On Tuesday, prosecutors in Great Britain said they would charge Rebekah Brooks, ex-News of the World Editor, with trying to obstruct a police investigation into phone hacking at newspapers owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Brooks is accused of plotting to remove boxes of documents from News International offices and hiding computers and documents from police. Her husband, personal assistant, and driver will also be charged, as well as her security guards and the head of security for News International, the News Corp. subsidiary that publishes Murdoch’s British newspapers.
Brooks and her clan are amongst the first people who will be charged in connection with British police investigations into phone hacking and police bribery, which has been occurring for more than a year. Their arrests were based on information provided by News Corp., police say. Brooks faces three counts of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Charles, her husband, and her affiliates face two counts each on the same charge. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, the maximum sentence for the charges they face is life in prison. A spokesman for Brooks reported she and her husband “deplore this weak and unjust decision,” and blamed prosecutors of “unprecedented posturing.”
