Claim: Andy Coulson knew Milly Dowler messages hacked

A former News of the World journalist has told a court Andy Coulson was aware that voicemail messages on the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler had been intercepted.

Neville Thurlbeck, the tabloid’s one-time chief reporter, also said that hacked messages were the source of a story about former home secretary David Blunkett having an affair.

Coulson, 47, the UK prime minister’s former director of communications, is on trial in Edinburgh accused of lying under oath in the 2010 perjury trial of ex-Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan.