LONDON, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- A woman implicated in Britain's phone-hacking scandal told police she discarded notebooks but not to destroy evidence, a London court heard Tuesday.
Cheryl Carter, former personal assistant to Rebekah Brooks and accused of helping Brooks conceal evidence, said she was asked by archivists at News International to take possession of seven boxes of Brooks' stored notebooks and memorabilia in an archive downsizing move. In a police interview played in court, Carter said she returned material belonging to Brooks but destroyed or recycled 30 notebooks in Brooks' handwriting.
Archivist Nick Mays claims he did not order Carter to remove any boxes, the British newspaper The Guardian reported.
The alleged destruction of material came while Brooks was on vacation, and the day after it was announced their newspaper, News of the World, would be shut down amid allegations the newspaper's staff had been involved in phone-hacking of celebrities and political leaders in Britain.
Carter has been charged with one count of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, in relation to the alleged concealment of the boxes and destruction of their contents.
