FORMER News Of The World editor Rebekah Brooks has told how she was offered help by former Prime Minister Tony Blair as she received death threats when it emerged that the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had been hacked.
She was giving evidence at the Old Bailey, London, for an eighth day, where she is accused of conspiring to hack phones and other charges.
Mrs Brooks, 45, who denies the charges, spoke of the stress of finding herself the "central figure" when the Guardian broke what she called the "horrific" story in July 2011.
Under questioning from her lawyer, Jonathan Laidlaw QC, Mrs Brooks - who was by this time chief executive of News International - told jurors she and her colleagues were horrified by the allegations and desperately tried to find out if they were true.
She said that as the story made headlines around the world, "we were completely at a loss and all over the place really, trying to find out what was true and what wasn't".
Jurors heard a text sent from Mr Blair to Mrs Brooks on July 5 read: "Let me know if there's anything I can help you with. Thinking of you. I've been through things like this."
Mrs Brooks replied: "Thank you, I know what's it's like. GB (Gordon Brown) pals getting their own back. Rupert and James (Murdoch) have been brilliant.
"Hopefully even in this climate the truth will out."
The court heard the "storm" led to the decision being made to close the Sunday newspaper, and the final edition was published just days later, on July 10.
Mrs Brooks went on to resign on July 15.
She spoke of her shock when police ordered her to "immediately" leave the News International offices that morning and said she was further surprised when she was arrested two days later.
The trial continues.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article