'I love you. I can't cope without you': What Rebekah Brooks wrote to fellow hacking suspect Coulson as he tried to end six-year affair

• Letter found on Brooks's computer reveals long affair with Andy Coulson
• Coulson was trying to break-off the romance in February 2004, jury told
• Coulson married wife Eloise in 2000, Brooks married Ross Kemp in 2002
• NotW sent team to hunt for Milly Dowler based on details in hacked phone
  

By Rebecca Camber, Vanessa Allen, Martin Robinson and Mark Duell

PUBLISHED: 06:23 EST, 31 October 2013 | UPDATED: 19:49 EST, 31 October 2013

Rebekah Brooks had a secret six-year affair with Andy Coulson before he became David Cameron’s spin doctor, the phone hacking trial heard yesterday.

The pair, both of whom were married, are said to have had a romance at the height of a phone hacking conspiracy in which the News of the World is alleged to have targeted celebrities, politicians and royals.

Part of an astonishing love letter from Brooks to Coulson, written after he tried to end their affair in February 2004, was read to the jury yesterday.

Event: Rebekah Brooks, Charlie Brooks, with Andy Coulson and his wife Eloise at Mayfair cabaret in 2009

Revelation: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson (left, in September 2004) were having a secret affair for at least six years, the Old Bailey heard. Coulson is pictured leaving the court earlier this week with wife Eloise (right)

Couple: Rebekah Brooks (right) with her husband Charlie Brooks (left) leaving the Old Bailey court yesterday

Lovers: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson arrive at London's Old Bailey for the trial's second day yesterday

In the letter Brooks, who was married at the time to actor Ross Kemp, told Coulson, who was also married: ‘The fact is you are my very best friend. I tell you everything.

‘I confide in you, I seek your advice, I love you, care about you, worry about you. We laugh and cry together.

‘In fact without our relationship in my life, I am really not sure how I will cope. I’m frightened to be without you.’

In it, she also expresses her fears about how they will maintain a professional relationship.

She asks him: ‘How do we really work this new relationship? There are a hundred things that have happened since Saturday night that I would normally share with you.’

Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson arriving at court yesterday

Leaving: Downing Street's former director of communications and News Of The World editor Andy Coulson departs the Old Bailey after denying the charges against him at the phone-hacking conspiracy trial

Leaving: Former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks exits the Old Bailey in Central London

Famous: Eastenders star Ross Kemp and Rebekah Wade married in 2002 but later divorced in 2009

Yesterday Brooks and Coulson did not look at each other as they sat side by side in the dock while the letter was read out. Brooks glanced down at her lap, pursing her lips, while Coulson stared straight ahead.

THE LETTER BROOKS WROTE TO COULSON 'AT END OF AFFAIR'

A letter from Brooks to Coulson in February 2004 was discovered by police.

Its final paragraphs have been read to the Old Bailey.

‘Finally and the least of our worries, but how do we really work this new relationship? There are a hundred things that have happened since Saturday night that I would normally share with you..some important, most trivial,' she wrote.

‘The fact is you are my very best friend. I tell you everything, I confide in you, I seek your advice, I love you, care about you, worry about you. We laugh and cry together... in fact without our relationship in my life, I am really not sure how I will cope.

‘I'm frightened to be without you... but bearing in mind 'the rules' you will not know how I am doing and visa versa. The thought of finding out anything about you or your life from someone else fills me with absolute dread.

‘Also you said I had to email you if anything important happened… like if I was ill? I don't understand this... we are either there for each other or not surely?

‘But for example, how does this work thing manifest itself. Do we limit contact until we absolutely have to... like leaving our execs to sort run of the mill joint stuff?

‘I don't want to get this wrong. I hope that I've managed to put your mind at rest about Les..and that you two now have a better relationship. On KRM (Keith Rupert Murdoch), well he's not b********g you must not brood on lack of calls.

‘Obviously I can't discuss my worries, concerns, problems at work with you anymore... and visa versa... but I'll assume unless I hear different that we keep our professional relationship to the minimum... and avoid if possible without it being in any way awkward.

‘If it is necessary or more importantly right that we two editors should deal with it, then we will.

‘If either of us feels that we are not striking this balance then we must say...?? Anyway, that really isn't where I am confused. I know what horror it means and I know why we have to stick to it.’

Brooks’s current husband and co-defendant, Charlie Brooks, sat a few yards away in the dock.

