A personal assistant to former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks threw out and recycled around 30 archived notebooks, hours before it was announced the News of the World was to close, the phone hacking trial has heard.
Cheryl Carter, who stands co-accused with Ms Brooks of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by disposing of potential evidence, insisted the notebooks she binned were hers and anything belonging to her boss was returned to the office, the Old Bailey jury heard.
The trial at the Old Bailey heard yesterday she told police that Ms Brooks' personal items included diaries, speeches, a signed football shirt and a party guest list for Ross Kemp, Brooks' former husband.
She said: ""I used to do a column for two years. I tore them (notepads) up and put them into the recycling.
"Anything that was left just went back."
Thomas Burke QC. Ms Carter's lawyer, said she was unable to join the rest of her family in emigrating to Australia after she was arrested.
Her son, Nick Carter, 24, dismissed there was anything suspicious about taking seven boxes of the former editor's notebooks home for his mother on July 8 2011 - as the tabloid was preparing for its final edition - saying that was a "regular occurrence".
He said he had no idea what was in them or what happened to them after. The defendants, including Clive Goodman, Andy Coulson, Stuart Kuttner, Charles Brooks and Mark Hanna, deny all the charges. The trial continues.
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