Ex-News Corp editors Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson charged in hacking case

LONDON: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former lead editors of the News of the World tabloid in Britain, were among eight former News Corp journalists charged with intercepting voice mail to get stories.

The group was charged with hacking offences between 2000 and 2006 that involved about 600 victims, including US actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and murdered British schoolgirl Milly Dowler, who was kidnapped in 2002, the Crown Prosecution Service said in London.

News Corp, the New York-based company controlled by chairman Rupert Murdoch, a friend of Brooks, is trying to move on from the scandal that has resulted in more than 60 arrests, civil lawsuits and a media-ethics inquiry by splitting the company into separate entertainment and publishing arms. Murdoch shuttered the 168-year-old tabloid a year ago to contain public outrage over hacking.

"There is sufficient evidence for there to be a realistic prospect of conviction in relation to one or more offences," Alison Levitt, the principal legal adviser to Britain's director of public prosecutions, said at a press conference.

Others charged include former managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Ian Edmondson, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, former assistant editor Greg Miskiw, former assistant news editor James Weatherup and former private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, who worked for the tabloid.

The agency decided against charging three others who were under investigation and will announce a decision later in relation to two other suspects.