The News of the World's £100,000-a-year 'blagger' Glenn Mulcaire produced a string of exclusives by intercepting phone messages about the young royals while they trained for the armed forces.
Mulcaire, who also used the name Alexander Matey, also discovered Prince Harry had asked for help with his Sandhurst exams 'based entirely on a voicemail', the court heard.
In a 2006 voicemail Harry asked his private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, now one of Prince George's godparents, for help writing an essay on the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980.
'It's sort of like phone-a-friend in Who Wants to be a Brigadier,' royal editor Clive Goodman called the story in an email.
In the dock: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson arrive at London's Old Bailey for the trial's third day today, which heard that Coulson 'knew phones were hacked' and
Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC read a transcript of a voicemail message left by Prince Harry for his private secretary Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, himself a former member of the armed forces, asking for information to help with an essay.
The court heard that the prince asked his aide if he 'had any information at all' about the Iranian embassy siege - the scene of a British special forces operation in 1980 - adding: 'Because I need to write an essay quite quickly on that but I need some extra info.
'Please, please email it to me or text me.'
Mr Edis said the NotW was interested in the story to show some sort of misconduct.
The court heard there were discussions between Goodman and Coulson about how to run the story, which they knew was '100 per cent fact', without exposing its source.
Mr Edis said: 'It means that if they say that what he was asking about was information about the Iranian Embassy siege, everyone would know that they hacked his voicemail because obviously Harry and Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton both knew that this voicemail was sent and received.'
The tabloid also obtained information about Prince William getting 'shot' during a training exercise in Aldershot, jurors were told.
Mr Edis said: 'William found himself in the wrong place during a night exercise so he got shot, pretend shot.
'There is a voicemail, recording of a voicemail, in which Prince William says something about that. So it's a phone hack.'
The information was discovered in a June 2006 email Goodman sent to Coulson when Mulcaire's extra fee for Royal work was being stopped.
Goodman complained the work he was doing was productive 'especially since William started at Sandhurst, with proper good information out of there about his movements of Kate's movements.'
He continued: 'We have had several really close calls that could have got us some great pictures.
'We were five minutes away from catching Kate and William together last Saturday when he should have been training.'
Other stories Goodman identify as coming from Mulcaire's hacking included: 'William shot in ambush', 'Royal cops search flat', and 'Fergie fly-on-the-wall telly deal'.
Mr Edis drew attention to the story which made it to the papers in December 2005 of Harry asking for help with his exams, titled 'Harry aide helps out on Sandhurst exams'.
He said: 'That story got into the paper and it was based directly on voicemails.'
Goodman described the Mulcaire source of information as 'safe, productive and cost effective', adding: 'I'm sure is will become a big story goldmine for us is we let it run just a little longer'.
He told the jury this email was found on the News International system, but it was also among a batch of emails Goodman printed off after his initial arrest for phone hacking in August 2006.
'He tried to access the system and download some emails which he kept for his protection', said Mr Edis.
'He identified at that moment emails which implicated Andy Coulson in this conduct.
'One of them a full copy of the email he had sent to Mr Coulson.'
He added: 'It is perfectly clear Mr Coulson understood that email, he didn't write back to say 'Clive, have you taken leave of your senses, I've no idea what you are talking about.'
'He said: 'I'm sorry it's got to go.'
'Coulson knew all about that.'
He told jurors Goodman was not facing a phone hacking charge as he was convicted over these payments to Mulcaire in 2006, but Coulson was not prosecuted at that time.
In a terse email to Goodman about cash payments, Paul Nicholas, then deputy managing editor at the News of the World suggested that they should return to 'old-fashioned journalism' and 'go out and get stories for free'.
In August 2005, he wrote an email saying 'I absolutely do not accept that the current level of cash payments must be made.'
Adding he should be 'getting more contacts who could be paid in a more regular ways so we don't rely entirely on cash payments.'
Goodman replied 'Hi Paul... there are only three protected sources who are paid in cash...
'The other two sources are impossible to pay for reasons discussed which I am not going to put in writing.'
He said that the reasons 'puts them, you, me and the editor in jail'.
