Rebekah Brooks’s husband today hit out at the justice system after a judge threw out his claim for £500,000 in legal costs from the marathon phone hacking trial.
Charlie Brooks, a former racing trainer, said: “At least on a racecourse, when you back a winner the bookmakers pay you.”
Mr Justice Saunders told him that even though he had been cleared he had brought suspicion on himself.
Brooks, 51, was funding his own defence, unlike his wife Rebekah Brooks and other former News of the World executives whose costs were paid by Rupert Murdoch.
The judge also refused a similar application by ex-NoW managing editor Stuart Kuttner for £130,000.
Rebekah Brooks was found not guilty of phone hacking, conspiring to pay government officials and perverting the course of justice. She did not apply for her costs to be repaid. Kuttner, 74, was acquitted of phone hacking and Mr Brooks was acquitted of conspiring to pervert the course of public justice by hiding potential evidence against his wife.
In his ruling the judge said: “I have refused both applications for costs as I am satisfied that the defendants’ conduct brought suspicion on themselves and misled the prosecution into thinking that the case against them was stronger than it was.”
He added: “Part of the prosecution case was that he (Brooks) deliberately kept items away from the flat in Chelsea so that the police would not find them … The material taken from the flat was first hidden behind a refuse bin in the underground car park until at Mr Brooks’s request it was removed. After the police had searched the flat, Mr Brooks arranged for the property to be returned to the flat. ”
The judge also said he had failed to answer questions when interviewed by detectives after his arrest.
