienna Miller and Daniel Craig did not have an affair "is not a story". Instead, he said, you "write the story as hard as you can and put in caveats to smooth things through."

Another email was then read to the court where other News of the World journalists discussed source one and source two and what they could bring to the story. A journalist, who we cannot name for legal reasons, suggested approaching source one "before he runs to Max Clifford", adding: "This guy should know where all the bodies are buried." The source was quoted as telling the journalist that Miller and Craig had dinner together at a London restaurant, The Ivy. Evans told the court that he had not seen these emails before and was not aware of their existence. Another journalist asked: "Did you get her phones?" The reply was: "We can't do that, it's illegal." Source two was quoted as saying that Miller "is a bit of a stalker" and "wont leave her man alone". Source two was someone from the public relations team of Jude Law, Justice Saunders established, and he asked: "I wonder why PR people are people who should be kept anonymous?"

The defence QC then suggested to the witness that no part of the story had anything to do with hacking phones. "Of course it was to do with voicemail messages," Evans replied. "One thing happened and then this happened." Langdale read a further email where source two was quoted as wanting "the story big" and agreed to meet the News of the World's lawyer.

Langdale then moved in and asked Evans if his work at the News of the World was affected by his already admitted drug use. The witness said it was "hard to say" but he never went into work "under the influence". Evans was then shown a list of his previous criminal convictions for the possession of cocaine and ecstasy and supplying cannabis. Evans told the court that some of these related to his work when he had bought drugs during investigations.

The defence barrister then asked Evans if he had earlier recorded a message from Daniel Craig's voicemail from model Kate Moss where she said "I love you, I love you". The witness said he had and agreed he had later played this recording to staff at the Sunday Mirror where he then worked. However, he denied Langdale's suggestion that this incident was the inspiration for his testimony about the Sienna Miller message. Langdale then asked if Evans had any "Daniel Craig contacts". The witness replied: "No, his voicemail was my contact." Langdale then showed Evans an expenses claim which listed a meal as being with "Daniel Craig contact". Evans said the meal was probably with his partner and said it was "part of Fleet Street culture to fiddle your expenses", adding: "I don't see what that has to do with this case."

Evans was then asked about his testimony that his Sienna Miller/Daniel Craig story was delayed by a week due to the paper running a front page about the diaries of John Prescott. Evans replied: "You are going to tell me that didn't happen that week... it wasn't even that year." Langdale replied and showed the witness that the week before his story the paper's front page was about boxer Frank Bruno. "I must have got mixed up with another story of mine," Evans said. On the article being delayed, the witness told the court that "these things happen" but he did "kick off" about his name not being credited on the front page.

Langdale then put it to the witness that no part of the story was a product of phone-hacking. Evans told the court that it was the product of two weeks' work inspired by the original voicemail which had then been "subbed down to tabloidesque". Langdale then asked if Evans why if he had played such a big part in the story he had never been thanked by Andy Coulson. "It was never discussed again," he said, but another senior member of staff had taken him by elbow and said: "You're a company man now, Dan." Langdale asked the witness if he been successful at the News of the World. "It was a difficult first year," he said. "I was a square peg in a round hole."

Langdale then asked the witness about his testimony earlier that Andy Coulson knew that phones were being hacked while he was editor of the News of the World. "Just think," the barrister said. "I've thought," Evans replied, and repeated his statement on Monday that a story about an actress, Eva Green, being lined up to be the new "Bond girl" had been sourced via Daniel Craig's voicemail and discussed at an editorial conference in February 2006 as being "from the phones". Langdale suggested that the story about the Bond girl was "already known" and was not sourced from a voicemail at all. Evans admitted he "made a mistake" on which particular article came from hacking and that this might be a follow up story to his original piece. Lord Justice Saunders then read out the article headline, "Sexy Eva Green proves nobody does it better than a Bond girl", and then asked: "Did I read it properly?" which led to laughter in court.

The defence barrister then asked Evans about the meeting he claimed he had with Andy Coulson before he got a job at the News of the World. Evans said his memory was that he had discussed phone-hacking at the meeting and had "given him the patter" about his skills in that area, referring to the practice as "stuff with phones". Langdale asked why he had been so "mealy mouthed" about the practice if Coulson already knew about it, and suggested that there was no conversation about hacking phones. "What I'm saying to court is the truth," Evans said, and the cross-examination ended.

Andrew Edis QC, for the prosecution, then rose to re-examine the witness, asking who he first admitted phone-hacking to. Evans replied that it was to his lawyers and a note of this conversation, in February 2012, was shown to the court in which it was agreed to talk about the matter "hypothetically" to avoid professional difficulties that might arise for the lawyers representing him.

Court then rose for lunch.

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