EX-NEWS International chief executive Rebekah Brooks appeared in court yesterday to face charges linked to alleged phone hacking.

The 44-year-old was at Westminster Magistrates' Court accused over an alleged conspiracy to illegally access voicemails.

Brooks faced one general charge, which prosecutors claim could affect more than 600 victims, and two other specific charges linked to murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler and former union boss Andrew Gilchrist.

She has been accused alongside six other former members of staff from the News of the World (NoTW) and private investigator Glen Mulcaire.

Former NoTW editor, and ex-spin doctor for David Cameron, Andy Coulson has been charged, along with ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former head of news Ian Edmondson, ex-chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former reporter James Weatherup.

Brooks was told to appear with her co-defendants at Southwark Crown Court on September 26.

Brooks, from Churchill, in Oxfordshire, was told that as part of her bail conditions she could not contact former NoTW reporter Dan Evans and the paper's former executive editor Neil Wallis, who are on bail following the Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking.

Brooks is already due at Southwark Crown Court on September 26 to face three charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice.