Phone-Hacking Scandal: Charlie Brooks' Pornography Stash Discovered

A cleaner discovered a bag containing pornographic material belonging to Rebekah Brooks' husband in a car park underneath their Chelsea home, the jury at the phone-hacking trial has heard.

The bags contained "Lesbian Lovers" magazine, along with seven DVDs, belonging to Charlie Brooks. Various other items were found in the tan leather briefcase and black holdall, which was marked "World Economic Forum".

A photograph of the items was shown to the jury, which revealed a jiffy bag, various documents, the magazine and DVDs, along with a Sony laptop, an Apple laptop, an iPad and an iPod.

Fernando Nascimento made the discovery the day after Rebekah Brooks was arrested by Scotland Yard, at a south London police station. Mr Nascimento, from Portugal, gave his evidence to the jury at the Old Bailey through an interpreter.

Mr Nascimento denied he had tried to examine the documents in the bag and tried to access one of the computers while hidden from security cameras. Mr Brooks' counsel, Neil Saunders, argued otherwise - saying Mr Nascimento would "not have forgotten" finding the pornography magazine. Mr Nascimento told the jury that had he would have taken the magazine if he had discovered it.

A week earlier, it was suggested to Mr Nascimento that £1000 in an envelope was placed in the briefcase by Mr Brooks. The money did not appear on any police inventories and Mr Nascimento said he had not come across any cash.

The jury were shown CCTV footage, which saw Mr Nascimento driving a small tractor and picking up bins. At one point, Mr Nascimento stopped and found the bag, which was handed over to his supervisor and to the estate boss, who informed the police.

For a period of around 40 minutes, Mr Nascimento did not appear on the footage, arousing suggestions from Mr Saunders that he had hidden from view to try and access the computers.

Allan Ramsey, the head of facilities at the complex, was also questioned about how the police were called in to investigate what had been found. Mr Ramsey said a cheque book with Charlie Brooks' name on it was in one bag.

He said he knew the Brooks' home had been searched by police and he decided to tell them about the items found.

Charlie Brooks, according to Mr Ramsey, said the items had been "dropped off by a friend" and said there had been a "mix up", which occurred around 8pm the previous evening.

In November, it was alleged an elaborate plan had been formed to keep police from obtaining incriminating material as they searched the Brooks' apartment in the Chelsea Harbour complex. It was alleged that bin bags and bin liners were hidden, containing information, in large rubbish containers in the carpark.

Rebekah and Charlie Brooks, along with Mark Hanna, the former News International security boss, were charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after the plastic bag and its contents were discovered on July 18th 2011. The three deny all charges against them.