Rebekah Brooks:
Did not appear in module one
Refused status as a witness by Lord Justice Leveson in the first module of the Inquiry, the former News International CEO still featured heavily in the testimony of others.
On 14 November the Inquiry heard that Scotland Yard had provided material that suggested "wide-ranging illegal activity" at Wapping dating back to 2002, when Brooks was editor of News of the World, and continuing until 2009, during which time she had also been editor of The Sun.
Former News of the World deputy features editor Paul McMullan claimed phone hacking was "done for editors, Rebekah Brooks and [Andy] Coulson" and referred to them both as "the scum of journalism for trying to drop me and my colleagues in it."
After Max Clifford’s testimony on 19 February, in which he claimed Brooks personally authorized a £1m payout over the hacking of his telephone, there were calls from some MPs seeking fresh evidence from Brooks herself, as the money was paid at a time when the company was still insisting hacking was limited to a single royal reporter.
Following Brooks’ claims to a Commons committee in 2003 that journalists had paid police for information, Lord Justice Leveson said that her involvement was more focused on the second part of the Inquiry, which concentrates on the press’ relationship with the police.
On the second day of the module two, it was revealed that the Metropolitan Police loaned Brooks a retired police horse in 2008 during her editorship at The Sun, and while Lord Blair was Met Commissioner.
On 17 July 2011, Brooks was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and on suspicion of corruption, one week after the publication of the final edition of News of the World and two days after stepping down as CEO of NI.
Brooks has denied any knowledge of wrongdoing.
