Beyond Contempt: The Inside Story of the Phone Hacking Trial

'A must read for anyone who wants to understand not only our media, but power in Britain' – Owen Jones, author of The Establishment

What really happened in Court 12 at the Old Bailey — when the world’s most powerful tabloid empire finally faced the law?

When the News of the World collapsed in disgrace and the phone hacking scandal exploded across Britain, the headlines were loud, the leaks were selective, and the truth was buried under spin. Then came the phone hacking trial: 130 days of evidence, legal trench warfare, and an unprecedented battle between corporate money and public justice.

In Beyond Contempt, writer and journalist Peter Jukes takes you behind the courtroom doors to reveal the story you could not read at the time. Because during a live criminal trial, strict contempt of court rules mean the most explosive arguments, documents, and backstage manoeuvres are often legally unreportable — until the verdict.

This is not a recycled recap of what you already saw on the news. It’s the inside story of what was happening when the cameras weren’t there: the embargoed legal submissions, the arguments held in the jury’s absence, the tactical delays and surprise disclosures, and the constant, nail-biting tension between open justice and the right to a fair trial.

Jukes was there day after day, live-reporting the proceedings as they unfolded, and he turns that frontline perspective into a gripping narrative that reads like a political thriller — but is anchored in the realities of British justice, press power, and modern surveillance. From the hacking of celebrities and politicians to the targeting of the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, from the Royal Family to Downing Street, the trial exposed how far a newspaper would go to get a story — and how hard it is for the law to catch up.

You’ll step into the Old Bailey as senior News International figures — including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson— fight charges linked to phone hacking, bribery allegations, and alleged attempts to conceal evidence. You’ll see why this courtroom battle rippled through policing, Parliament, and public trust—and why the judge warned that “not only the defendants are on trial… British justice is on trial.”

You’ll discover:
• The behind-the-scenes legal battles, embargoed documents, and strategic manoeuvres that shaped what the jury could hear — and what the public could not.
• How the machinery of a Sunday tabloid really worked: payments, “sources,” voicemail interception, and the newsroom culture behind the scoops.
• The human drama of a marathon trial: the witnesses, the rivalries, the humour, the exhaustion — and the moments that threatened to derail the entire case.
• Why social media changed court reporting forever, and how one wrong tweet could mean contempt of court, a collapsed trial, or prison.
• What the phone hacking scandal reveals about privacy, press freedom, and corporate influence — and why it still matters.

Praise for Beyond Contempt:
“Top court reporting.” – Nick Davies, The Guardian

“Written in a chatty, gossipy style that brings the courtroom drama alive.. A vital and essential read for everyone who cares about journalism and justice.” – Nigel Pauley, journalist, Daily Star

"Remarkable. I feel I now know all the key players and why some defendants were found guilty and some not, despite never having spent a minute at the trial.' – Professor Stewart Purvis, former editor of ITN

Perfect for readers of investigative journalism, political scandal, media law, and high-stakes courtroom drama, this is the book that connects Fleet Street, Parliament, and the Old Bailey in one relentless narrative — written by the man whose real-time reporting became required reading across newsrooms and Westminster.

Experience the trial that changed British journalism.

Peter Jukes is a British journalist and screenwriter. His television credits include devising and writing In Deep (subsequently developed with Paul Haggis for the USA network), the first two episodes of the the first series of the Emmy award winning Waking the Dead, BAFTA award winning Sea of Souls, and the first episodes of Inspector Lynley with original storylines. As a journalist he has written regularly for various newspapers and magazines, including Newsweek, New Statesman, The Daily Beast, Politico, The New Republic and was nominated for several awards for his coverage of the phone hacking trial in London, the longest and most expensive criminal trial in British history, recounted in his book Beyond Contempt. He is co-author of Untold: The Daniel Morgan Murder Exposed and director of the Byline Festival. His 2012 book, The Fall of the House of Murdoch, was described by the former Sunday Times editor Sir Harold Evans as "a roaring great read." His account of living in the modern city, A Shout in the Street (Faber & Faber, 1990), was called "a dream of a book" by John Berger. He lives in London. Peter Jukes is a British journalist and screenwriter. His television credits include devising and writing In Deep (subsequently developed with Paul Haggis for the USA network), the first two episodes of the the first series of the Emmy award winning Waking the Dead, BAFTA award winning Sea of Souls, and the first episodes of Inspector Lynley with original storylines. As a journalist he has written regularly for various newspapers and magazines, including Newsweek, New Statesman, The Daily Beast, Politico, The New Republic and was nominated for several awards for his coverage of the phone hacking trial in London, the longest and most expensive criminal trial in British history, recounted in his book Beyond Contempt. His previous 2012 book, The Fall of the House of Murdoch, was described by the former Sunday Times editor Sir Harold Evans as "a roaring great read." His account of living in the modern city, A Shout in the Street (Faber & Faber, 1990), was called "a dream of a book" by John Berger. He lives in London.

Martin Rowson is a British editorial cartoonist and writer. His genre is political satire and his style is scathing and graphic. He characterizes his work as "visual journalism". His cartoons appear frequently in The Guardian and the Daily Mirror. He illustrated the cover of Beyond Contempt by Peter Jukes.