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Phone-hacking trial: Piers Morgan 'ratted a source' and Goodman admits hacking

By James Doleman

March 17, 2014 | 8 min read

    Piers Morgan

  • Goodman says he "exaggerated sources" to gain credibility
  • "Never" paid police for information, defendant testifies.
  • Prince Charles' press officer leaked stories bad for other members of royal family.
  • Piers Morgan "ratted on a source" while editing News of the World.
  • Goodman admits phone hacking.
  • When court resumed this afternoon Clive Goodman, former royal editor of the News of the World, continued to testify in his defence from two charges of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office relating to the alleged purchase of two royal phone directories from police officers. The jury heard this morning that Goodman denies this, claiming he received the books from two anonymous sources from within the newspaper industry.

    Andrew Spens, Goodman's QC, resumed by taking his client through a number of emails, recovered from News International by the police, in which the former royal reporter is asking for cash payments for his confidential sources. Goodman told the court that cash payments were often delayed for administrative reasons so it would be common for him to "chase them up".

    The defendant was then asked if he ever exaggerated the importance of his sources. "Yes I did," he said, adding "this was common all over the industry". Asked to explain, he said it was a "way of maintaining your profile and get stories published" and also getting more "bylines". A "prestige source would make the editor take it more seriously," he said. Asked about references to police sources in his email Goodman said this was not true and he was exaggerating to impress his superiors and ensure his contacts were paid on time. The royal palaces, Goodman said, were "like any workplace, people liked to talk and gossip". Royal police, he said "were like security guards, telling people where they could go or that their passes were out of date, they were gossiped about quite a lot as people don't like to be told what to do".

    Goodman was asked about an email he sent to then News of the World editor Andy Coulson, asking for £1,000 to pay a "palace cop" for a royal directory. The defendant said the book did not come from a police officer but instead for his contact Farish. "I was simply selling to the editor these were important sources that had to be paid." A reference to the "Peat affair", Goodman explained, was about a story Coulson had given him about an alleged affair by Prince Charles' secretary Michael Peat: "I was selling it as I knew it was a story he was interested in." Coulson replied to the email: "This is fine, but didn't we pay for one of these a few months ago?"

    The defendant was then asked about other emails he sent to Coulson in 2005: "One of our palace people is ready to sell us two royal directories, they are incredibly useful very rare items." Goodman said that in fact he was sourcing the books from his contact "Anderson". In a further email Goodman again asks Coulson to authorise him to pay a "palace cop". The defendant again said the source was not a police officer but a contact at another newspaper. Coulson's email reply to the request consisted of just one word, "fine".

    The defence barrister then went through other emails in which Goodman mentions paying police including one were he states if his two "uniformed sources" are discovered "you, me, them and the editor would be in jail, special branch are crawling all over them after a story we did on operation Trident". Goodman said he "never" paid anyone in uniform in cash and the reference to Trident was a story about the Metropolitan police anti-gang unit arresting a suspect at Clarence House. "I was trying to suggest that these people were taking risks and should be paid." An article about a "furious confrontation between police and palace cops" was not sourced from police, Goodman said, but from another palace source. Information was also received, the witness said, from Mark Bolland, a press officer for the Prince of Wales who had "the attitude that any stories that were bad for any other members of the royal family were good for Prince Charles." "I don't think we need to go into this," Judge Saunders told the defence barrister, who moved on.

    The defendant was then taken through further email communications were he refers to sourced as "uniformed folk" or "royal guardsmen". Goodman continued to deny these came from police officers but said they instead came from "confidential sources within Buckingham Palace" or the rival newspaper staff members "Farish and Anderson". Telling the editors that information came from police "made the story more credible," the defendant told the court. He also told the court he also paid cash to other journalists for "stories they could not get into their own paper" as any record of a payment to another reported could leak, getting them into trouble. Goodman would also set up alternative payment methods such as sending the money to a partner or family member's bank account which they could then give to the source.

    Goodman gave the example of a Ken Stronach, a valet for Prince Charles, who was paid via his son's bank account. This relationship however went wrong when Stronach wanted to write a book revealing "secrets about the royals" and Piers Morgan, then News of the World editor, decided the "best way forward was to expose him". "It was a heartless commercial decision," the witness told the court. The News of the World printed an article that the valet was planning his book and Stronach was arrested and charged with theft. "It was very, very nasty, one of the things you never do in newspapers is rat on your sources," Goodman said, adding: "It taught me to take good care of my sources, even from the people I worked with."

    The court then took a short break

    When the trial resumed Goodman was shown other stories he paid for, including one about a royal protection officer, PC Onions, who allegedly stood outside the chapel at Windsor castle telling visitors "he didn't believe in the monarchy," and was later found in a room "twirling his gun around his finger". The defendant told the court that this story did not come from a police officer but from a member of the palace staff.

    The defence then moved on to a new subject, phone hacking. The QC reminded the court that in November 2006 Goodman pleaded guilty to conspiracy over the illegal interception of communications between 2005 and 2006. One of the victims names in that case, the court was told, was Helen Asbury, the personal assistant to Princes William and Harry and in January 2005 alone there were 15 hacking calls made to her phone from Goodman's home number. Goodman told the court he got Asbury's details from former News of the World news editor Greg Miskiw who passed on the "pin" number needed to access her voicemail. The court was then shown documents showing Goodman hacked other people associated with William and Harry including the equerry, Mark Dyer, and their private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton. Their details, Goodman told the court, came "directly from Glenn Mulcaire", the private investigator convicted alongside him in 2007. "Did you hack them," the defence QC asked. "Oh yes," Goodman replied.

    Goodman was asked about his interpretation of the phrase "dark arts" which he used on emails from this period. The defendant explained: "It's anything that is not normal journalism, reverse telephone directories, using private detectives."

    The court then rose for the day

    All of the defendants deny all of the charges, the trial continues.

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