Beyond Contempt: The Inside Story of the Phone Hacking Trial

– 'TOP REPORTING' (Nick Davies, The Guardian)

– 'A MUST READ' (Owen Jones, Chavs)

YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT IT, RIGHT
You know all about the phone hacking trial, don't you? Rebekah Brooks was acquitted and Andy Coulson went to jail. But why?

Why was Brooks, the public face of the phone hacking scandal, whom many believed must have known about bribery and hacking, found not guilty on all charges?

• Why did Coulson's expensive defence not impress reporters?

• What impact did Rupert Murdoch’s millons have on the trial?

• And why did the jurors reach the decisions they did?

Blow by blow: Crown v Rebekah Brooks & Others
Jukes starts at the start. October 2013 and reporters are packing London’s Old Bailey for the start of an epic eight-month courtroom clash – the longest concluded criminal trial in English history.

It's a showdown that will pit tabloid newspaper executives in Rupert Murdoch's News International stable against a newly emboldened British state.

The journalists are variously accused of phone hacking, corrupting public officials and conspiracy to pervert the course of justice.

After years of cover up involving News International, the Metropolitan Police and the Government, the judge tells the jury: “British justice is on trial.”

Insight into British journalism and politics
Peter Jukes, a TV crime writer, tweets the first few days – and accidentally sets up the UK's first journalism crowd-funding. New media exposes the old.

The trial lays bare the venality and surveillance of the News of the World: its ability to pry into the lives of anyone who matters, at any moment. A Hollywood actress. A missing girl. A Cabinet minister.

It's also a battle.

Battle of wits between London’s top lawyers
With Rupert Murdoch's millions, seven defendants hire London's top QCs.

Rebekah Brooks has the £5,000-a-day silk for corporations, Jonathan Laidlaw. For the Crown is the Liverpudlian Andrew Edis QC.

Several times the multi-million pound cases totters on the brink of collapse.

Drawing on verbatim court exchanges and exhibits, Jukes reveals the daily reality and grand strategies of a major criminal trial.

He gives the secret of Rebekah Brooks' 14 days in the witness box.

He explains why during a cigarette break a defence lawyer gave him a wry smile.

And he discloses the failings of the Crown Prosecution Service – which contribute to the jury’s shocking verdicts.

Reviews
A classic of court reporting, Beyond Contempt is suitable for anyone who's followed the phone hacking scandal or Leveson Inquiry.

Ten out of 11 Amazon reviewers so far have given it five stars.

Tabloid and broadsheet journalists too, have praised its even-handedness and verve:

Top court reporting (Nick Davies, The Guardian)

Remarkable. I feel I now know all the key players and why some defendants were found guilty and some not, despite never having spent a minute at the trial (Professor Stewart Purvis, former ITN editor)

Written in a chatty, gossipy style that brings the courtroom drama alive. (Nigel Pauley, Daily Star journalist)

Absorbing and highly revealing...