British PM's ex-media chief in court over phone hacking
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LONDON (AFP) - Andy Coulson, the former media chief of British Prime Minister David Cameron, appeared in court on Thursday charged with phone hacking while he was editor of Rupert Murdoch's News of the World tabloid.
Coulson, 44, appeared alongside six other employees of the now defunct newspaper at a brief preliminary hearing at London's Westminster Magistrates Court.
He stood in the dock with the tabloid's ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, former news editor Greg Miskiw, former head of news Ian Edmondson, ex-chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, former reporter James Weatherup, and private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
The seven face charges of conspiring to unlawfully intercept the voicemail messages of some 600 people, including Hollywood stars Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Jude Law as well as politicians and crime victims.
