Beyond Contempt

''A must read for anyone who wants to understand not only our media, but power in Britain'' – OWEN JONES, author The Establishment ''Top court reporting'' – NICK DAVIES, THE GUARDIAN A factual account of the trial of British newspaper journalists for phone hacking, corruption of officials and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Among the accused were the former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson. This book covers every twist and turn of the case, which was heard in London in 2013 and 2014. Peter Jukes, an award-winning TV crime writer, starts at the beginning. In October 2013, an eight-month trial starts at the most famous court complex in London, the Old Bailey. It''s a showdown that pits tabloid newspaper executives from Rupert Murdoch''s News International against the British state. The journalists are accused of phone hacking, corrupting public officials and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. After years of cover up involving News International, the Metropolitan Police and the Government, the judge tells the jury: "British justice is on trial". After tweeting the first few days, Peter Jukes accidentally becomes the UK''s first crowd-funded journalist. New media exposes the old as the trial lays bare the venality and surveillance of the News of the World : its ability to pry into the lives of anyone who matters, at any moment. A Hollywood actress. A missing girl. A Cabinet minister. It''s also a battle with Rupert Murdoch''s millions; seven defendants hire London''s top QCs. Rebekah Brooks has the £5,000-a-day silk for corporations, Jonathan Laidlaw. Several times the multi-million pound case totters on the brink of collapse. Drawing on verbatim court exchanges and exhibits, Jukes reveals the daily reality and grand strategies of a major criminal trial. He gives the secret of Rebekah Brooks'' 14 days in the witness box. He explains why during a cigarette break a defence lawyer gave him a wry smile. And he discloses the failings of the Crown Prosecution Service which contribute to the (to some) shocking verdicts. ...

Auteur
Peter Jukes is a British journalist and screenwriter. His television credits include devising and writing In Deep (subsequently developed with Paul Haggis for the USA network), the first two episodes of the the first series of the Emmy award winning Waking the Dead, BAFTA award winning Sea of Souls, and the first episodes of Inspector Lynley with original storylines.

As a journalist he has written regularly for various newspapers and magazines, including Newsweek, New Statesman, The Daily Beast, Politico, The New Republic and was nominated for several awards for his coverage of the phone hacking trial in London, the longest and most expensive criminal trial in British history, recounted in his book Beyond Contempt.

He is co-author of Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder Exposed and director of the Byline Festival. His 2012 book, The Fall of the House of Murdoch, was described by the former Sunday Times editor Sir Harold Evans as “a roaring great read.” His account of living in the modern city, A Shout in the Street (Faber & Faber, 1990), was called “a dream of a book” by John Berger. He lives in London.

Contenu
PREFACE: THE UNTOLD STORY. Weeks before the phone hacking trial begins in October 2013 the Daily Telegraph commentator Peter Oborne bills it as ‘the trial of the century.’ Yet it has taken almost the whole of the century so far to arrive, two years since the closure of the News of the World

CHARGES. Full list of the charges and particulars facing IAN EDMONDSON, REBEKAH BROOKS, ANDREW COULSON, STUART KUTTNER, CLIVE GOODMAN, CHERYL CARTER, CHARLES BROOKS and MARK HANNA. The various charges may be summarised as hacking, bribing and hiding evidence

LEGAL TEAMS. Prosecution: Andrew Edis QC, Mark Bryant-Heron QC. Rebekah Brook: Jonathan Laidlaw QC. Andrew Coulson: Timothy Langdale QC. Stuart Kuttner: Jonathan Caplan QC. Clive Goodman: David Spens QC. Cheryl Carter: Trevor Burke QC. Charles Brooks: Neil Saunders. Mark Hanna: William Clegg QC

1. NOT WAR AND PEACE. We get the full story about the phone hacking trial, such as the unreported pre-trial hearings at Southwark Crown Court. The defence teams argue that under human rights law, the prosecution should not reveal an affair between two defendants: Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks

2. PASSION AND PREJUDICE. The judge, Justice Saunders, a leading advocate of live coverage of criminal trials and ‘open justice', allows reporters to live tweet proceedings. He says: 'In this case in a way not only are the defendants on trial, but British justice is on trial'

3. SEX, LIES AND VOICEMAIL. The jury hears the News of the World hacked Sven-Goran Eriksson, Faria Alam, Andy Gilchrist, David Blunkett, Kimberly Quinn, Delia Smith, Wayne Rooney, Patricia Tierney, Laura Rooney, Tessa Jowell, David Mills, Lord Prescott, Mark Oaten, Paul McCartney, Heather Mills

4. DEMOLITION JOB. The trial is taken deep inside the machinery of the News of the World: the paper paid private investigator and phone hacker Glenn Mulcaire £100,000 a year. Court 12 hears from witness Andy Gadd, another private investigator or ‘trace agent’ employed by News of the World

5. MISTRIAL OF THE CENTURY. The long trial is under strain. Jurors take time off for doctor appointments and funerals. Stuart Kuttner, who has suffered a heart attack and a brain stem stroke since the hacking scandal broke, is rarely in the dock. Clive Goodman suffers from heart problems

6. I’LL BE THE JUDGE OF THAT. The judge overturns defence objections to rule the jury can hear from News of the World reporter turned prosecution witness, Dan Evans. Hollywood actors Jude Law and Sienna Miller will testify about the impact of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers

7. HOSTILE WITNESS. The courts hears how Wapping was rife with hacking. Among the many victims of Glenn Mulcaire, police found evidence in his logs and notebooks that he had gone after the phone call voicemails of senior editors at News International, including Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks

   8. THE OFFICE CAT.
   After months of anticipation among defendants and journalists, Daniel Evans, phone hacking star reporter at the Sunday Mirror then News of the World steps into the witness box on 27 January 2014. He says even the office cat at Rupert Murdoch's Sunday newspaper knew about its hacking
   9. INTERLUDE: THE TRIAL THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN.
   After the prosecution rests its case on 5 February after 13 weeks of evidence. Unbeknownst to the jury who are sent home, the defence teams begin a concerted attempt to throw out the trial, arguing that there is no case to answer. They fail
   10. HOLDING COURT.
   Rebekah Brooks, former News of the World and Sun editor, now chief executive of News International, gives evidence. She is flawless. Jukes says: 'If it was a carefully scripted performance (as Andrew Edis QC later implied) it was the performance of her life.'
   11. ROGUE MALE.
   Wracked by ill-health, Clive Goodman enters the witness box to deny allegations he corrupted public officials while Royal Editor of the News of the World. 'By 2005, Coulson was chastising him for being ‘way off the pace’ and telling him to ‘find a means to get into the young royals'
   12. COMMEDIA DELL'ARTE.
   Goodman is taken ill during cross-examination. With Goodman unable to give evidence, the trial hears from three Operation Sacha defendants: Cheryl Carter, Charlie Brooks and Mark Hanna, accused of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice of the hacking cases
   13. LAST MAN STANDING.
   It's 14 April 2014 and Andrew Coulson gives evidence. Like Like Brooks’ lawyer before him, Coulson’s, Langdale, starts with a …