Moments earlier Brooks had glanced at the public gallery where Coulson’s wife of 13 years, Eloise, was notably absent.

The day before she had been at her husband’s side as they braved the media scrum outside the courtroom. Yesterday she was nowhere to be seen.

She married the then deputy editor of the tabloid in 2000, two years after his fling with Brooks began.

Brooks married Kemp in 2002, after they had been together for several years. They separated in 2006 and divorced in 2009. She married Charlie Brooks later that year.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said the letter went to the heart of the case, proving that the two editors trusted each other implicitly and kept no secrets from one another at a time when phone hacking was rife on their watch.

The document was found on a computer hidden in a cupboard when Scotland Yard raided Brooks’s London flat in 2011. It was unclear when, if ever, it was sent.

Mr Edis told jurors: ‘Mrs Brooks and Mr Coulson are charged with conspiracy and, when people are charged with conspiracy, the first question a jury has to answer is how well did they know each other? How much did they trust each other?

‘And the fact that they were in this relationship which was a secret means that they trusted each other quite a lot with at least that secret and that’s why we are telling you about it.’

The court heard that Brooks went on holiday to Dubai in April 2002, but remained in contact with Coulson while she was away as the newspaper planned to run a front-page story about murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Yesterday jurors were told that the News of the World’s private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was hacking Milly’s phone on the same day that the paper had written to her parents asking for an exclusive interview.

It wasn’t until the day before the paper went to print that the managing editor Stuart Kuttner informed Surrey Police the paper had listened to her messages, which they claimed had been obtained through Milly’s schoolfriends, it was said.

Brooks made a string of calls from Dubai to the editor’s office, with one lasting 38 minutes as the paper went to print, the court heard.

In court: From left, Ian Edmondson, Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson look at video evidence and take notes

Making an exit: Andy Coulson (right) departs the Old Bailey in Central London at the end of the day

Revelations: Brooks, former News International chief executive, arrives for the phone-hacking trial with her husband Charlie on the day the court heard she had a secret six-year affair with Andy Coulson

Evidence: The prosecution presented a letter from February 2004, apparently written after their romance ended, just months before this photo was taken in September that year

The first edition of the paper included direct quotes from the voicemail message that had been hacked. The second edition was amended to remove the quotes after Brooks spoke to the news desk.

Mr Edis said: ‘She met somebody in Dubai while on holiday who remembers that she spent a lot of time on the phone.

‘On one occasion, she said “I’ve got to go and speak to somebody about the missing Surrey schoolgirl”.’   

The court heard that Cabinet ministers Tessa Jowell, David Blunkett and John Prescott were also among the News of the World’s targets.

Colleagues: Andy Coulson and Rebekah Wade pictured together in 2008 at the Tory party conference, after their alleged affair was over

Packed courtroom: Defendants in the dock at London's Old Bailey listening to a recording of Glenn Mulcaire

Dame Tessa, then Culture Secretary, was in the spotlight because of the connection between her husband David Mills and Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Mr Edis said: ‘There was an allegation he had been involved in bribery in Italy involving Signor Berlusconi – that was the story being pursued.

‘No doubt a story the public have a proper interest in, but this is phone hacking, a crime, and there’s no justification for committing this criminal offence in the pursuit of a story.’

He said notes in Mulcaire’s notebooks headlined with the name ‘Ian’ show Miss Jowell and Mr Mills were being investigated, using phone hacking if necessary.

In detail: Barrister Andrew Edis QC opens the case for the prosecution at the court in Central London

Husband: Brooks is in the dock with partner Charlie Brooks, who is accused of perverting the course of justice

Mulcaire has admitted phone hacking. Brooks, Coulson, news editor Ian Edmondson, 44, and Kuttner, 73 all deny conspiring with others to hack phones between October 3, 2000 and August 9, 2006.

Brooks, Coulson, and former Royal Editor Clive Goodman also deny conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office. Brooks also denies two counts of perverting the course of justice.

Her husband, Charles, 50, PA Cheryl Carter, 49, and News International head of security Mark Hanna, 50 are accused of conspiring with her to cover-up evidence.

They all deny conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. The trial continues.

 

How Mulcaire 'hacked into phones of David Blunkett's friends and associates to reveal story of his affair'

Affair: American publisher Kimberley Quinn and former home secretary David Blunkett

Andy Coulson confronted David Blunkett over his affair with a married woman after learning about the relationship through phone hacking, it was claimed yesterday.

