The Fire Brigades Union today welcomed the announcement by the Crown Prosecution Service that it will charge Rebekah Brooks and other former News of the World employees with offences relating to the phone hacking of the union’s former general secretary.
The charges relate to the alleged unlawful intercept of Andy Gilchrist’s voicemail messages between December 2002 and January 2003 at the height of the FBU’s pay dispute.
Matt Wrack, FBU general secretary said: “I welcome the CPS decision to charge Rebekah Brooks, Glenn Mulcaire and Greg Miskiw with offences based on allegations of hacking my predecessor Andy Gilchrist’s phone.
“Andy Gilchrist led the FBU in a lawful trade dispute over firefighters’ pay. Whatever the position in relation to these charges, he was subjected to vitriolic attacks and the invasion of his privacy during that dispute.
“The News of the World made it clear throughout the strikes that they intended to damage the firefighters’ campaign and to undermine Andy Gilchrist as part of that assault.”
