Rupert Murdoch's former editor Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, Prime Minister David Cameron's ex-media chief, oversaw a system of phone-hacking and illegal payments to officials when they ran the now defunct News of the World, a London court heard on Wednesday. Prosecutor Andrew Edis told the Old Bailey that Brooks and Coulson were in charge at the Sunday tabloid or its daily sister paper the Sun when the illegal behavior was alleged to have taken place. Edis said both had sanctioned illegal payments to be made to public officials, including one by Brooks for nearly 40,000 pounds ($64,000) to a senior Ministry of Defence official.