“She [Brooks] said that it was so easy to do and she couldn’t believe that famous people who have all these advisers did not know they needed to change their pin code to make their voicemail secure”.
Lisa O’Carroll and Caroline Davies
theguardian.com,
Eimear Cook, the ex-wife of golfing star Colin Montgomerie was accused of repeatedly lying under oath about a lunch with Rebekah Brooks in which she claimed the former News International chief excutive had told her how easy it was to hack phones.
In a tense and prolonged exchange at the Old Bailey on Monday, counsel for Brooks said Cook had fabricated parts of her witness statement to the police, including a claim that the former publishing boss had told her about an assault on her ex-husband Ross Kemp.
Brooks’ counsel Jonathan Laidlaw, QC, asked her had she done this to increase the compensation she received as part of a civil claim she made against News International for phone hacking.
“Is that why you made things up?” he asked. “To get more money as a result in the settlement?”.
She “categorically” denied she had lied on oath. “I have no reason to lie,” she said.
Cook, who was married to the former European Ryder Cup team captain for 14 years from 1990, met Brooks at the suggestion of friends after finding herself the subject of press intrusion following the break up of her marriage, she said.
Describing the private lunch, which took place at the Knightsbridge home of mutual friends, Cook told the jury the four had enjoyed lighthearted conversation about celebrities.
“We discussed a lot of public figures, people in the media in a gossipy fun way. I think I remember we were laughing because she had been in her own newspaper because she had a domestic row with her husband and that it had made her newspaper and we were laughing at the irony of it.”
She added: “The bit I remember most was the topic of how easy it was to listen to their voicemails as long as they had not changed their factory settings on their pin code.
“She [Brooks, who was then Rebekah Wade] said that it was so easy to do and she couldn’t believe that famous people who have all these advisers did not know they needed to change their pin code to make their voicemail secure”.
Cook said Brooks told her Heather Mills and Sir Paul McCartney, who were engaged at the time, had had a row at a New York hotel and she had thrown her ring out of the window.
“It was in parentheses about the phone hacking. I was under the impression she was talking about Paul McCartney’s phone not having its pin code changed,” she said.
Prosecutor, Andrew Edis QC, asked her: “What was her [Brook’s] attitude when she was talking about Paul McCartney and the ring?” “Quite flippant,” replied Cook.
She was asked what she meant by “in parentheses”. She replied: “She told me about how ludicrous it was people weren’t aware of the simple way to protect their privacy on mobiles, then went on to tell me Heather Mills threw her ring out of the apartment window in New York. It was like in conjunction. It was like a follow on.”