In a tense face-to-face meeting, Coulson, 45, visited the then home secretary to tell him the News of the World was about to expose his three-year relationship with American publisher Kimberley Quinn.

He repeatedly refused to reveal his ‘sources’ to the senior Labour Cabinet minister but said they were ‘extremely reliable’ and his information was ‘pretty solid’.

The prosecution allege that the then editor of the News of the World was confident of his information because it came directly from voicemail messages left by Mr Blunkett on Mrs Quinn’s phone.

They were hacked by the Sunday tabloid’s investigator Glenn Mulcaire and the tapes were stored in a lawyer’s safe at News International, publisher of the News of the World, the court heard.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said it was ‘absolutely inconceivable’ that the now defunct newspaper had published its front page exclusive about a serving Cabinet minister without knowing that its information had come from illegal phone hacking.

'HOW TO DO IT', BY REBEKAH

Rebekah Brooks told Colin Montgomerie’s ex-wife how to hack  into phones, the Old Bailey heard yesterday.

She allegedly explained the practice to Eimear Cook, who was married to the Scottish golfer for 16 years until 2006.

Brooks said all it took to listen to another person’s voicemail was their mobile phone number and a ‘factory PIN’ – a personal identification number, the court heard.  

She allegedly told Mrs Cook that a story about Sir Paul McCartney and Heather Mills having an  argument about an engagement ring was sourced through phone hacking.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said the News of the World had published a story about Sir Paul throwing his fiancée’s engagement ring out of a hotel window in 2002.

Another witness will tell the court that Mrs Brooks said hacking was ‘easy’, and the practice was rife across the newspaper industry in the 1990s, the prosecution said.

Mr Edis told the jury: ‘She did know about phone hacking as a practice at this time, we say.’

He played the jury a tape of the confrontation between the two men in August 2004, which was recorded by Mr Blunkett.

Coulson told him: ‘I’m certainly very confident about the information… I am not able to lay out clear-cut evidence but I believe it to be true.’

Mr Blunkett, who was unmarried at the time, protested: ‘A private life is private. If you don’t have a private life we don’t have anything.’

Coulson responded: ‘People talk. I would not be exposing myself in this way unless I believed the story to be true.’

Coulson offered to withhold the name of Mrs Quinn and the News of the World published its story without naming her but she was named the next day in its sister paper, The Sun.

Mr Edis said there were phone calls between Coulson and Sun editor Rebekah Brooks on the day the News of the World story broke.

Two days later the Sun revealed Mrs Quinn was pregnant. The allegedly hacked voicemails revealed a message on her phone from a Harley Street clinic about a scan.

Mr Edis suggested Brooks and Coulson knew their information came from hacking. Mulcaire, 43, has admitted hacking but Brooks and Coulson both deny any part in the alleged conspiracy.

 

News of the World sent team to hunt for schoolgirl Milly Dowler after listening to her voicemails, Old Bailey hears

Victim: The Old Bailey heard that Brooks and Coulson would have known about the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone

A team of reporters and photographer were dispatched to hunt for Milly Dowler based on information from the schoolgirl's hacked voicemails, the court heard.

Mulcaire had listened to the messages at the behest of chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, hearing that a recruitment firm in Telford had rung Miss Dowler.

The tabloid then dispatched its employees to Telford to work on this information, before telling the police what they had learned.

Kuttner and Thurlbeck both then informed Surrey Police that the paper had listen to her private messages, with Thurlbeck pretending they had got hold of them through Miss Dowler's schoolfriends.

Mr Edis told the court: 'They dispatched a team of journalists and photographers to Telford so they could see whether Milly Dowler could be found in Telford.

'They wanted to speak to the recruitment agency to see whether she was at the factory that the telephone had concerned, to see whether they could find Milly Dowler alive.

'If they had done - they didn't, Milly Dowler was of course dead - it would have been quite a story: The News of the World finds the girl that police can't find.

'They committed considerable resources to it, sending a team of people to Telford.'

The court heard the recruitment firm fell foul of a hoax caller pretending to be Milly Dowler, and the lead from the voicemail was not true.

However, Mr Edis said the activity leading up to and the story eventually published based on this information show senior people at the paper were deeply involved.

