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Rebekah Brooks court
Rebekah Brooks leaves Westminster magistrates court after a hearing related to charges of alleged phone hacking. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
Rebekah Brooks leaves Westminster magistrates court after a hearing related to charges of alleged phone hacking. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters

Rebekah Brooks appears in court in relation to alleged phone hacking

This article is more than 11 years old
Former News of the World editor ordered to appear at crown court on 26 September and not to contact co-defendants

The former News International chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, has appeared in court in relation to charges of allegedly conspiring to hack into the voicemail of murdered teenager Milly Dowler and up to six others.

In a four minute hearing, Brooks spoke only to confirm her name, address and date of birth at Westminster magistrates court on Monday morning.

She was ordered by chief magistrate Howard Riddle Brooks to appear at Southwark crown court on 26 September in relation to the charges.

The former editor of the Sun and News of the World is already due in court on that day for a hearing in relation to separate charges that she allegedly conspired to pervert the course of justice.

Rebekah Brookes court2
Brooks leaves Westminster magistrates court with her lawyer Angus McBride. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Brooks, 44, appeared alone in the dock to hear bail conditions banning her from contacting six co-defendants, and to give police seven days notice of any foreign travel.

She faces one general charge, which prosecutors claim could affect more than 600 victims, and two other specific charges linked to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and former union boss Andrew Gilchrist.

Brooks was told that under her bail conditions, she must not make contact with co-defendants, Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck, Ian Edmondson, James Weatherup, Andy Coulson and Stuart Kuttner.

Rebekah Brooks (C), former chief executi
Brooks was ordered to appear at Southwark crown court on 26 September and not to contact co-defendants. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images

In addition, she was told she must not contact two others who have been arrested by officers investigating phone hacking and are currently on bail – former NoW deputy editor Neil Wallis and former reporter Dan Evans. She was also told she must not contact another woman who was not named in open court but is currently on bail.

The first phone hacking-related charge is that she conspired between 3 October, 2000 and 9 August, 2006 with others to unlawfully intercept the voicemails of "well-known people and those associated with them".

The second charge is that between 9 April 2002 and 21 April 2002 she conspired with Coulson, Kuttner, Glenn Mulcaire, Miskiw and Thurlbeck "and persons unknown to intercept communications in the course of their transmission without lawful authority, namely the voicemail messages of Amanda Dowler, also known as Milly Dowler".

The third charge is that between 3 December, 2002 and 22 January 2003, Brooks, Mulcaire and Miskiw "conspired together and with persons unknown" to intercept the voicemails of Gilchrist, then the Fire brigade unions leader.

Brooks was also told she must give seven days' notice to the police of any foreign travel.

Scotland Yard has confirmed that Brooks has been rebailed until a date in "mid October" in relation to a third set of allegations following her arrest by officers working on Operation Elveden, the Met police investigation into payments to police and public servants by newspapers.

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