Goodman's words also exposed the tensions at the paper as Mr Edis reported that he wrote: 'He is going to make life impossible for everyone when he gets control of the managing editor's department'
Mr Edis said the evidence clearly showed 'criminal behaviour' and referred to 2005 as 'the thick of it'.
'Why on earth would Mr Goodman say that he was buying books when he wasn't? Who would say something that could get you in jail unless you had to?' he asked
'It would be terribly, terribly stupid.
'Since Mr Coulson saw the emails why on earth would he not believe what he is being told?
'So they both knew and the evidence couldn't be clearer.'
He told the court that the directories contained 'every job, every name, every number'.
Andy Coulson ordered a senior News of the World journalist investigating the love life of George Best's son Calum to 'do his phone', the Old Bailey heard today.
In an email David Cameron's former spin doctor demanded his news editor Ian Edmondson hack the model's voicemails fearing the celebrity went to a rival newspaper about becoming a father, the prosecution said.
The command was written on the day before the News of the World published an exclusive story that Best was having a baby with former model Lorna Hogan, the jury was told.
The jury heard that Coulson had written: 'You think Calum a leak?', Edmonson replied that their source was a 'nightmare', adding that the star was 'bragging' to other reporters about the story.
'Do his phone', the tabloid's editor then replied.
Prosecuting QC Andrew Edis said: 'What does he mean?', adding: 'They wanted it to be exclusive because they were paying Hogan a lot of money for the story. They were concerned about leaking because Calum may leak their story to the competition.
'The evidence that we have doesn't actually reveal that there was any phone hacking of Best but it doesn't mean there wasn't'.
'Callum had bragged he has close friends on the NotW so he might know what they are planning.
'How are they going to investigate this? In the e-mail of May 20, 2006, he says three words "do his phone".
'So the prosecution say frankly the evidence against Ian Edmondson is absolutely overwhelming. He is quite clearly guilty we say on count one - (phone hacking). You will decided in the end whether that is right or not.'
Mr Edis said phone hacking was part of cycle whereby the papers would uncover private information and then pay a third party for a kiss and tell story,
'There will have been sources there which gets them towards the phone hacking which gets them towards a source,' he said.
Mark Oaten was a promising MP with the Liberal Democrats and had hoped to lead the party.
'They found out that he had been having an affair with a young man who they pursued to sell the story - kind of a kiss and tell story,' said Mr Edis.
'That was discovered, or investigated, by using phone hacking but eventually it went into the paper because they paid the young chap a lot of money
The story was 'an example of hacking working with sources to put the story in the paper.'
The 45-year-old 'must have known' voicemails were being listened to illegally when reporters believed the politician was sleeping his blonde diary secretary Hannah Pawlby, the jury was told.
Coulson, who went on to be David Cameron's spin doctor, even tried to personally confront Mr Clarke over the alleged affair on the day the tabloid went to press.
'Mr Coulson was, at the time we are looking at, fully in the know about phone hacking', said prosecutor Andrew Edis QC.
'This was a pretty big story the News of the World was looking to run if they can.
'They got a tip, but there are a lot of those, some rubbish, some turn out to be true, but they don't put in the paper on the basis of a tip.'
He said private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was asked by the News of the World to hack phones associated with Mr Clarke, including Ms Pawlby's and her sister's, proved by his notes made at the time.
Emails show they also put reporters outside Ms Pawlby's house to try to catch her and her boss in the act.
'In the third step, the editor gets involved and puts the story to them, hoping to get some sort of reaction that enables them to get it in the paper', said Mr Edis.
'The editor was personally involved in the third one, he obviously knows about the surveillance, but what about the first one, does he know about the phone hacking.
'He says no, we say "Oh yes he does."'.
Mr Edis said phone hacking was sometimes used in a 'random' way.
He told the jury that a hairdresser called Laura Rooney had her phone hacked, even though she had no connection with England striker Wayne.
He said: 'Laura Rooney was phone-hacked because they thought she was related to Wayne Rooney, who was also phone-hacked. She wasn't, she was not related to Wayne Rooney and has nothing to do with him.
