Murdoch executive’s bodyguard charged in British probe

A security guard for former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks is to be charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice, England’s state prosecutors said Friday.

David Johnson, 47, is to appear before a London court on Wednesday.

Prosecutors allege that Johnson conspired with six others including Brooks who have all been charged over allegations of perverting the course of justice relating to inquiries into phone hacking and payments to police and public officials.

The probes were sparked by the phone-hacking scandal at Rupert Murdoch’s now-defunct Sunday tabloid News of the World.

News International is Murdoch’s British newspaper publishing arm.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Johnson is accused of concealing computers and other items from police in July 2011 during their investigation into allegations of phone hacking and the corruption of public officials by journalists

Murdoch was forced to shut down the 168-year-old News of the World in July 2011 after it emerged that its journalists had illegally accessed the voicemail messages of a murdered schoolgirl as well as hundreds of public figures.

It is alleged that Johnson conspired with Brooks, her husband Charlie Brooks, News International head of security Mark Hanna, Brooks’s chauffeur Paul Edwards and security staff Daryl Jorsling and Lee Sandell, who have all already been charged.