Rebekah Brooks, former News International chief executive, made a brief appearance at Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday, where her case was transferred to Southwark Crown Court for June 22.
Ms Brooks has been charged with three counts of conspiring to pervert the course of justice by concealing documents, computers and other material from the police and “permanently removing seven boxes of material from the archive of News International” in July last year.
Charges against Ms Brooks, her husband Charlie, her personal assistant Cheryl Carter and three other News International employees are one leg in a sprawling probe into journalistic wrongdoing – including two police investigations into phone hacking and alleged bribing of public officials.
The former editor of the News of the World and the Sun appeared relaxed in the dock and chatted to her husband – charged with one count of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice – as they waited for senior district Judge Howard Riddle to enter the courtroom. Ms Brooks was wearing a navy blue skirt suit and an olive green scarf.
The defendants were told by Judge Riddle not to contact each other, directly or indirectly, while on bail and to inform the police of any plans of foreign travel.
Ms Brooks did not make a statement to the media outside the court and was quickly ushered into an awaiting taxi. But she has previously said that the charges against her were an “expensive sideshow” and a “waste of public money”.