'That just shows the slightly random way that this was used. She is a hairdresser, she doesn't know Wayne Rooney.'
Andy Coulson agreed to pay for a royal phone directory and knew it was stolen, the court heard today.
It is claimed that royal editor Clive Goodman paid off palace policemen for copies of royal phone directories - allegedly authorised by Coulson - to get information on the Queen's family.
The deal was struck despite warnings that to act broke the law, the jury was told.
The court heard that on January 24 2003 Goodman emailed Coulson to say: 'Andy - one of our royal policemen (St James Palace) has obtained the brand new green book, the telephone directory with all the home numbers of the royal family and their household staff.
'Incredibly useful and he'll be extremely handy in the Peat Affair tale. The standard price is £1,000.'
This referred to a false allegation that former aide to the Prince of Wales Sir Michael Peat had an affair.
In the version of the message found on Goodman's computer, but apparently not received by Coulson, another paragraph said: 'I think that we should have the book and the goodwill that goes with it but I am keen to avoid Round Two with the Man Ed (managing editor Stuart Kuttner).
'I'm not criticising Stuart at all, but these people will not be paid in anything other than cash because if they're discovered selling stuff to us they end up on criminal charges, as could we.'
Coulson replied to the shorter message, questioning why he had recently signed off on a payment of £750 for another copy of the directory.
Goodman answered: 'This is the harder to get one which has the Queen's direct lines to her family in it.'
Mr Edis said that, as a result of that conversation, a cash payment of £1,000 was made to a David Farish, which turned out to be a false name, adding: 'The investigation has never identified the policeman responsible for this.'
He said the conversation and payment was the 'clearest possible evidence' of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office and was linked to phone hacking.
He said that on the same day the Green Book was bought, which included an address and landlines but no mobile number for Sir Michael, Mulcaire was tasked with investigating him. A mobile number was later handwritten on to the book, the court heard.
The court was shown a heavily-redacted copy of the book, featuring a host of telephone numbers and addresses.
Mr Edis said there were a number of black marks on the book to protect the privacy of those in it.
He said: 'Glenn carried on with his investigation and if that's right this book is directly useful for phone hacking, and in fact used for phone hacking, because Sir Michael Peat is targeted on the very same day the book is paid for.'
Exclusive: The News of the World ran a story claiming Prince Harry asked for help with coursework while at Sandhurst, pictured, which was 'based entirely on a voicemail', the court heard today
'Please, please email it to me or text me.'
Mr Edis said the NotW was interested in the story to show some sort of misconduct.
The court heard there were discussions between Goodman and Coulson about how to run the story, which they knew was '100 per cent fact', without exposing its source.
Mr Edis said: 'It means that if they say that what he was asking about was information about the Iranian Embassy siege, everyone would know that they hacked his voicemail because obviously Harry and Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton both knew that this voicemail was sent and received.'
The tabloid also obtained information about Prince William getting 'shot' during a training exercise in Aldershot, jurors were told.
Mr Edis said: 'William found himself in the wrong place during a night exercise so he got shot, pretend shot.
'There is a voicemail, recording of a voicemail, in which Prince William says something about that. So it's a phone hack.'
The information was discovered in a June 2006 email Goodman sent to Coulson when Mulcaire's extra fee for Royal work was being stopped.
Goodman complained the work he was doing was productive 'especially since William started at Sandhurst, with proper good information out of there about his movements of Kate's movements.'
He continued: 'We have had several really close calls that could have got us some great pictures.
'We were five minutes away from catching Kate and William together last Saturday when he should have been training.'
Royal: Emails also revealed how royal editor Goodman wanted Coulson to employ hacker Mulcaire to help get stories on Prince William and his now wife Kate Middleton while he was at Sandhurst (right with Queen)
Aide:The Duchess of Cambridge talks to Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton on a visit to Liverpool last year. He is now a godfather to Prince george and was the man asked by Prince Harry for help with an essay
Mr Edis drew attention to the story which made it to the papers in December 2005 of Harry asking for help with his exams, titled 'Harry aide helps out on Sandhurst exams'.
He said: 'That story got into the paper and it was based directly on voicemails.'