Murder case: Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, left, who has admitted intercepting voicemails, was asked by former NotW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck to listen to Milly's voicemails

Stuart Kuttner had written to the police earlier in the week asking a series of questions about Miss Dowler's disappearance, offering to help in anyway they could.

After the voicemail emerged, Kuttner tried to contact the police on the Saturday before publication with news from the voicemails, promising 'significant information'.

Brooks was on holiday at the time in Dubai, but made a string of phone calls to the news desk with one lasting 38 minutes, the court heard.

Dowler case: Stuart Kuttner tried to contact Surrey Police to promise 'significant information' about the missing schoolgirl based on a hacked voicemail, jury told

Mr Edis said it was likely that Brooks was speaking to Coulson, acting as editor in those calls, and because they were having an affair, it was likely they were sharing information.

'If they weren't talking about work, and weren't exchanging confidences and discussing difficulties, the point of the letter was to show what Coulson knew as editor, Mrs Brooks knew too, because of the kind of relationship they had.'

He continued: 'She met somebody in Dubai while on holiday who remembers that she spent a lot of time on the phone during her holiday.

'On one occasion, she said I've got to go and speak to somebody about the missing Surrey schoolgirl.

'If you accept that evidence, it shows she was interested in the story and shows you something about the phone contact.

'At the time of the 38 minute phone call, while this was going on between Mrs Brooks and the editor's desk at the News of the World, things were hotting up.

'The News of the World was on the hunt for a substantial story.

'Did the editors know, and if they knew they must have known where it comes from - it had come from a phone hacker.'

Mr Edis said the first edition of the paper went to press which included direct quotes from the voicemail message that had been hacked.

The second edition was amended to remove the quotes, and Mr Edis said Brooks spoke to the news desk before each edition went to press.

'It is simply incredible that the editors did not know what was going on in that week', he said.

'There was just too much going on.'

 

Hacking trial jurors hear recording of £100,000-a-year News of the World investigator 'blagging' O2 operator

Evidence: Glenn Mulcaire has pleaded guilty to phone hacking and the jury heard examples of his blagging in court yesterday

Jurors in the trial of former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson yesterday heard a recording of the tabloid's £100,000-a-year 'blagger' getting a voicemail password reset by a mobile phone company.

In the brief recording Glenn Mulcaire, who has already pleaded guilty to charges of phone hacking, contacts O2 to ask for a voicemail reset - a method it is alleged could be used to access people's messages.

Brooks and her number two Andy Coulson have been accused of being at the heart of the hacking conspiracy because they 'held the purse strings' at the News of the World, the jury heard.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC told the court yesterday: 'He (Mulcaire) gives the woman who works for the company a network password, albatross, which he has got from somewhere.

'He really knows how it works, he knows the right things to say, and he is quite chatty and she doesn't seem at all troubled.'

Continuing his case opening, which started on Wednesday at the Old Bailey, Mr Edis said other than a few 'taskings' by the News of the World in 1999, the first dated tasking of Mulcaire by the newspaper was January 8, 2001

Yesterday the Old Bailey heard Rebekah Brooks presided over a six-year campaign of phone hacking which targeted politicians, pop stars and royals.

The former News of the World editor and her then deputy Andy Coulson allegedly sanctioned ‘thousands upon thousands’ of voicemail interceptions.

The court heard that illegal phone tapping was so widespread that lieutenants at the now-defunct tabloid even used a special hotline for ‘do-it-yourself hacking’ and targeted rival journalists.

It was also revealed for the first time that three former news editors at the newspaper, Neville Thurlbeck, 52, Greg Miskiw, 63, and James Weatherup, 57, have all pleaded guilty to their part in the hacking plot.

In a ‘pervasive’ phone hacking culture at the paper, the voicemails of members of the Royal Family were intercepted, including Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent.

Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, former private secretary to Princes William and Harry, was also targeted.

Celebrities who were hacked include Sir Paul McCartney and his then wife Heather Mills, as well as actor Jude Law and his girlfriend at the time, Sienna Miller.

Prosecution opening: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson watch Andrew Edis QC tell the jury that the pair knew about phone hacking because they 'held the purse strings' at the News of the World

First day: From left, Ian Edmondson, Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson, Clive Goodman, Cheryl Carter, Charlie Brooks and Mark Hanna listen to the prosecution's opening on Wednesday

Defendants: Former news editor at the News of the World Ian Edmondson (top left), former royal editor Clive Goodman (top right), Brooks's PA Cheryl Carter (bottom left) and managing editor Stuart Kuttner (bottom right)

Yesterday it emerged for the first time that associates of model Kate Moss, singer Will Young and actress Joanna Lumley were targeted too.

