Rebekah Brooks claims she didn't know hacking was illegal
February 25, 2014  21:15
Rebekah Brooks, former editor of Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World, told a court in London today that she did not know that phone hacking was illegal and was horrified to learn that the mobile phone of a schoolgirl was hacked by the tabloid in 2002.

The 45-year-old former News International chief executive told the jury in her ongoing trial over allegations of phone hacking that she was unaware the practice was illegal. Brooks, who was the editor of the tabloid between 2000 and 2003, told the Old Bailey that she "didn't think anybody, me included, knew it was illegal".

"No journalist ever came to me and said we're working on so and so a story but we need to access their voicemail and we need to ask for my sanction to do it. Even though I didn't know it was illegal, I absolutely felt it was in the category of a serious breach of privacy," she said.

Brooks is among seven defendants who deny conspiring to hack phones, to commit misconduct in public office and to cover up evidence to pervert the course of justice.
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