Hacker: Glenn Mulcaire was a private detective paid £100,000 a year to blag details and intercept voicemails to turn up stories for the tabloid
He told the jury this email was found on the News International system, but it was also among a batch of emails Goodman printed off after his initial arrest for phone hacking in August 2006.
'He tried to access the system and download some emails which he kept for his protection', said Mr Edis.
'He identified at that moment emails which implicated Andy Coulson in this conduct.
'One of them a full copy of the email he had sent to Mr Coulson.'
He added: 'It is perfectly clear Mr Coulson understood that email, he didn't write back to say 'Clive, have you taken leave of your senses, I've no idea what you are talking about.'
'He said: 'I'm sorry it's got to go.'
'Coulson knew all about that.'
He told jurors Goodman was not facing a phone hacking charge as he was convicted over these payments to Mulcaire in 2006, but Coulson was not prosecuted at that time.
In a terse email to Goodman about cash payments, Paul Nicholas, then deputy managing editor at the News of the World suggested that they should return to 'old-fashioned journalism' and 'go out and get stories for free'.
In August 2005, he wrote an email saying 'I absolutely do not accept that the current level of cash payments must be made.'
Adding he should be 'getting more contacts who could be paid in a more regular ways so we don't rely entirely on cash payments.'
Goodman replied 'Hi Paul... there are only three protected sources who are paid in cash...
'The other two sources are impossible to pay for reasons discussed which I am not going to put in writing.'
He said that the reasons 'puts them, you, me and the editor in jail'.
Goodman's words also exposed the tensions at the paper as Mr Edis reported that he wrote: 'He is going to make life impossible for everyone when he gets control of the managing editor's department'
Mr Edis said the evidence clearly showed 'criminal behaviour' and referred to 2005 as 'the thick of it'.
'Why on earth would Mr Goodman say that he was buying books when he wasn't? Who would say something that could get you in jail unless you had to?' he asked
'It would be terribly, terribly stupid.
'Since Mr Coulson saw the emails why on earth would he not believe what he is being told?
'So they both knew and the evidence couldn't be clearer.'
He told the court that the directories contained 'every job, every name, every number'.
'Do his phone': What News of the World boss Andy Coulson 'told his news editor in bid to secure scoop about Calum Best'
Target: Model Calum Best was targeted by Coulson and his team in case he went to a rival about his story, the court heard
In an email David Cameron's former spin doctor demanded his news editor Ian Edmondson hack the model's voicemails fearing the celebrity went to a rival newspaper about becoming a father, the prosecution said.
The command was written on the day before the News of the World published an exclusive story that Best was having a baby with former model Lorna Hogan, the jury was told.
The jury heard that Coulson had written: 'You think Calum a leak?', Edmonson replied that their source was a 'nightmare', adding that the star was 'bragging' to other reporters about the story.
'Do his phone', the tabloid's editor then replied.
Prosecuting QC Andrew Edis said: 'What does he mean?', adding: 'They wanted it to be exclusive because they were paying Hogan a lot of money for the story. They were concerned about leaking because Calum may leak their story to the competition.
'The evidence that we have doesn't actually reveal that there was any phone hacking of Best but it doesn't mean there wasn't'.
'Callum had bragged he has close friends on the NotW so he might know what they are planning.
'How are they going to investigate this? In the e-mail of May 20, 2006, he says three words "do his phone".
'So the prosecution say frankly the evidence against Ian Edmondson is absolutely overwhelming. He is quite clearly guilty we say on count one - (phone hacking). You will decided in the end whether that is right or not.'
Mr Edis said phone hacking was part of cycle whereby the papers would uncover private information and then pay a third party for a kiss and tell story,
'There will have been sources there which gets them towards the phone hacking which gets them towards a source,' he said.
Mark Oaten was a promising MP with the Liberal Democrats and had hoped to lead the party.
'They found out that he had been having an affair with a young man who they pursued to sell the story - kind of a kiss and tell story,' said Mr Edis.
'That was discovered, or investigated, by using phone hacking but eventually it went into the paper because they paid the young chap a lot of money
The story was 'an example of hacking working with sources to put the story in the paper.'
