On trial are seven people associated with the now defunct News of the World newspaper. Here is a summary of the defendants, the charges they face and the main evidence so far.
Rebekah Brooks
Rebecca Brooks. Photo / AP
Who: Aged 45, former editor of the News of the World and the Sunand former chief executive of News International.
Brooks is facing four separate counts related to alleged phone hacking, alleged corrupt payments to public officials and allegations that she attempted to cover up her involvement in the whole scandal.
Prosecution case
Brooks was in charge of the News of the World in 2000, when it is alleged that private investigator Glenn Mulcaire began hacking the phones of hundreds of public and private figures including the murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler. However, she was in Dubai on holiday in the week the alleged hacking of Milly Dowler's phone took place.
Brooks is also charged with conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, the allegation being that while editor of the Sun, she approved payments by journalists to public officials including members of the Ministry of Defence and the military.
The jury was told that former MoD official Bettina Jordan Barber accepted more than £100,000 ($198,000) in payments from the newspaper for a string of military stories.
The final set of charges Brooks is facing relate to allegations that when the phone hacking scandal began to engulf News International in summer 2011, she acted with others to cover up her role in the scandal. It is alleged she conspired with others to hide notebooks, computers and other material from police investigating the scandal.
Who: Aged 46, former editor of the News of the World and British Prime Minister David Cameron's former director of communications.
When Brooks moved to the Sun in 2003, Coulson replaced her as the editor. He resigned in 2007 after one of his reporters admitted phone hacking charges.
Later that year, Cameron, who was Leader of the Opposition at the time, appointed him as director of communications. Coulson stepped down in January 2011 amid pressure over his alleged role in the phone hacking scandal.
Prosecution case
The prosecution alleges he was in charge of the News of the World during a period in which hundreds of public and private figures had their phones hacked.
Jurors were told that among those whose voicemails were intercepted were members of the royal family, pop stars, politicians and members of the public who had become the subject of press interest. Coulson is further accused of twice approving payments to a Buckingham Palace police officer for copies of internal telephone directories containing numbers for members of the royal household.
Stuart Kuttner
Stuart Kuttner. Photo / Getty Images
Who: Aged 73, former managing editor of the News of the World.
Prosecution case
Kuttner is charged with one count of conspiracy to hack phones.
As the person in charge of the purse strings at the News of the World, it is alleged he was a party to the conspiracy. Kuttner, who has been suffering from ill health, has not been in the dock for much of the trial.
Who: Aged 56, News of the World's former royal editor.
Goodman was jailed in 2007 after admitting hacking the voicemails of members of the royal household with Glenn Mulcaire.
Prosecution case
He is facing two counts related to the alleged purchase of royal telephone directories from unnamed palace police officers. Goodman has denied the charges and is expected to claim that he did not pay for the phone books but obtained them from another source.
Cheryl Carter
Cheryl Carter. Photo / Getty Images
Who: Aged 49, Carter worked as personal assistant to Rebekah Brooks for 19 years and also wrote a beauty column in the Sun.
Carter is charged with one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. She is alleged to have removed seven boxes of Brooks' notebooks from a News International archive in Enfield. The notebooks have never been found. The prosecution claim this was done in order to impede the police investigation.
Charlie Brooks
Charlie Brooks. Photo / Getty Images
Who: Aged 50, racehorse trainer, journalist and writer and husband to Rebekah Brooks.
Prosecution case
Brooks faces one charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. It alleges that on the day of his wife's arrest in July 2011 he removed items from their Oxfordshire and London homes with the intention of impeding the police investigation.
The court heard allegations of how Brooks had conspired with members of a private security team tasked with looking after his wife to hide phones, iPads and computers from the police. But jurors heard that when a cleaner stumbled across a holdall allegedly hidden by Brooks, as well as computer hardware, it also contained a pornographic magazine and seven DVDs.
Mark Hanna
Mark Hanna. Photo / AFP
Who: Aged 50, former head of security for News International.
Hanna is charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice in relation to the alleged hiding of material the police wanted to examine.
During the prosecution's case it was alleged that Hanna had told a colleague he was discussing the closure of the News of the World with, that he had "burnt stuff".
