FORMER News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and her racehorse trainer husband Charlie today made their first appearance in court on charges relating to the phone hacking scandal.

Mrs Brooks, 44, and Mr Brooks, 49, who live in Sarsden, near Chipping Norton, were bailed until a preliminary hearing at Southwark Crown Court on Friday next week.

Mrs Brooks faces three charges of conspiring to pervert the course of justice, while her husband is charged with one count of the same offence.

She is accused of removing boxes of material from the News International archive and trying to conceal documents, computers and other material from detectives working Operation Weeting, Scotland Yard's inquiry into the phone hacking scandal.