(http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/121120-brooks-4a.photoblog600.jpg)Lefteris Pitarakis / AP, file
Rebekah Brooks, the former chief of News Corp.'s British operations, seen here outside a London court in September, was told Tuesday that she would be charged with making illegal payments to defense officials.
By NBC News staff and wire reportsRupert Murdoch's former British newspaper boss and Prime Minister David Cameron's former media chief will be charged with conspiring to pay public officials for information including contact details for the royal family, prosecutors said Tuesday.
The charges stem from a wider investigation into the British press that was sparked by revelations that journalists at Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World, had hacked into phones to secure salacious stories.
Andy Coulson was editor of the News of the World from 2003 to 2007 before he took over as Cameron's spokesman from 2007 to 2011, and the latest charges are likely to pose yet more difficult questions for Cameron over his judgment in hiring Coulson in the first place.
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