David Blunkett spoke of 'vile' press to woman who leaked story, court hears
 Phone-hacking jury hears that Sally Anderson 'orchestrated' media coverage of relationship with former home secretary The former home secretary David Blunkett left a series of furious messages on a female friend's phone, branding the press "vile", not knowing it was she who had tipped off the press about their relationship, the Old Bailey has heard. Prosecutor Andrew Edis reminded the phone-hacking trial on Wednesday of voicemails played to the court back in November from Blunkett to Sally Anderson, in which he said he hoped whoever had leaked information about them would "rot in hell". "Unbeknownst to Mr Blunkett, it was Sally Anderson herself who had given the information to the Daily Mail about their relationship," Edis told the jury in the hacking trial. The jury heard that she had also admitted lying to the People after she sold a story to the paper claiming she could have been pregnant by him. The pair had met at Annabel's nightclub in London's West End in the autumn of 2005, the jury were told in November. On Wednesday they were told she had tipped them off about that rendezvous. Edis told the jury she was in "open contact" with the Daily Mail, "speaking to them about her relationship with Mr Blunkett" and that "reports of what she had said to them appeared in the paper on 26 and 29 Sepember 2005 and on 3 October 2005. "It was Sally Anderson who had orchestrated the media coverage of her relationship with Mr Blunkett," Edis added. Last year the jury heard an intimate message from Blunkett to Anderson on 26 September 2005 saying: "Someone very, very close has done a really phenomenal piece of work on destroying both our lives at this moment in time and it's vile. Whoever it is, I hope they rot in hell." The jury was also told that Anderson engaged the services of PR Max Clifford in the first week of October 2005 and later sold a story "Blunkett lover loses baby" to the People. She claimed Blunkett had been her lover and that "although she had miscarried, he might have been responsible for her pregnancy and that he had abandoned her when she told him she was pregnant". The jury was told that as a result of that article, Blunkett sued the paper and Anderson for libel and that in March 2006 she admitted she had lied and made a public retraction and apology to Blunkett. "Contrary to what I said to the newspaper, Mr Blunkett was not my lover and could not have made me pregnant. He did not callously use me for sex and then abandon me as I claimed in the article," Anderson said in her statement at the time. The revelation that she had been leaking information to the press was part of an admission agreed between the prosecution and the defence team for Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor who is accused of conspiring to intercept voicemails, a charge he denies. The People also apologised for the article. Sky News issued a similar apology every evening for a week in June 2006 because Anderson had made similar claims in an interview in November 2005. The trial continues. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds |
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