Brooks cleared of charges in phone-hacking trail

Rebekah Brooks, former head of Rupert Murdoch’s newspaper holdings in Britain, has been discharged and acquitted on Tuesday, June 24, of charges in a high-profile phone-hacking trial.

Brooks was cleared with Charlie, her husband and former members of staff, after an Old Bailey trial that lasted 138 days and is expected to cost up to £100 million.

Brooks was acquitted of conspiracy to hack phones, conspiracy to corrupt public officials and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

The verdicts after a week of deliberations by a jury came after lengthy hearings into a scandal at the Murdoch news empire that shook the British police, news media and political elite and forced the closure of a leading Sunday tabloid, News of the World.

While she was acquitted, Andy Coulson, her former deputy, who edited the News of the World between 2003 and 2007, and was one time head of communications for David Cameron, prime minister of Britain, was found guilty of one charge of conspiracy to hack voicemails.

He was sentenced to two years in prison.