Judge rebukes David Cameron over Andy Coulson comments which put phone hacking trial at risk

 
Guilty: Andy Coulson arrives at court (Picture: EPA)
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A furious Old Bailey judge today criticised the Prime Minister for comments that could have wrecked the final stages of the £100 million phone hacking trial.

Mr Justice Saunders expressed concern and surprise that David Cameron branded his former spin doctor Andy Coulson a liar while a jury was still struggling to reach verdicts on him.

Mr Cameron gave an apology to Parliament today for employing Coulson at Downing Street. But he came under pressure from Ed Miliband for “wilfully ignoring” a series of warnings. The Labour leader also hinted there was a smoking gun in the affair — by repeatedly asking the Prime Minister to deny that he was warned by a senior civil servants, possibly the former Cabinet Secretary Lord O’Donnell. Mr Cameron did not give an explicit answer.

The last two remaining charges against Coulson were dropped this afternoon after the jury was unable to agree. He was found guilty yesterday of conspiring to hack phones. In other developments:

MPs called for an inquiry into allegations that security vetting rules were bent to allow Mr Cameron to employ the former News of the World editor as part of his attempts to gain favour with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.

The sister of murdered Milly Dowler made an emotive video plea to the Prime Minister to push through press regulation in the face of wide opposition by newspapers and journalists.

Home affairs committee chairman Keith Vaz wrote to Mr Cameron demanding he go ahead with the long-delayed Part II of the Leveson inquiry, which would examine hacking in detail and why Scotland Yard failed to act earlier.

In the dramatic final day of a trial that has dragged out for eight months, Mr Justice Saunders considered pulling the plug because of “strong comments” about Coulson by politicians including Mr Cameron.

It was revealed that the judge contacted 10 Downing Street to demand an explanation for Mr Cameron saying on TV that he had been given “false assurances” by his ex-aide.

The judge said: “He has now told the public and therefore the jury that he was given assurances by Mr Coulson before he employed him which turned out to be untrue. The jury were not aware of that before and it is a matter which is capable of affecting Mr Coulson’s credibility in their eyes.”

The judge said he was not “singling out” Mr Cameron, as “politicians from across the political spectrum have seen fit to make strong comments about Mr Coulson despite the fact that the jury are still deliberating.”

But it is the second time in seven months that the Prime Minister has been criticised for jeopardising a high-profile criminal trial. He was rebuked for potentially prejudicial comments about the Nigella Lawson case.

The jury decided they could not reach a verdict on the charges of allegedly paying bribes to police and Palace officials against Coulson and former NoW royal writer Clive Goodman.

In all, the jury deliberated for 43 hours and 54 minutes at the end of the eight-month trial. Prosecutors will announce on Monday whether they will go for retrial on the two charges in question — the same day sentencing starts of Coulson and other NoW executives.

Coulson’s QC Timothy Langdale told the court: “It is unprecedented for a PM to make such public comments at such a crucial juncture of the trial process and having been fully aware of the stage of proceedings reached.”

But Tory MPs supported Mr Cameron as he told the Commons that Labour was trying to “prove some cooked-up conspiracy between the Conservatives and News International”.

He said of Mr Miliband: “He cannot manage to do it because the Leveson inquiry can’t find it.” In angry exchanges Mr Miliband said Mr Cameron would go down in history as “the first ever occupant of his office who brought a criminal into the heart of Downing Street”.

The Labour leader added: “The truth about this is that the charge against the Prime Minister is not one of ignorance, it is wilful negligence.

“At the heart of this scandal are thousands of innocent victims of phone hacking he didn’t stand up for.”

The Prime Minister repeatedly cited the Leveson inquiry in his defence, insisting that Mr Miliband wanted to re-run the £5 million probe after dis- agreeing with its conclusions.

He said: “He can’t bear the fact that an eight-month inquiry he hoped was going to pin the blame on me found I had behaved correctly throughout.”

Mr Miliband asked whether senior civil servants, particularly the then Cabinet Secretary Lord O’Donnell, had raised worries about Coulson being employed in Downing Street.

Mr Cameron claimed Mr Miliband’s questions had been covered by the Leveson inquiry, where Lord O’Donnell was asked about Coulson’s vetting.

Labour is to urge Sir David Normington, the Commissioner for Public Appointments, to examine the vetting system — including who, when and to what level people are checked out.

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Shadow minister Chris Bryant, who was a victim of phone hacking, claimed Mr Cameron “knew from the very beginning you were taking a criminal into Downing Street” — an allegation rejected by the PM.

No 10 may face a Commons committee probe into the vetting of Coulson, who was subject to the milder form of security clearance. The family of Milly Dowler asked to Mr Cameron to push through press regulation called for by Leveson, rather than accept a rival regulator set up by the industry. The murdered girl’s sister Gemma said the PM had given a “promise” to act.

“Please keep your promise to us, the victims, that you will deliver real and permanent change to make sure what happened to us will never happen again,” she said in a video played by the Hacked Off campaign group.

She also attacked Tony Blair for his part in an “incestuous relationship” between politicians and the press.

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