Glenn Mulcaire, the newspaper’s phone hacking specialist, also recorded voicemail messages belonging to the former home secretary David Blunkett and the British nanny Louise Woodward, who was convicted of killing a child in the US in the 1990s.

Mulcaire, 43, who was paid £100,000 a year by the paper to lead the hacking, has also admitted intercepting the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler’s voicemails.

In an earlier hearing, he admitted three counts of conspiracy to commit phone hacking after police found ‘thousands of thousands of pages’ of notes relating to his victims.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis, QC, said:‘They were responsible for enormous payments made to Mr Mulcaire. They were party to a conspiracy to ensure that was carried out.’

He told the jury they had to decide ‘quite a simple issue: there was phone hacking – who knew?’ 

He went on: ‘The News of the World was a Sunday paper, that means it was published once a week.

‘It wasn’t War and Peace, it wasn’t an enormous document – it was the sort of document, that if editing, you could actually take an interest in the contents without too much trouble.

'The management must have known where some of these stories had come from'.

Guilty: Former News of the World journalist James Weatherup (left) and his news editor Greg Miskiw (right) have also been accused of breaking the law by intercepting voicemails, the Old Bailey heard

Allegations: Mark Hanna, the former head of security at News International, is accused of conspiring with Mrs Brooks and her husband Charlie to pervert the course of justice

And yesterday Mr Edis said Mulcaire's contract would also have been known about by management.

'It was not hidden from anybody that he was being paid all that money because of course the money has to go through an accounting system, it is budgeted for, it's seen.

'The question is, didn't anybody ever ask, what are we paying this chap for?'

He added: 'So what was it that he was doing? Well, we know that he was a phone hacker and we know that he was a good one, and we know that he was an accomplished blagger.'

Brooks and Coulson are accused of conspiracy to intercept voicemail communications with former head of news Ian Edmondson, 44, and ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, between October 2000 and August 2006.

Brooks is also charged with two counts of conspiring with others to commit misconduct in public office. She faces two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice – one with former PA, Carter.

The second count alleges that Brooks, her husband Charlie and former head of security Hanna conspired together with others to pervert the course of justice by trying to conceal documents, computers and electronic equipment from police.

Coulson and Goodman are accused of conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office by paying for a Royal household phone directory. All eight deny the charges.

Revealed: The Three emails to News of the World staffer that sparked Scotland Yard hacking probe

Accusation: The court heard about three emails to former news editor of the News of the World Ian Edmondson, about the hacking of phones linked to Tessa Jowell, Lord Frederick Windsor, and an adviser to John Prescott

The court heard that the police investigation into phone hacking in 2011 was sparked by the discovery of three emails that News International gave to officers.

The messages were from Glenn Mulcaire to news editor Ian Edmondson, and it is alleged they were about hacking phones linked to Tessa Jowell and David Mills; Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent; and an adviser to John Prescott.

The first message, on April 20 2006, referred to Jowell and Mills, at a time when Mills had been accused of involvement in bribery linked to former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.

It said: 'Substantial traffic both ways, also looks like she's selling up.'

Mr Edis told the jury: 'You're going to have to decide in Mr Edmondson's case what you make of that, whether it can possibly mean anything at all other that 'I've been phone-hacking Tessa, and this is what I've found out'.'

Another message, from April 27 2006, referred to Lord Frederick Windsor, and contained a reference to 'press * and Pin', which prosecutors say was Mulcaire telling Edmondson how to hack a phone.

The third email refered to an adviser to former deputy prime minister Lord Prescott, who was at the centre of a publicity storm because he was accused of having an affair.

Target: The hacking trial heard how phones linked to Tessa Jowell and husband David Mills (pictured) were repeatedly hacked by Mulcaire and management allegedly knew about it

Prosecutors claim that Edmondson must have known that Mulcaire was hacking phones.

Referring to the alleged targeting of MP Ms Jowell and her husband Mr Mills, Mr Edis said: 'We know what Mr Mulcaire was doing, he was phone hacking.

'Look how much contact there is at this time between Mr Edmondson and Mr Mulcaire.

