Trial shows footage of Charlie Brooks ‘trying to hide evidence’

The trial of Rebekah Brooks, who ran Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm, was shown film footage of her husband involved in what prosecutors say was a botched plan to hide evidence from police investigating allegations of phone-hacking.

The day Brooks was first quizzed by police and before her home was searched, her husband, racehorse trainer Charlie, hid a laptop and a bag behind a bin in an underground car park of their plush London apartment block where it was picked up by the Brookses security team, prosecutors say. After the police completed a search, the security team returned with a bag and left it in the car park. Prosecutors say the plan went awry for the couple because a cleaner then found the material and it was given to the police.

The alleged intrigue took place in 2011 when News International, the British newspaper division of Murdoch’s News Corp, became engulfed in a media firestorm and a police inquiry after it was alleged journalists had hacked the phone of a murdered schoolgirl among others.