Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of Rupert Murdoch’s British newspaper arm, was acquitted on Tuesday of orchestrating a campaign to hack into phones and bribe officials in a case that has shaken the British political establishment.
A jury at London’s Old Bailey court cleared Brooks unanimously. She was found not guilty of being part of a conspiracy to hack into phones to find exclusive stories, of authorizing illegal payments to public officials and of trying to hinder the police investigation.
Brooks’ lawyer Jonathan Laidlaw had argued the prosecution failed to produce a “smoking gun” during her 14 days of intense questioning on the stand. He likened the authorities’ decision to take her to court to a medieval witch hunt.
Brooks, known for her distinctive long red hair, walked from the court clutching the hand of her husband, Charlie, who was also cleared of attempting to hinder the probe.
“YEEEEESSSSSS Rebekah Brooks CLEARED take that,” Louise Mensch, a former UK Conservative lawmaker, said in a series of Twitter postings after the verdict. “I cannot wait to work with Rebekah Brooks
I hope I get the opportunity very soon. Literally could not be happier.”
Two other current and former News Corp officials were also acquitted.
Brooks, 46, who had edited both the News of the World and News Corp’s daily Sun tabloid, resigned her position at the company’s London unit at the height of the scandal in 2011.
The jury’s decision to clear Brooks and her husband of all charges will be a boost for Murdoch, who largely stood by her and in July 2011 called her his top priority. Murdoch’s News Corp also owns The Post.
Brooks is “free to resume her career and she should go back to being treated as a highly experienced media executive,” said Alex DeGroote, a media analyst at Peel Hunt in London.
“Murdoch talent-spotted her from an early age so why not go back to a senior role there?” DeGroote said.
Stuart Kuttner, 74, the former managing editor of the News of the World, was found not guilty of phone hacking. Mark Hanna, a News Corp security guard, was also cleared of hiding evidence.
“The dedication, and perhaps above all the passion of my lawyers over the last three years has been extraordinary, most remarkable,” Kuttner said outside the court. “It is to them that I owe the huge and enduring thanks for the result, the unanimous verdict of the jury.”
Andy Coulson, her former lover and Prime Minister David Cameron’s ex-media chief, was found guilty of conspiring to intercept messages to break news about royalty, celebrities and victims of crime.
News Corp has settled more than 700 civil claims related to phone hacking. Previous civil trials were canceled as the company reached deals with celebrities, politicians and athletes who said their voicemail messages were intercepted by the News of the World.