Former News International (now News UK) chief executive Rebekah Brooks and ex-government spin doctor Andy Coulson will appear at the Old Bailey today to face trial over charges linked to phone-hacking and alleged corrupt payments to public officials.

There will be 17 press places in Court 12 of the Old Bailey, London's main criminal court, with a further 53 journalists from around the world following proceedings in an annexe. All the press places have been allocated.

Brooks, 45, of Churchill, Oxfordshire, and Coulson, 45, from Preston in Kent, are both accused of conspiracy to intercept communications in the course of their transmission.