Andy Coulson 'knew phones were hacked in bid to prove former Home Secretary Charles Clarke was having an affair'
News of the World editor Andy Coulson was 'fully in the know' as phones were being hacked to try to prove Home Secretary Charles Clarke was having an affair, the Old Bailey heard.The 45-year-old 'must have known' voicemails were being listened to illegally when reporters believed the politician was sleeping his blonde diary secretary Hannah Pawlby, the jury was told.
Coulson, who went on to be David Cameron's spin doctor, even tried to personally confront Mr Clarke over the alleged affair on the day the tabloid went to press.
Couple: Mrs Brooks and her husband, who is on trial for perverting the course of justice, walk towards the Old Bailey on the day after her affair with Andy Coulson was revealed
'This was a pretty big story the News of the World was looking to run if they can.
Attack: Blagger Glenn Mulcaire was asked to hack MP Charles Clarke's secretary's phone to prove false allegations they were having an affair, the court heard
'They got a tip, but there are a lot of those, some rubbish, some turn out to be true, but they don't put in the paper on the basis of a tip.'
He said private investigator Glenn Mulcaire was asked by the News of the World to hack phones associated with Mr Clarke, including Ms Pawlby's and her sister's, proved by his notes made at the time.
Emails show they also put reporters outside Ms Pawlby's house to try to catch her and her boss in the act.
'In the third step, the editor gets involved and puts the story to them, hoping to get some sort of reaction that enables them to get it in the paper', said Mr Edis.
'The editor was personally involved in the third one, he obviously knows about the surveillance, but what about the first one, does he know about the phone hacking.
'He says no, we say "Oh yes he does."'.
Mr Edis said phone hacking was sometimes used in a 'random' way.
He told the jury that a hairdresser called Laura Rooney had her phone hacked, even though she had no connection with England striker Wayne.
He said: 'Laura Rooney was phone-hacked because they thought she was related to Wayne Rooney, who was also phone-hacked. She wasn't, she was not related to Wayne Rooney and has nothing to do with him.
'That just shows the slightly random way that this was used. She is a hairdresser, she doesn't know Wayne Rooney.'
News of the World editor 'agreed cash payment' for royal phone book
Suspect: Clive Goodman, the former royal editor at News of the World is accused of paying an official for a royal phone book
Andy Coulson agreed to pay for a royal phone directory and knew it was stolen, the court heard today.
It is claimed that royal editor Clive Goodman paid off palace policemen for copies of royal phone directories - allegedly authorised by Coulson - to get information on the Queen's family.
The deal was struck despite warnings that to act broke the law, the jury was told.
The court heard that on January 24 2003 Goodman emailed Coulson to say: 'Andy - one of our royal policemen (St James Palace) has obtained the brand new green book, the telephone directory with all the home numbers of the royal family and their household staff.
'Incredibly useful and he'll be extremely handy in the Peat Affair tale. The standard price is £1,000.'
This referred to a false allegation that former aide to the Prince of Wales Sir Michael Peat had an affair.
In the version of the message found on Goodman's computer, but apparently not received by Coulson, another paragraph said: 'I think that we should have the book and the goodwill that goes with it but I am keen to avoid Round Two with the Man Ed (managing editor Stuart Kuttner).
'I'm not criticising Stuart at all, but these people will not be paid in anything other than cash because if they're discovered selling stuff to us they end up on criminal charges, as could we.'
Coulson replied to the shorter message, questioning why he had recently signed off on a payment of £750 for another copy of the directory.
Goodman answered: 'This is the harder to get one which has the Queen's direct lines to her family in it.'
Correspondence: The jury were read emails where Coulson agreed to pay for a royal phone directory and was warned it was gained by carrying out a criminal act
Mr Edis said that, as a result of that conversation, a cash payment of £1,000 was made to a David Farish, which turned out to be a false name, adding: 'The investigation has never identified the policeman responsible for this.'
He said the conversation and payment was the 'clearest possible evidence' of conspiracy to commit misconduct in a public office and was linked to phone hacking.
He said that on the same day the Green Book was bought, which included an address and landlines but no mobile number for Sir Michael, Mulcaire was tasked with investigating him. A mobile number was later handwritten on to the book, the court heard.
