Rebekah Brooks decides not to claim legal costs from taxpayer

Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of Rupert Murdoch’s UK newspaper empire who was acquitted in one of the most high-profile trials in British criminal history, will not attempt to reclaim part of her estimated £5m legal costs from the taxpayer.

A hearing at the Old Bailey was told that News UK, which funded her for the nine-month trial, did not want to be the beneficiary of these costs and Ms Brooks’ barrister would not be making an application.

News UK was not a party to the trial and so any application would have to be made by Ms Brooks’ lawyers, rather than the company.

Robert Smith QC, barrister for News UK, told the Old Bailey that the group would not “seek to be a beneficiary in respect of any order . . . ” and “did not feel willing to engage in an exercise addressing these issues . . . ”.

Jonathan Laidlaw, Rebekah Brooks’ barrister, told the Old Bailey that she was not pursuing her application after News UK made its position known.

No details of Ms Brooks’ costs were given in open court but Mr Laidlaw QC told the Old Bailey that Ms Brooks had the benefit of an indemnity from News UK. Some estimates have put the costs at between £5m and £7m but no official figures have been given.

Mr Laidlaw said any costs ordered in her favour would have gone to News UK “to compensate them for the financial support they were good enough to afford to her during her trial”.

“She is not seeking and has no wish to recover her personal expenses . . . ,” Mr Laidlaw told the court.

Ms Brooks rented a Georgian townhouse in central London for the duration of the nine-month trial. She was given £16m in compensation when she left News UK in 2011.

Ms Brooks was not in court but her acquitted husband Charlie was there to listen to the legal submissions.

The court heard that Cheryl Carter, the personal assistant for Ms Brooks, and Mark Hanna, head of security at News International, who were also acquitted had dropped their costs claims as they had an indemnity from News UK.

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The phone-hacking trial

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Stuart Kuttner, the former managing editor of News of the World who was acquitted of a phone-hacking charge, paid out £135,000 in costs from his own pocket, the court was told by Jonathan Caplan QC who defended him through the trial.

Mr Kuttner was given an indemnity by News UK from January 2013 but is seeking repayment of the costs he paid himself in the 15-month period before this.

Mr Brooks, the racehorse trainer husband of Ms Brooks, who was acquitted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, paid for his own defence. He is seeking repayment of some of his legal costs that have totalled £600,000.

The court hearing continues.

The trial and police investigation of phone hacking at the News of the World was estimated to be one of the most expensive in British legal history.

Police figures released after the trial show that £18.7m has been spent on phone-hacking investigations since 2011, most of it relating to the trial.

Another £9.9m has been spent on the Operation Elveden investigation of payments to public officials, although much of that relates to journalists not involved in the phone hacking trial.

News UK said in June costs for the whole phone-hacking scandal including compensation to victims and legal costs from July 1 2010 until March 31 2014 were $454m plus $81m indemnified by 20th century Fox.