UK hacking prosecutor: Brooks, Coulson had affair

LONDON – In a blockbuster court declaration in Britain’s phone hacking trial, prosecutor Andrew Edis says two of Rupert Murdoch’s senior tabloid executives – Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks – had an affair lasting at least six years.

The affair covered the period when she was editor of Murdoch’s News of the World tabloid and Coulson was her deputy. Coulson later edited the same paper and then became a top media adviser to Prime Minister David Cameron.

Edis made the disclosure Thursday during Coulson and Brooks’ trial on phone hacking allegations, the first major criminal case to go to court in the hacking saga. Coulson, Brooks, and her husband Charles all deny the charges against them.