THE FORMER editor of the News of the World urged his royal editor claim "he was a lone wolf" who "strayed off the reservation" following his arrest for phone hacking.
Clive Goodman, 57,told the High Court in Edinburgh that Andy Coulson, 47, wanted him to plead guilty to the illegal activity as quickly as possible.
He said Coulson told him he would get his job with the Sunday newspaper back if he admitted the offence.
But Goodman said his boss told him that he'd have to tell the authorities that he and private detective Glenn Mulcaire were solely responsible for the crime.
He said he was "confused and suspicious" at Coulson's offer and claimed that the News of the World editor was fully aware of his activities.
Goodman, of Surrey, told the court that Coulson said that if he was jailed, the newspaper would continue to pay his salary to his family.
He added: "Andy's recommendation to me was to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity.
"He told me there was a way back for me at the News of the World. Andy's suggestion to me was that I could come back not as a front line reporter but as a sub editor or a backroom writer - just not somebody with a public profile.
"The price of that was to say that I was a lone wolf who strayed off the reservation.
"I thought it was pretty despicable really to raise my family and my worries about my family." Goodman was giving evidence for the second day at proceedings against Coulson who denies telling lies at the 2010 trial of Tommy Sheridan, who was also charged with perjury.
On Thursday, Goodman told prosecution lawyer Richard Goddard that the conversation between him and Coulson took place at a restaurant in Wimbledon, London, in August 2006.
The chat took place days after police arrested Goodman and Mulcaire for phone hacking offences.
Goodman told the court that after being released from police custody, the paper's managing editor Stuart Kuttner drove him home.
Goodman told the court that Kuttner knew several details of the evidence that had been gathered against him and Mulcaire.
In the days following the arrest, Goodman said that it became clear that Coulson knew lots of details about the case.
Goodman said he became "pretty suspicious" about News International's motives following his arrest.
Coulson then arranged to meet Goodman at a restaurant.
Goodman added: "He told me to plead guilty at the earliest opportunity, to get the case out of the way.
"He said the case against me was watertight, it was indefensible."
When Mr Goodman arrived back at his then house, he made a written note of what was said in the meeting.
In the note, which was shown to the jury, Goodman wrote: "AC said you've got a chance to be one of these people who either bounce back or doesn't. It's up to you."
Murdo Macleod QC, for Coulson, accused Goodman of not being truthful when giving evidence earlier in the day at the trial of Coulson. He said concerns had been raised about him writing stories that had appeared in other publications beforehand.
Coulson, of Preston, Kent, denies telling lies at the trial of Sheridan, who was standing trial alongside wife Gail on a perjury indictment at the High Court in Glasgow.
Prosecutors allege that in December 2010, at the High Court in Glasgow, Coulson told a number of lies when giving evidence about his News of the World career. Coulson denies all the charge.
The trial, before judge Lord Burns continues.
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