Coulson 'Knew Of Intercepted Milly Voicemails'

Andy Coulson knew voicemail messages on the phone of murdered teenager Milly Dowler had been intercepted, a former News of the World journalist has told a court.

Neville Thurlbeck, a former chief reporter at the now defunct Sunday tabloid, also said hacked messages were the source for a story about former Home Secretary David Blunkett having an affair.

Coulson, 47, the Prime Minister's former director of communications, is accused of lying under oath in the 2010 perjury trial of former Socialist MSP Tommy Sheridan - a charge he denies.

Among the claims, prosecutors allege Coulson falsely claimed to have been unaware that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire had been involved in phone hacking along with former royal editor Clive Goodman, prior to the pair's arrest in 2006.

Members of the jury at the High Court in Edinburgh were shown a story about Milly which appeared in the newspaper in April 2002, with the headline "Milly Hoax Riddle Messages on Mobile Probed".

The story, which was published at a point when the schoolgirl had been missing for more than three weeks, contained exact timings and words that appeared to have been left on her mobile.

Mr Thurlbeck was looking after the newsdesk that week in the absence of Greg Miskiw, while Coulson, at the time deputy editor, was standing in for editor Rebekah Brooks, then Wade.

He said Coulson wanted to make sure the paper "was all over this story", and added he had instructed Mr Mulcaire to get involved in the News Of The World's investigation.

Mr Thurlbeck said Coulson became aware that a private investigator had been put onto the story when "Glenn came back with the voicemails".

When asked if Coulson told them to take the recording to the police, the witness told the court Mr Mulcaire said the recording had been intercepted by one of his police contacts.

Mr Thurlbeck said: "He said he was getting this information from an unofficial police contact which wouldn't be unusual from a good private detective.

"Therefore we believed for a very long time that the police were fully aware of this line of inquiry and therefore for us to go back to the police would be a pointless exercise as they already had it."

He also told the court that Coulson had seen transcripts of the voicemails, one of which suggested the schoolgirl might have been working at a factory.

The court also heard that Coulson did not take the matter to the police because, Mr Thurlbeck said, "he trusted the source because he trusted me".

Concluding his evidence in chief, Mr Thurlbeck said: "One must add, very importantly, that with regard to Milly, at no stage was Andy aware that the voicemails had been illegally intercepted."

Earlier, Mr Thurlbeck said the paper had uncovered the story about Mr Blunkett in 2004 by illegally intercepting between 15 and 25 voicemails left by the politician on the phone of the woman involved.

Mr Thurlbeck said Mr Mulcaire played them to him before telling Coulson the messages came from "Glenn, our private investigator".

The court was shown an exclusive front page written by Mr Thurlbeck and printed on 15 August 2004 with the headline "Blunkett Affair With A Married Woman".

Mr Thurlbeck, 53, told the court he first heard the messages around the late spring or early summer of 2004.

"I was contacted by Glenn Mulcaire who played me the tape of an interception down the phone," he said.

He added that he then "rang Andy Coulson", who was on holiday at the time, and told him that he had been played a "voicemail message left by David Blunkett".

"I said it was our private investigator," he told the court.

He said Coulson initially reacted with "extreme caution" over the story and told him to stop.

When Coulson got back from holiday, a meeting was later held to discuss the public interest justification for the story, the court heard.

Asked what he told Coulson about the source of the story, he said: "I said it was done by Glenn, our private investigator."

Mr Thurlbeck insisted he had not used the investigator's surname during the conversation.

The trial continues.