Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson affair revealed in hacking trial

(UPI) -- The two people at the center of the News of the World phone hacking scandal were revealed to have had a six-year affair, revealed during the ongoing trial in which they are accused of phone hacking.

Rebekah Brooks, protege to media baron Rupert Murdoch, and Andy Coulson, a former editor and spin doctor to British Prime Minister David Cameron are accused of conspiring to hack voicemails and commit misconduct in public office. Their relationship, revealed Thursday in court, set the British press abuzz.

A love letter found on Brooks' computer addressed to Coulson was described as a "gushing" and a "bombshell."

The prosecution said the letter -- and the affair -- is relevant to the case because Brooks and Coulson are accused of conspiring together. It said the relationship went on from 1998 to 2004, when both were married to other people.

Coulson edited the News of the World from 2003 to 2007, before becoming a spokesman for Cameron. Brooks edited News of the World and The Sun.

Three others have pleaded guilty to the hacking, which went on from October 2000 to August 2006.