Brooks approved payment for Prince bikini photo, court told
Old Bailey phone-hacking trial hears that the Sun newspaper did not publish the picture but ran a mock-up over the headline ‘Willy in a Bikini’
Rebekah Brooks approved a 4,000 pound (HK$50,680) payment for a photograph of Prince William in a bikini posing as a Bond girl when she edited the Sun, but never published the picture, the Old Bailey central criminal court in London has heard.
The former News International chief executive was forwarded an email from a journalist on the paper when she was editor requesting the money for a contact at Sandhurst, the military academy where the prince was training in 2006. When asked “What do you think, boss?” she replied “OK”, the hacking trial jury was told on Thursday.
Prosecutor Rebecca Chalkley said the picture was not published, but the Sun ran a “mock-up” of it, with William’s head superimposed on someone else’s body and the headline “Willy in a Bikini” in September 2006.
The article claimed “Prince William caused a stir at a Sandhurst 007 bash by dressing as a Bond girl” and added his then girlfriend Kate Middleton attended the party wearing a wetsuit and carrying a toy gun.
The jury was shown the email which read: “My best contact at Sandhurst who has provided a string of great stuff over a period of months, offered us a picture of William at a James Bond party dressed as a Bond girl. He is wearing a bikini and an open Hawaiian shirt.
“He is an instructor at Sandhurst and the picture in question belongs to a fellow instructor who is very concerned by the idea of the snap ending up in the Sun. He also happens to be William’s direct platoon commander.”
