View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

NI security chief admits looking after Charlie Brooks laptops, letters and porn: ‘We look after a lot of things for a lot of people’

By PA Mediapoint

Former News International security chief Mark Hanna told the phone-hacking trial at the Old Bailey yesterday that he agreed to "look after" bags of property for Charlie Brooks, but it would have been "a different ball game altogether" if it was for his wife, Rebekah Brooks.

The Old Bailey trial was shown CCTV of Hanna meeting Brooks in the underground car park of the couple's west London apartment on 17 July, 2011.

Hanna said Brooks asked him to look after some bags, including a Jiffy bag retrieved from behind the bins.

Meanwhile, former News International (NI) chief executive Rebekah Brooks was being interviewed by police and officers were about to search the couple's flat, the court has heard.

Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC asked Hanna if he thought it an odd request. Hanna replied: "We look after a lot of things for a lot of people."

He denied the suggestion that he would hide anything from police for Mrs Brooks, saying: "Rebekah had left News International. She was already at the police station. It was a different ball game altogether.

"As far as I was concerned, Rebekah was the primary concern for the police so I would not have got rid of anything for Rebekah."

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

The court heard that Hanna took the property, which contained an assortment of items including laptops, letters and pornography, to the News International offices and bagged them up outside.

Asked why he did that, Hanna said: "Security and porn do not go well together. The last thing you want the security team to see is porn."

Later that day, Brooks asked for the property to be returned so Hanna dispatched a security guard and asked him to pick up pizza en route, the court heard.

Brooks never mentioned paying for the pizza. The guard handed over the pizza but left the bags behind the bins in the car park.

Hanna denied having instructing him to do that, saying that would be between  Brooks and the guard to agree.

Hanna, 50, of Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, denies conspiring with Rebekah and Charlie Brooks to pervert the course of justice.

All seven defendants in the case deny the charges against them.

The trial was adjourned until today.

Topics in this article : ,

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network