A former boss of the News Of The World was accused in court of leaking a "made-up" story about a suicide bid by Princess Diana to a rival newspaper.
The paper's former royal editor Clive Goodman was "furious" and fell out with then managing editor Stuart Kuttner over the incident in 1992, the hacking trial was told at the Old Bailey, London.
Mr Goodman's lawyer David Spens, QC, accused Mr Kuttner of leaking the story to a rival paper while cross-examining him in the witness box.
Mr Kuttner denied it and said he had no memory of asking Mr Goodman to help a journalist friend with background information for a book to match one Andrew Morton was writing about the princess.
Mr Spens said after Mr Kuttner persisted, Mr Goodman told him a rumour about Diana receiving an emergency visit by a private doctor was "impossible to prove".
Mr Spens told Mr Kuttner: "That very story you knew was not true but made up as an example of what might be in Mr Morton's book actually appeared as fact in a newspaper to plug his book."
Mr Kuttner said: "I do not remember any of that."
Mr Spens asserted: "Mr Goodman was furious with you and had a row with you that you had leaked what he told you." Mr Kuttner replied: "If the accusation is I leaked information, it's completely untrue and entirely false. I did not then or any time leak information."
The QC asked Mr Kuttner about his earlier assessment of Mr Goodman, saying he had not been "remotely complimentary" in his evidence.
Mr Kuttner said he harboured no animosity towards his co-defendant and former colleague, but added: "I found his performance in later years disappointing."
Mr Kuttner, of Essex, along with the paper's former editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, denies con- spiring with others to hack phones between 2000 and 2009.
Mr Goodman had previously admitted hacking in 2006 but denies conspiring to commit misconduct in public office by paying officials for stories.
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