UK hacking trial revelation shocks actor Jude Law
Print Edition
Film star Jude Law told Britain’s phone-hacking trial yesterday that he was not aware a close relative had been paid to leak stories about him to Rupert Murdoch’s now defunct News of the World tabloid.
During testimony at the trial of two of Murdoch’s former editors, a shocked Law was passed a note with the name of a close family member he was told was selling details to the paper at the time it printed stories about his ex-girlfriend Sienna Miller and her affair with James Bond actor Daniel Craig.
Asked when he first learned of this suggestion, Law, whose voice cracked slightly, said: “Today. I wasn’t aware of that.”
Law, 41, is the most high-profile figure to give evidence at the trial, which began at the end of October last year, of Andy Coulson and Rebekah Brooks, former editors of the News of the World. They deny charges relating to phone-hacking.
The jury was told that personal details relating to Law and those close to him had been found on notebooks at the home of Glenn Mulcaire, a private investigator for the News of the World who has admitted phone-hacking charges.
He confirmed that recordings of voicemail messages he had left for his nanny were also found at Mulcaire’s home.
Law said that his media profile rose after he was nominated for an Academy Award in 2001 for “The Talented Mr Ripley” and said that the press had “an unhealthy amount” of information about his private life.
“I became aware I was turning up at places having arranged to go there secretly and the media would already be there,” said the actor, who is appearing in London’s West End in a production of Shakespeare’s “Henry V.”
Unnamed relative
The disclosure about his unnamed relative came during cross-examination over the sourcing for a story in October 2005 revealing an affair between Craig and Miller, and how Law had telephoned the British 007 actor to confront him.
“We had known each other many, many years. The conversation took on all sorts of turns,” Law said of the call.
Timothy Langdale, lawyer for Coulson, editor at the time and later Prime Minister David Cameron’s media chief, asked Law if he was aware an immediate family member had been talking to the paper and had been paid.
The actor said he only found out about the contact late last year and knew nothing about money changing hands.
He was also passed notes with the names of a former publicist and an ex-employee whom Langdale said had been in contact with the tabloid.
The trial also heard evidence from former tabloid journalist Dan Evans, who has pleaded guilty to hacking phones while employed by the News of the World and, before that, rival tabloid the Sunday Mirror.
Coulson and Brooks are accused of conspiring to illegally intercept voicemail messages.
They are also accused of authorizing illegal payments to public officials while Brooks faces charges of perverting the course of justice.
They and five others deny all the charges.
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