Phone-hacking police charge Rebekah Brooks

Rebekah Brooks and her husband, Charlie, are being charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice over the phone hacking inquiry.

Three of Mrs Brooks's staff, and News International security head Mark Hanna are also charged with the offence.

The charges relate to alleged offences in July last year including concealing documents and computers from police.

The former News of the World editor and her husband said in a statement: "We deplore this weak and unjust decision."

The charges are the first in an inquiry lasting 18 months - more than 40 other people remain on police bail in the investigation.

Mrs Brooks was editor of the News of the World when voicemails on murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler's mobile phone were allegedly intercepted.

She quit as chief executive of News International in July 2011 - the same month as the alleged conspiracy offences - after the phone-hacking scandal led to the paper's closure.

She has denied any knowledge of phone-hacking on her watch.

'Unprecedented posturing'
 

Mr and Mrs Brooks accused the CPS of "unprecedented posturing" and said they would provide a further response later "after our return from the police station".

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Analysis
 Dominic Casciani

Home affairs correspondent

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The Crown Prosecution Service performed two tests before charging Rebekah Brooks and others: Was the evidence good enough to have a realistic chance of a conviction - and would a prosecution be in the public interest?

Conspiring to pervert the course of justice is a serious crime. It has to be tried in the Crown Court before a jury and can, in theory, lead to a life sentence.

But in practice the sentencing range is huge because it comes down to the severity of the offence and the nature of any cover-up. Destroying documents leads to a different sentence from intimidating a witness.

In one recent case, a defendant was jailed for three years for concealing evidence in a fatal accident.

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Announcing the decision to charge the six, director of public prosecutions legal adviser Alison Levitt, QC, said she was making a statement "in the interests of transparency and accountability".

Mrs Brooks was arrested on 13 March as part of Operation Weeting.

She is charged - along with her husband, personal assistant Cheryl Carter, chauffeur Paul Edwards, security man Daryl Jorsling, and News International head of security Mr Hanna - with conspiring to "conceal material" from police between 6 and 19 July.

In a second charge, she and Ms Carter are accused of conspiring to remove seven boxes of material from the News International archive between 6 and 9 July.

And in a third charge, Mr and Mrs Brooks, Mr Hanna, Mr Edwards and Mr Jorsling are accused of conspiring to conceal documents, computers and other electronic equipment from police officers between 15 and 19 July.

A seventh unnamed suspect, who also provided security for Mrs Brooks, will not be charged.

A lawyer for Mrs Brooks's former PA, Ms Carter, said she was going through the "most unhappy period of her life" and said she "vigorously" denied the charges.

Mrs Brooks became editor of the News of the World in 2000 at the age of 31 before she took up the same role at the Sun three years later.

Mrs Brooks was asked about her relationship with Rupert Murdoch at the Leveson Inquiry on Friday She was made chief executive of News International in 2009 before resigning in July 2011.

She was arrested a few days later on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications and corruption, and remains on bail without charge for those alleged offences.

Mrs Brooks was then re-arrested on 13 March on suspicion of conspiring to pervert the course.

On Friday, appearing at the Leveson Inquiry into press ethics, Mrs Brooks said that Prime Minister David Cameron sent her a "keep your head up" message when she quit News International.

Scotland Yard is conducting three investigations relating to phone-hacking.

Operation Weeting is looking into allegations of hacking by the News of the World into private voicemails, Operation Elveden is examining allegations that journalists from News International made "inappropriate" payments to police, and Operation Tuleta is investigating computer hacking.