PHONE HACKING CHARGES ROCK LONDON

Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks to be charged over phone hacking

PM's former aide and ex-News International chief will face charges in connection with hacking of Milly Dowler's phone

British prosecutors say they have the evidence to prove there was a criminal conspiracy at Rupert Murdoch's News of the World newspaper involving former senior executives, including Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, to hack the phones of more than 600 people including the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Announcing the charging of eight people over the phone-hacking scandal on Tuesday, prosecutors alleged the tabloid's targets ranged from a victim of the 7 July 2005 terrorist attacks to celebrities and senior Labour politicians.

Coulson left the editorship of the News of the World in 2007 after a journalist and private investigator were convicted of phone hacking, and would go on to be appointed as director of communications for the Conservative party. After the 2010 election Coulson worked in Downing Street for David Cameron, who said he deserved a "second chance", as one of the prime minister's most senior advisers, before Coulson resigned as renewed controversy over phone hacking grew.

Prosecutors say other victims of hacking include former senior Labour cabinet ministers such as the former deputy prime minister John Prescott, two former home secretaries, David Blunkett and Charles Clarke, and the former culture secretary Tessa Jowell.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it would charge Coulson and the former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks in relation to the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone. The allegations about the hacking of the murdered schoolgirl's phone led Murdoch to decide to shut down the News of the World in 2011.

Also charged over phone hacking are Stuart Kuttner, former managing editor of the News of the World, Ian Edmondson, former news editor, Greg Miskiw, another former news editor, Neville Thurlbeck, former chief reporter, James Weatherup, former assistant news editor, and the private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.

Alison Levitt QC, principal legal adviser to the director of public prosecutions, announced the decision on Tuesday.

She said the charges related to allegations of phone hacking from 3 October 2000 to August 2006. The CPS alleges that more than 600 people were victims.

Levitt said: "All, with the exception of Glenn Mulcaire, will be charged with conspiring to intercept communications without lawful authority, from 3 October 2000 to 9 August 2006. The communications in question are the voicemail messages of well-known people and/or those associated with them. There is a schedule containing the names of over 600 people who the prosecution will say are the victims of this offence."