Jurors in the hacking trial were told to decide the truth of the affair between News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks (above: Reuters) and Andy Coulson (below: Reuters) to establish if they shared their hacking secrets.

The timescale of the relationship was important in considering if they both knew about the hacking of schoolgirl Milly Dowler's phone and the voicemail from home secretary David Blunkett to Spectator publisher Kimberly Quinn, Andrew Edis QC, prosecuting, told the jury at the Old Bailey.

Resuming his closing speech, Edis turned to the letter of February 2004 in which Brooks declared she had been waiting six years for Coulson, and said she confided in him.