Cleared Charlie Brooks loses bid for court costs

LONDON (Reuters) - The husband of Rebekah Brooks, the former boss of Rupert Murdoch's British newspaper arm who was cleared of phone-hacking offences in June, lost his bid on Wednesday to be reimbursed for legal costs he accrued during his and his wife's lengthy trial.

Charlie and Rebekah Brooks were both acquitted of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice by hiding material from police investigating phone-hacking at Murdoch's now defunct News of the World newspaper.

However, Judge John Saunders, who oversaw the eight-month trial, threw out Brooks' claim to have his 600,000 pound ($796,400) legal fees recouped from the state, saying he was partly to blame for the accusations being brought.

"I am in no doubt that not only did Mr Brooks bring suspicion on himself and indeed others but his conduct also misled the prosecution into thinking that the case against him was stronger than it was," Saunders said in his ruling.

Police had discovered that Charlie Brooks had been involved in an elaborate operation to hide computers and other documents from detectives searching their flat after his wife was arrested.

CCTV footage captured the material being hidden behind bins at the underground car park of their flat in central London where it was found by a cleaner who passed it onto the authorities.

Brooks told his trial he had wanted to hide a computer which had part of a book he was writing on it along with his stash of pornography, because he feared its discovery would be leaked to the media.

The jury cleared the couple and the head of security at News International, the former name of the UK newspaper arm of News Corp. where his wife was chief executive, of any wrongdoing. She was also acquitted of phone-hacking charges and making illegal payments to public officials.

"Mr Brooks knew that he was entirely innocent but he also knew that he had been extremely stupid in moving the property," Saunders said. "Even if he hadn’t realised that, he had been told how stupid he had been by Rebekah Brooks."

In response to the decision, Brooks, a former racehorse trainer, said in a statement: "At least on a racecourse, when you back a winner the bookmakers pay you."

The judge's decision comes two weeks after News Corp.'s UK arm dropped a claim to be reimbursed for Rebekah Brooks' legal bills which it had paid, estimated to be as much as 7 million pounds.

The judge also rejected a claim for 130,000 pounds in costs from ex-managing editor Stuart Kuttner, who was cleared of being involved in the hacking of the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

"I am sure on the evidence that I have heard that Stuart Kuttner did bring suspicion on himself by his conduct in relation to the Milly Dowler investigation," Saunders said.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Stephen Addison)