Andy Coulson was warned that buying palace phone book was illegal, jury told Andy Coulson allegedly approved a News of the World reporters payment for a Buckingham Palace phone book, the phone-hacking trial has heard. Andy Coulson was warned in an email from a reporter on the News of the World that he could face criminal charges if they were caught paying police officers to obtain a copy of the St Jamess Palace telephone directory, according to the prosecution in the phone-hacking trial. The crown said that the papers royal correspondent, Clive Goodman, wrote to the then editor in 2003 to try to persuade him of the importance of paying cash for the phone books. These people will not be paid in anything other than cash because if theyre discovered selling stuff to us they end up on criminal charges, as could we, Goodman wrote to Coulson, in an email shown to the Old Bailey jury of nine women and three men on the morning of the third day of the hacking trial. The jury were shown a lengthy note Goodman wrote explaining why he needed £1,000 for a palace telephone directory which crown prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said demonstrated that Coulson was aware of criminality at the tabloid. Both Goodman and Coulson have been charged in connection with the payments for royal telephone directories accused of conspiring to commit misconduct in public office. They both deny the charges. The email was dated 24 January 2003 and sent because, the prosecution suggested, Goodman wanted to get a mobile number for Sir Michael Peat to investigate a rumoured affair, which ultimately turned out to be untrue. Andy – one of royal policemen (St Jamess Palace) has otained the brand new green book, the telephone directory with all the home numbers of the royal family and their household staff. Incredibly useful and hell be extremely handy in the Peat affair tale. The standard price is £1,000. So far so good. But I had a heck of a time getting cash creds signed off by Stuart [Kuttner, the managing editor] earlier this week to pay a Kensington Palace copper for a page lead and an exec on another paper for a carvery item. I think we should have the book and the goodwill that goes with it but I am keen to avoid round two with the man ed [managing editor]. Im not criticising Stuart at all, but these people will not be paid in anything other than cash because if theyre discovered selling stuff to us they end up on criminal charges, as could we. He said Coulson reacted immediately firing off an email two minutes after receiving it sanctioning the £1,000 payment for the royal directory: This is fine. Didnt I sign off on purchase of green book quite recently tho? Four minutes later Goodman replies that the other payment for £750 was made in December for an internal directory that listed all the staff numbers for Buckingham Palace, St Jamess Palace and Windsor Palace. This is the harder to get on which has the Queens direct lines to her family in it. Edis said that two versions of the email exist, one of which is a print-out that does not include the passage citing criminal charges. But he also told the jury that it did not matter if Coulson didnt receive the final passage because the email exchange showed that Coulson was ready to authorise a payment to a police officer that was unlawful. In another email shown to the jury Goodman sent to the newspapers deputy managing editor Paul Nicholas in 2005, Goodman warned that they could end up in prison if their payments were discovered. In his email to Nicholas he described how he had only three protected sources that we pay in cash. The reporter wrote: Im not going to put in writing but any paper or computer trail that leads to them or their families will put them, me, you and the editor in jail. The prosecution told the jury that the emails and willingness to pay cash so readily demonstrated that Goodman and Coulson worked closely together. Mr Coulson was a very hands-on editor, said Edis. He went on to tell the jury that Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the paper and has already pleaded guilty to phone-hacking charges, had been tasked by the head of news Greg Miskiw in relation to Peat on 24 January 2003, the same day that he appeared to have got approval to pay for the phone books. The jury was also told that 15 royal telephone directories were discovered at Goodmans home when he was arrested in August 2006 in relation to allegations of phone hacking. Goodman was jailed for phone hacking-related charges in January 2007 but went on to launch a claim for wrongful dismissal that ultimately led to the emails being discovered. The trial continues.
Posted on: Fri, 01 Nov 2013 15:30:51 +0000
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