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divdiv class=story-body readability=42 span class=story-date#13; span class=date30 October 2013/span#13; span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time11:57 ET/span#13; #13; /span#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1The trial of former News of the World journalists accused of phone hacking has got under way at the Old Bailey./p#13; pProsecutor Andrew Edis QC said the trial concerned other discoveries in the investigation, not just hacking./p#13; pEx-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson are among eight people who deny a range of charges./p#13; pThe court has heard that three former newsdesk editors have also pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack phones./p#13; pThe trial could last up to six months./p#13; pMr Edis told the jury of nine women and three men that the News of the World had closed because it had been discovered that someone at the newspaper had hacked the phone of a young murdered girl, Milly Dowler. /p#13; pHe said that phone hacking meant listening to other people's voicemails without their consent, usually by finding the passcode needed to listen to messages left for them by someone else./p#13; p id=story_continues_2Mr Edis said the newspaper had employed a private investigator, Glenn Mulcaire, to be involved in phone hacking in order to find or develop stories that would eventually make it into the News of the World's pages./p#13; pHe said public officials, including prison officers and soldiers, sold information to the News of the World and the Sun, and that was a crime./p#13; pThe third set of allegations faced by some of the defendants concerned hiding possible evidence - perverting the course of justice, he said./p#13; pMr Edis said Mrs Brooks, Mr Coulson and colleagues Ian Edmondson and Stuart Kuttner were charged with conspiracy to intercept communications by listening to voicemails./p#13; span class=cross-headFurther charges/span#13; pMr Coulson and reporter Clive Goodman are alleged to have paid a Buckingham Palace police officer for a copy of the royal household telephone book./p#13; pMr Goodman allegedly asked Mr Coulson to approve a payment to a palace police officer./p#13; pMrs Brooks is alleged to have approved payments to public officials while she was editor of the Sun after 2003./p#13; pShe also allegedly approved nearly £40,000 of payments for stories from a security-cleared MoD official./p#13; pFurther charges allege an attempt to cover-up evidence involving Mrs Brooks, her PA Cheryl Carter, husband Charlie Brooks and security chief Mark Hanna./p#13; pMr Edis said Mr Mulcaire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hack phones in November 2006 and was sentenced for that along with Mr Goodman./p#13; pThe court heard that Mr Mulcaire had pleaded guilty this year to three counts of conspiracy to hack phones in relation to Milly Dowler and others./p#13; #13; pNews of the World journalists Greg Miskiw, Neville Thurlbeck and James Weatherup have also pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack phones, he said./p#13; pMr Edis said: We say we will be able to show that there was phone hacking at the News of the World. That Glenn Mulcaire did it. That Clive Goodman did it. And that Ian Edmonson did it./p#13; pWere they asked as part of the conspiracy, given that they were so senior at the paper? They wanted it to happen because they were in charge of the purse-strings... So you may say that if they didn't stop it, they were part of the conspiracy to carry on./p#13; pHe told the jury it was quite a simple issue - There was phone hacking - who knew?/p#13; pMr Edis said there was phone hacking during both periods when Mrs Brooks and Mr Coulson edited the News of the World./p#13; pYou will have to decide whether it could happen without the editor knowing, he told the jury./p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center