Deputy Prime Minister: Records showed that Mulcaire tried to hack phones linked to Lord Prescott to get details about his affair with his secretary in 2006

'Do you think it is likely or even possible that Mr Edmondson did not know what was being done by Mr Mulcaire?

'We know that Edmondson was interested in Tessa Jowell, he was investigating Tessa Jowell, and we know that he was in communication with Mr Mulcaire.

'We know that Mr Mulcaire hacked Tessa Jowell's phone and listened to her messages.'

Mr Edis went on: 'This was an important story.

'It wasn't something that was stuck after the letters page, this was big stuff.'

The prosecutor said it was the editor's duty to ask 'How do I know this information is true?' when stories were going to appear in the newspaper.

'Mr Coulson was editor at this time,' he told the jury.

The jury heard that the newspaper went about trying to get a 'scoop' about Lord Prescott's affair with his secretary Tracey Temple in April 2006.

Mr Edis described a series of phone calls, emails, and phone hacks that he said was Mulcaire trying to get information at the behest of the NotW.

The jury also heard that journalists at the paper, including James Weatherup - who has already pleaded guilty to hacking charges - and Coulson, discussed trying to contact Ms Temple to offer her £100,000 for her story.

Records showed that they then tried to hack the phone of Lord Prescott's special adviser Joan Hammell.

The court was told the NotW hacked journalists from rival paper the Mail on Sunday - Dennis Rice and Sebastian Hamilton - to find out what information they had on the story.

'This was all about finding out how the competition were getting on with the story because, of course, you don't want to be scooped,' Mr Edis said.

'One nice easy cheap way of finding out what they know is to hack their phone so that the competition don't get to steal a march on you.

'In the dog eat dog world of journalism, in a frenzy to get this huge story or try to get something better or at least as good as what everyone else has got, that's what you do, perhaps, if you are Ian Edmondson. You hack the competition.'

Mr Edis said that when the News of the World found out the Mail on Sunday was hoping to run the story, the paper concluded: 'We are going to spoil that by doing our own story.

'We know how they were planning to do the spoiler - it was by hacking other journalists.'

Prosecution: Payments to private eye Mulcaire 'proves management knew about hacking'

Claims: Andrew Edis QC said that management like Rebekah Brooks controlled finances so would have known about payments to hacker Mulcaire

Prosecution QC Andrew Edis claimed yesterday that budget cuts at the News of the World during the hacking scandal meant that Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson would have known about payments to 'blagger' Glenn Mulcaire.

The Old Bailey also heard that the 'pressure' from the top to find exclusive stories for the Sunday tabloid forced journalists to 'stray into crime'.

Mr Edis told jurors: 'You're going to have to form a view about how much pressure there was on journalists at the NotW to get stories, so that they strayed sometimes into crime in order to do it.

'And also how much the editor was involved in the whole process.'

The newspaper had a successful year in 2004, but management were not happy with the performance in 2005, the court heard.

Jurors were read an email from Kuttner to Miskiw in September 2000, warning him that he was 43% overspent nine weeks into the financial year.

Messages were sent to senior staff in June 2001, saying they would have to get 'formal approval from the editor for spending outside their limits'.

They were warned that there would be 'the most severe consequences' if they exceeded their budgets.

Mr Edis said that Brooks, Kuttner and Coulson were working together to rein in spending.

He said: 'We can see the three of them operating as a management team, trying to keep these groups of journalists within budget.'

Brooks' instructions about controlling spending were reiterated that month, and she wrote to Miskiw and former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck telling them that any payments over £1,000 would have to be authorised by herself, Kuttner or Coulson.

Mr Edis told the court that Kuttner warned them he would be 'unavoidably tough', saying: 'The palmy days of indulgence are over.'

The prosecutor told the court: 'That's the point which we say generates the inference that they must have known what was going on with Mr Mulcaire.

'What on earth do they think they are doing if they did not know? The money was going out of the paper. Where was it going? Did they care? Well, yes, they did.'

The court heard that in August 2001, when rules about how regular contributors were paid changed, Mulcaire was a 'major exception'.

Mr Edis said: 'If people knew that Mr Mulcaire was committing crimes on behalf of the NotW or engaged in unacceptable activity on behalf of the NotW, then they would quickly understand that he had to be deniable.'

Jurors were told that Kuttner authorised 221 separate payments totalling £413, 527 to Mulcaire 'over the years', amounting to 72 per cent of what Mulcaire earned during that time.

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