It was surely the anticipation of negative publicity like this that has Rupert Murdoch scurrying to split his empire in half -- an attempt to shield his lucrative entertainment divisions from the increasingly sullied news ones.
The Old Bailey is the most famous courthouse in England, immortalized in Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, where the character Charles Darnay is tried for treason. It has also been used as a location in countless films, including Witness for the Prosecution, Patriot Games, V for Vendetta, as well as Monty Python's famous Spanish Inquisition sketch. It is also mentioned in folk songs and the poem Oranges and Lemons, featured in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.
From The Guardian:
The Sun's defence editor, Virginia Wheeler, and a Metropolitan police officer, Paul Flattley, were on Monday told they would stand trial at the Old Bailey in relation to alleged payments of about £6,500 for stories in the paper.
At a hearing at Westminster magistrates' court on Monday morning, Wheeler, 33, was charged with conspiring with Flattley to "commit misconduct in a public office" over tip-offs for stories over a three-year period.
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Flattley, from Stockport, is alleged to have been "paid at least £4,000 (in the form of cheques) and £2,450 (in cash) by the Sun newspaper in exchange for information provided in breach of the terms of his employment".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
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From Wikipedia:
The Central Criminal Court in England and Wales, commonly known as the Old Bailey from the street in which it stands, is a court building in central London, one of a number of buildings housing the Crown Court. The Crown Court sitting at the Central Criminal Court deals with major criminal cases from Greater London and, in exceptional cases, from other parts of England and Wales. Part of the present building stands on the site of the medieval Newgate Gaol, on Old Bailey, a road which follows the line of the City of London's fortified wall (or bailey), which runs from Ludgate Hill to the junction of Newgate Street and Holborn Viaduct.
Trials at the Old Bailey, as at other courts, are open to the public, subject to stringent security procedures.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Bear in mind this is just the second of probably dozens of Murdochgate trials to come. Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson have been charged but not yet tried, and at least seven hacking victims have refused to settle with News Corp. because they intend to take their cases to the courts.