Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson used "phone hacking, surveillance and confrontation" in an attempt to confirm a bogus tip about an affair involving then-Labour home secretary Charles Clarke, jurors in the trial were told.
Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC told the Old Bailey that the News of the World (NotW) heard a false rumour in May 2005 that Mr Clarke was seeing his "attractive special adviser", Hannah Pawlby.
The newspaper tasked private investigator Glenn Mulcaire with hacking Ms Pawlby's voicemails and "door-stepped" her, but Mr Coulson also called and left her voicemails, the court heard.
Mr Edis said: "The prosecution suggests that Mr Coulson, who is now the editor of the NotW, he is not the man who stands outside people's houses hoping to catch them out, he is the man who likes to put the story to people to see what they will say."
He said the NotW used three ways to investigate stories -phone hacking, surveillance, and confrontation.
"The editor is personally involved in the third. Obviously he knows about the second, surveillance, he must do. What about the first? Does he know about phone hacking? He says he doesn't, we say 'Oh yes, he did'."
But there was no affair between Mr Clarke and Ms Pawlby, the jury heard.
Rumours were first picked up by the NotW's features desk when a source who was sexually interested in Ms Pawlby was told: "Don't bother wasting your time - she's with Charles."
A tape of voicemails taken from her phone on at least three occasions was seized from Mulcaire's home in August 2006. Investigators also found entries on the private investigator's computer which had Ms Pawlby and her sister as "Projects".
During the period she was being investigated, Ms Pawlby's grandparents received anonymous calls asking for information about her, Mr Edis said.
Meanwhile, former chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck and former reporter James Weatherup oversaw surveillance of Ms Pawlby's movements.
Leaving her a voicemail on June 18, 2005, Coulson told her: "I've got a story that we're planning to run tomorrow that I really would like to speak to Charles about. I wouldn't do this in the normal course of events but it's quite a serious story and previously Charles has been very helpful with us, suggesting that when there are these issues that pop up we should speak directly with him.
"So if you could ask him to give me a call or, of course, give me a call yourself, I will fill you in."
A similar ploy had been used against another Labour home secretary, David Blunkett, to help expose his relationship with a woman.
Mr Edis said a hairdresser called Laura Rooney had her phone hacked, even though she had no connection with England striker Wayne.
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