Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson shared with the court in his latest testimony that he had seen the irony of running a story on former UK Home Secretary David Blunkett's affair. He told a London court that he regrets publishing the story when at that time he was also having an affair with Rebekah Brooks, then head of the British unit of News Corp, Bloomberg said.
While being cross-examined on the sixth day of his testimony, he said, "I regret the decision, yes. This was about someone having an affair. And given what was going on in my life, the irony is not lost on me."
The Coulson-Brooks affair, which reportedly ran for six years, were allegedly central to allegations that the duo have conspired on conducting illegal activities to gather news while they were editors at News Corp's British tabloids. Coulson and Brooks are also among the seven people being tried for various wrongdoing at the newspapers, whcih include bribery of public officials and interception of voicemail messages.
Bloomberg said that the Blunkett story, which was run in 2004, was uncovered by former news of the World senior reporter Neville Thurlbeck. Last week, Coulson told the court that Thurlbeck had played for him a voicemail recording that revealed the politician's relationship.
When Coulson was quizzed by Clive Goodman's lawyer David Spens about the extent of his involvement in the Blunkett story, the former tabloid editor denied asking Thurlbeck how the latter was able to acquire the story. Moreover, Spens questioned in a way that doubted Coulson's ignorance of the phone hacking activities at the tabloid. Goodman is also being tried for several illicit activities at his former employer.
Spens said, "You chose not to tell the police about Neville Thurlbeck because you were concerned to save your own skin."
Coulson acknowledged Spens' insinuations but denied that it was the only factor why he declined sharing Thurlbeck's crime to the police.
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