'A must read for anyone who wants to understand not only our media, but power in Britain' – Owen Jones, author of The Establishment What really happened in Court 12 at the Old Bailey — when the world’s most powerful tabloid empire finally faced the law? When the News of the World collapsed in disgrace and the phone hacking scandal exploded across Britain, the headlines were loud, the leaks were selective, and the truth was buried under spin. Then came the phone hacking trial: 130 days of evidence, legal trench warfare, and an unprecedented battle between corporate money and public justice. In Beyond Contempt, writer and journalist Peter Jukes takes you behind the courtroom doors to reveal the story you could not read at the time. Because during a live criminal trial, strict contempt of court rules mean the most explosive arguments, documents, and backstage manoeuvres are often legally unreportable — until the verdict. This is not a recycled recap of what you already saw on the news. It’s the inside story of what was happening when the cameras weren’t there: the embargoed legal submissions, the arguments held in the jury’s absence, the tactical delays and surprise disclosures, and the constant, nail-biting tension between open justice and the right to a fair trial. Jukes was there day after day, live-reporting the proceedings as they unfolded, and he turns that frontline perspective into a gripping narrative that reads like a political thriller — but is anchored in the realities of British justice, press power, and modern surveillance. From the hacking of celebrities and politicians to the targeting of the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, from the Royal Family to Downing Street, the trial exposed how far a newspaper would go to get a story — and how hard it is for the law to catch up. You’ll step into the Old Bailey as senior News International figures — including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson— fight charges linked to phone hacking, bribery allegations, and alleged attempts to conceal evidence. You’ll see why this courtroom battle rippled through policing, Parliament, and public trust—and why the judge warned that “not only the defendants are on trial… British justice is on trial.” You’ll discover:• The behind-the-scenes legal battles, embargoed documents, and strategic manoeuvres that shaped what the jury could hear — and what the public could not.• How the machinery of a Sunday tabloid really worked: payments, “sources,” voicemail interception, and the newsroom culture behind the scoops.• The human drama of a marathon trial: the witnesses, the rivalries, the humour, the exhaustion — and the moments that threatened to derail the entire case.• Why social media changed court reporting forever, and how one wrong tweet could mean contempt of court, a collapsed trial, or prison.• What the phone hacking scandal reveals about privacy, press freedom, and corporate influence — and why it still matters. Praise for Beyond Contempt:“Top court reporting.” —Nick Davies, Guardian“A vital and essential read for everyone who cares about journalism and justice.” —Nigel Pauley, Daily Star“Utterly compelling.” —Emer O’Farrell, reader Perfect for readers of investigative journalism, political scandal, media law, and high-stakes courtroom drama, this is the book that connects Fleet Street, Parliament, and the Old Bailey in one relentless narrative — written by the man whose real-time reporting became required reading across newsrooms and Westminster. Get your copy of Beyond Contempt today and experience the trial that changed British journalism.Read it for the facts. Remember it for the power games behind the stories. Reviews 'Remarkable. I feel I now know all the key players and why some defendants were found guilty and some not, despite never having spent a minute at the trial.' – Professor Stewart Purvis, former editor of ITN 'Written in a chatty, gossipy style that brings the courtroom drama alive.' – Nigel Pauley, journalist, Daily Star Extract Preface: The Untold Story ‘There has never been any trial like this,’ a defence barrister told me during a smoking break outside the main doors of the Old Bailey – a place where a surprising number of journalists, lawyers and detectives congregated. He added: ‘There will never be another trial like this.’ Weeks before the phone hacking trial began in October 2013 the Daily Telegraph commentator Peter Oborne billed it as ‘the trial of the century.’ Yet it had taken almost the whole of the century so far to arrive. Two years had already passed since the News of the World closed in 2011 and eleven years since the newspaper had hacked the mobile phone of the murdered teenager Milly Dowler. In a sense it was, as one prosecutor described it, ‘the trial nobody wanted.’ In 2006, the Metropolitan Police had limited its inquiries into hacking to avoid a high-profile trial, partly to spare the Royal Family embarrassment. Neither the defendants nor their employer, News International (since re-branded News UK) wanted an Old Bailey showdown. And for all the glamour of some of the targets of hacking, compared to other famous murder or terrorism trials, the stakes could seem small: there were no dead bodies, no violent attacks against other individuals, or attempts to overturn the state. Yet, the state was, somehow, at risk. Two of Britain’s most senior police officers had resigned in the wake of the hacking scandal in 2011. Rebekah Brooks, former Murdoch protégé and not so long ago arguably the most powerful woman in Britain, had achieved the extraordinary feat of being friend to three successive prime ministers. Andy Coulson, her deputy and successor as News of the World editor, had been the Prime Minister’s director of communications at Number 10. Meanwhile the News of the World’s hacking victims ranged from actors and footballers to Cabinet ministers and princes. The tabloid had a reputation for exposing the private secrets of the rich and famous, without fear or favour; the trial promised to be as sensational as its front pages. When the judge, Mr Justice Saunders, warned in his opening remarks that not only the defendants but also ‘British justice is on trial,’ he might well have been concerned that intense media interest in such high-profile defendants could generate coverage that would improperly influence the jury. The trial was unique in other ways...
