Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson, former News of the World editors, were having an affair for at least six years between 1998 and 2004.
The information related to the clandestine relationship emerged during the phone-hacking trial showing that Coulson and Brooks "trusted each other and knew almost everything about each other".
"What Mr Coulson knew, Mrs Brooks knew too and what Mrs Brooks knew, Mr Coulson knew too, that is the point. Because it's clear from that letter as at February 2004 they had been having an affair which had lasted at least six years. So that takes us right back to 1998 which is the whole conspiracy period," Andrew Edis QC, for the crown, said.
A letter from Brooks to Coulson found by the police in a computer belonging to Brooks, revealed the affair that shows they have been involved in a criminal conspiracy to hack phones while both deny charges including conspiracy to phone hack.
"The fact is you are my very best friend, I tell you everything, I confide in you, I seek your advice, I love you, care about you, worry about you, we laugh and cry together," she wrote in the letter. "In fact without our relationship in my life, I am not sure I will cope."
According to Edis, who showed the letter to jurors during the trial, he wasn't trying to reveal the affair to violate couple's privacy or to make a moral judgment.
Mrs Brooks, 45, and Mr Coulson, 45, are accused of conspiring with other to hack phones and two counts of conspiring with other to commit misconduct in public office. Both were married at the moment of the phone hacking scandal.
The hacking was done via Glenn Mulcaire, a hired private investigator, who knew how to get mobile phone operators to reset voicemail passwords.
The phone hacking involved conversations of famous people like Sir Paul McCartney.
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