Rebekah Brooks's "big hearted" former personal assistant was the most unlikely character to appear in the dock at the Old Bailey, jurors in the hacking trial heard.
Cheryl Carter is accused of conspiring with her old boss to pervert the course of justice by removing seven boxes of potential evidence from the News International archive in July 2011.
She told police she went through the contents at home and binned her own notepads used for her Sun beauty column while returning anything belonging to the ex-NI chief executive.
In his closing speech her lawyer Trevor Burke QC said his client had led a "blameless life" and was of "good character". He said she would never have asked her son Nick to collect the boxes for her if she had thought there was anything amiss.
Carter, 50, of Chelmsford, Essex, and her six co-defendants deny the charges against them.
The trial continues.
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