Baffled and bitter Rebekah Brooks: I am the victim of witch hunt

FORMER News of the World editor Rebekah Brooks last night angrily denounced the decision to charge her and six others with perverting the course of justice as a “waste of public money”.

Brooks said the charges brought against her yesterday were an “expensive sideshow”.

Her husband, Charlie Brooks, who is among those charged, said he doubted his wife could receive a fair trail when she was being subjected to a “witch hunt”.

Speaking outside their solicitor’s office in London, Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of News International at the height of the hacking scandal, said she was “baffled” by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decision to charge her.

The couple will now appear, alongside four others who all worked closely with Brooks, at the City of London Magistrates Court, on 13 June.

Brooks said: “I cannot express my anger enough that those closest to me have been dragged into this unfairly.

“One day, the details of this case will emerge and people will see today as nothing more than an expensive sideshow and a waste of public money as a result of an unjust and weak decision.”

She added: “Even News International’s harshest critics can’t wish to see today – people with no involvement of the central issues being treated like this and being involved like this.”

Her husband, a racehorse trainer and former school friend of the Prime Minister David Cameron, said: “I feel today is an attempt to use me and others as scapegoats, the effect of which will be to ratchet up pressure on my wife, who I believe is also the subject of a witch hunt.

“I have no doubt that the lack of evidence against me will be borne out in court, but I have grave doubts that my wife can ever get a fair trial, given the huge volume of biased commentary which she has been subjected to. We will fight this in court.”

The charges, among the first to be brought in relation to the phone-hacking investigation, represent a further embarrassment to David Cameron, whose closeness to the couple was underlined in Brooks’s evidence to Lord Leveson last week. She revealed the Prime Minister sent a message urging her to “keep your head up” after she resigned from News International last year.

In a further demonstration of their friendly relationship, Brooks even disclosed he used to end texts to her with the initials LOL, believing it meant “lots of love”, until she told him it actually stood for “laugh out loud”.

Brooks’s evidence also increased the pressure on Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt by disclosing an e-mail that appears to suggest he colluded with Rupert Murdoch’s empire.

Last night, a Number 10 spokeswoman declined to comment on the charges, saying it would be “inappropriate” as investigations are ongoing.

Brooks faces three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, including claims that she removed boxes of material from the News International archive and tried to conceal documents, computers and other material from police.

Her husband, personal assistant Cheryl Carter and News International head of security Mark Hanna, as well as Paul Edwards, who was Brooks’s chauffeur, and security consultant Daryl Jorsling, all face charges of conspiracy.

The couple were originally arrested in July after a cleaner reportedly found a bag containing a laptop, iPhone and paperwork in a bin near their home. The bag was passed to security guards and police were called.

Alison Levitt QC, principal legal adviser to the director of public prosecutions at the CPS, revealed a seventh suspect – a security consultant – would face no charges.

She said: “All these matters relate to the ongoing police investigation into allegations of phone hacking and corruption of public officials in relation to the News of the World and the Sun newspapers.”

The charges are the first to be brought following Scotland Yard’s multi-million-pound investigations into phone hacking, computer hacking and corruption, which have led to 50 arrests since they began in January last year.

The Metropolitan Police launched Operation Weeting in response to News of the World phone hacking, including one belonging to missing teenager Milly Dowler.

The force is also running related inquiries – Operation Elveden into police payments, and Operation Tuleta into computer hacking on behalf of the former Sunday tabloid.

Police figures showed that there were 829 potential victims of phone hacking, including 231 whom it has not been possible to contact.

The scandal has already claimed the News of the World, which closed last year after 168 years.

Officers from the Operation Weeting team charged the six yesterday as they answered bail at separate stations.

Brooks, 43, who reported to Lewisham police station shortly before noon yesterday, was listed as “unemployed” of Churchill, Oxfordshire,

Her husband, 49, a “writer” also of Churchill, Oxfordshire; Carter, 48, of Chelmsford, Essex; Jorsling, 39, of Aldershot, Surrey; Edwards, 47, of west London; and Hanna, 49, of Buckingham, learned of the charges at various police stations.

Carter, who is accused of conspiring with Brooks to remove seven boxes of material from the company’s archive, is enduring the “most unhappy period of her life”, her solicitor said.

Another suspect was similarly defiant in declaring his innocence. Hanna was insistent in saying “I will be totally exonerated” as he confirmed he had been charged.

• The CPS statement in full