At a London criminal trial for the alleged phone hacking of shuttered newspaper News of the World today, prosecutors claimed that former British prime minister Tony Blair extended an offer to advise defendants Rebekah Brooks and News Corp. (NWSA) Chairman Rupert Murdoch unofficially at the peak of the phone-hacking scandal in 2011. Brooks was the former head of the UK unit of the news tabloid that was shut down around that year, Bloomberg said in a report.
In an email that was disclosed at the trial, it was disclosed that Brooks had a discussion with Blair regarding the scandal that the tabloid has been embroiled in at that time. The former British prime minister reportedly dispensed advise to the embattled editor by suggesting that an independent inquiry about the allegations should be established to determine whether News of the World had illegally accessed voice-mail messages of murder victims, politicians and celebrities for a shot of getting a front-page scoop.
Murdoch also told Brooks that she take sleeping pills and ensure that her head remains clear in the midst of the scandal, Bloomberg said.
The email revealed that the communication was also intended for Murdoch's son, James, who is at that time the deputy chief operating officer of the New York-based company just a day after the News of the World had published its final issue, Bloomberg said. Earlier that week, journalists at the tabloid were discovered that they had accessed the phone of a school girl who had just been murdered.
Brooks is among the seven people who are currently standing trial for phone hacking, hiding evidence and bribery of public officials, the news agency added. Former editor Andy Coulson is also on trial as well, said the news agency. Bloomberg noted that Coulson had dispensed advice to current British Prime Minister David Cameron.
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