The court was shown a heavily-redacted copy of the book, featuring a host of telephone numbers and addresses.
Mr Edis said there were a number of black marks on the book to protect the privacy of those in it.
He said: 'Glenn carried on with his investigation and if that's right this book is directly useful for phone hacking, and in fact used for phone hacking, because Sir Michael Peat is targeted on the very same day the book is paid for.'
Yesterday the trial heard Rebekah Brooks had a secret six-year affair with Andy Coulson before he became David Cameron’s spin doctor, the phone hacking trial heard yesterday.
The pair, both of whom were married, are said to have had a romance at the height of a phone hacking conspiracy in which the News of the World is alleged to have targeted celebrities, politicians and royals.
Part of an astonishing love letter from Brooks to Coulson, written after he tried to end their affair in February 2004, was read to the jury yesterday.
Revelation: Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson (left, in September 2004) were having a secret affair for at least six years, the Old Bailey heard. Coulson is pictured leaving the court earlier this week with wife Eloise (right)
Famous: Eastenders star Ross Kemp and Rebekah Wade married in 2002 but later divorced in 2009
‘I confide in you, I seek your advice, I love you, care about you, worry about you. We laugh and cry together.
‘In fact without our relationship in my life, I am really not sure how I will cope. I’m frightened to be without you.’
In it, she also expresses her fears about how they will maintain a professional relationship.
She asks him: ‘How do we really work this new relationship? There are a hundred things that have happened since Saturday night that I would normally share with you.
Yesterday Brooks and Coulson did not look at each other as they sat side by side in the dock while the letter was read out. Brooks glanced down at her lap, pursing her lips, while Coulson stared straight ahead.
Defendants: Former news editor at the News of the World Ian Edmondson (top left), former royal editor Clive Goodman (top right), Brooks's PA Cheryl Carter (bottom left) and managing editor Stuart Kuttner (bottom right)
Allegations: Mark Hanna, the former head of security at News International, is accused of conspiring with Mrs Brooks and her husband Charlie to pervert the course of justice
Moments earlier Brooks had glanced at the public gallery where Coulson’s wife of 13 years, Eloise, was notably absent.
The day before she had been at her husband’s side as they braved the media scrum outside the courtroom. Yesterday she was nowhere to be seen.
She married the then deputy editor of the tabloid in 2000, two years after his fling with Brooks began.
Brooks married Kemp in 2002, after they had been together for several years. They separated in 2006 and divorced in 2009. She married Charlie Brooks later that year.
Prosecutor Andrew Edis QC said the letter went to the heart of the case, proving that the two editors trusted each other implicitly and kept no secrets from one another at a time when phone hacking was rife on their watch.
The document was found on a computer hidden in a cupboard when Scotland Yard raided Brooks’s London flat in 2011. It was unclear when, if ever, it was sent.
Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire; Coulson, also 45, from Charing in Kent; former NotW head of news Edmondson, 44, from Raynes Park, south west London; and the tabloid's ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, 73, from Woodford Green, Essex, all deny conspiring with others to hack phones between October 3 2000 and August 9 2006.
Case: Private investigator Glenn Mulcaire, left, has admitted intercepting voicemails, and NotW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck has also admitted charges
Guilty: Former News of the World journalist James Weatherup (left) and his news editor Greg Miskiw (right) have admitted breaking the law by intercepting voicemails, the Old Bailey heard
Coulson is also facing two allegations that he conspired with former royal editor Clive Goodman, 56, from Addlestone in Surrey, and other unknown people to commit misconduct in public office - between August 31 2002 and January 31 2003, and between January 31 and June 3 2005.
It is claimed that Goodman paid palace policemen for copies of royal phone directories - allegedly authorised by Coulson - to get information on members of the Royal Family.
Brooks also faces two allegations of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice - one with her former personal assistant Cheryl Carter, 49, from Chelmsford in Essex, between July 6 and 9 2011; and a second with her husband, Charles Brooks, and former head of security at News International, Mark Hanna, and others between July 15 and July 19 2011.
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